Before Your Ceremony…
Timings
Your ceremony has been booked to start on the hour.
In order for a timely start, we ask that all guests and the ceremonial couple arrive 15 minutes before at quarter to the hour. As there may be other ceremonies booked in before an after yours please ensure you stick to the 15 minutes prior timings to avoid clashes.
If you are late for your ceremony, you do run the risk of not getting married at your chosen time due to weddings taking place after yours and registrar availability.
Parking & Access
.Please note all arrivals and departures should be on foot using the Stoke Newington High Street entrance as there is no vehicle access permitted into the park. Although the venue is accessible from an entrance on Church Street this is not paved and therefore unsuitable for accessibility needs and for guests in formal dress attire. The walk from the High Street entrance to the Chapel is approximately 3 minutes following the path.
Abney Park Chapel is accessible to wheelchair users. There is step free access into Abney Park Chapel. The park has strict vehicle access rules, however if you or any of your guests require blue badge parking please do let us know and we can arrange this with Park Management. Please note that parking is for the duration of your hire period only.
Church Street is now part of a Low Traffic Neighbourhood. Please see here for information on the road changes. We ask that you leave plenty of time when arriving at the venue due to the changes on Church Street.
Your ceremony booking in a Hackney Venue entitles you to a parking permit for up to 2 vehicles on the day of your ceremony. You will need to apply for the permits at least 7 days in advance of your ceremony by applying for a parking dispensation on the following section of Hackney's website: Apply now
Flowers
If you are having flowers delivered this can only be done during your hire time so they will need to be here and in place when you and your guests arrive 15 minutes before your ceremony start time. They will need to be taken with you at the end of your ceremony.
Music
We have a wireless Bluetooth speaker for you to play your ceremony music. We recommend using a Bluetooth enabled smartphone, tablet or laptop for this.
Please allocate a member of your wedding party who will cue the music for you.
Your Event Manager will be on hand to show them how to connect to the speaker, please let us know who your nominated guest is on the questionnaire.
If your device is password protected please turn this off to avoid your guest being locked out during your ceremony.
The venue does have WiFi, however we recommend downloading your tracks in advance and saving them under separate playlists labelled as the following:
Guest arrival music
Entrance song
Signing the schedule
Exit song
We welcome live music during your ceremony however please note, in order to avoid delays, any setup/breakdown required will need to be done swiftly during your hire period.
We are only able to provide chairs and standard plug sockets.
Please note that if you are having a civil ceremony with registrars in attendance, any music chosen must not contain any religious references. A piece of music that contains an incidental reference to a god or deity would be acceptable as long as the piece of music is essentially non-religious in context.
Capacity
The Ground Floor- 50 guests
The Mezzanine - 20 guests - note only agile guests that are not part of the ceremony should be allocated here and children under 11 and dogs are not permitted.
Arrival Location
All guest and couple arrivals for ceremonies should be via the Stoke Newington High Street entrance.
If you would prefer to not see your partner or guests, you or your partner (or both of you) should arrive slightly earlier or later than your guests. On arrival you will be met by your Event Manager and Registrars for your pre-ceremony interview, this will be in the parks office, you can also use this room to ‘hide’.
If you and your partner wish to have your pre-ceremony interviews separately, this can be accommodated for by one partner coming earlier than the other.
Dogs
Abney Park Chapel is a dog friendly wedding venue. If you would like your furry friend to attend your big day, please carefully read our Dogs Policy.
After Your Ceremony…
Photos
Once the ceremony is finished you are welcome to take group shots outside of Abney Park Chapel however please be respectful to tombstones and graves surrounding it, sitting, standing or leaning on them is strictly prohibited.
Photographers should also be made aware that written personal detail on graves shouldn’t be readable in photographs and cannot be shared on publicly and on social platforms.
Confetti
Only natural plant confetti is permitted in Abney Park & Cemetery and no confetti can be thrown inside the chapel building itself.
Please ensure you arrange fresh or dried petals/plant confetti for your ceremony and inform your guests ahead of time that biodegradable, cannons, rice, glitter or any other form of confetti is not permitted.
The grounds are home to a diverse range of wildlife and ecology please help us to preserve and respect that.
We can provide dried rose petals for you on the day, this must be arranged in advance and is £1 per person incl VAT if you would like this please let your coordinator know.