They say you know when you’ve found the right house, from the feeling you get when you walk in … and this is exactly how we felt when we first visited St Osyth Priory Estate.
We had been to many venues before this visit, but this place just felt right. We had engaged with so many wedding planners at other venues, with cookie cutter formats and fake interest, but St Osyth felt authentic, genuine, bespoke and honest. And it turns out that was our experience throughout the planning and all the way through to our wedding day; Saturday 20th June 2026.
The Venue
We cannot describe in words just how incredible this venue is. There are so many different facets, so many incredible places and each is stooped in history and beauty. The legend of St Osyth is where the story starts, but the ancient ruins of a once magnificent monastery, a 13th century chapel, a restored gatehouse, The Great Hall and The Gallery in Darcy House, along with a deer park and stunning lakes, gave us so many options to design the wedding day that we wanted.
For our wedding day, we chose to have an intimate ceremony in the chapel, followed by a confetti walk by the gatehouse, with drinks and canapés served on the precinct lawn. Our wedding breakfast took place in The Gallery, with gorgeous views across to the deer park. And following our flash mob dance, the party started in The Great Hall, before a stunning fireworks show on the North Lawn. The venue allowed us to have the day we wanted, with a journey for our guests, being able to experience so many different places at St Osyth Priory Estate.
Upon reflection, following our wedding day, there is nothing that we would have changed and we are both overwhelmed with how incredible our day was. We have only received - and weeks on still receiving - only wonderful feedback from our guests, most of whom are telling us that it is the best wedding that they have ever attended - some even saying better than their own!
The Food
The wedding food served at St Osyth Priory is world class. We have never known such great quality food, with so many options compared to any other wedding venue. We understand that the Head Chef previously cooked for Queen Elizabeth II and having experienced the food, we can only imagine that she would have been very satisfied. Nothing was too much trouble and everything we wanted was catered for.
Ahead of the wedding, we were invited to a food tasting, to taste the different options that we had chosen from the extensive menu. This took place in the dining room of Darcy West and it was comparable to eating at a high end restaurant. We were given the four canapés to try, as well as full size portions to share of each dish from all three courses. So, we had three appetisers, three main courses and three desserts, as well as unlimited wine to taste, to help us decide what we would have on the day. This day was simply wonderful.
We chose to offer our guests a menu choice. This was a small surcharge, but in our opinion totally worth the cost, as it gave our guests the flexibility to choose their own menu for the wedding breakfast. A highlight of our menu was the pancetta wrapped venison loin, which was reared on-site from their own herd. Our food was beyond delicious, served efficiently by a wonderful team and thoroughly enjoyed by our guests.
The evening food options are also very flexible and varied, but we decided to go for the bowl food option, with Mongolian crispy lamb with stir fried noodles, crab and samphire risotto and a mixed bean chilli with potato wedges. Again, our evening guests were delighted with the food offered.
All dietary requirements were catered for without any issue at all and we have to say that the catering at St Osyth is so much better than any wedding food we have ever had before.
The Accommodation
Being able to stay at our wedding venue was something that was quite important to us and to our families. We wanted to stay the night before and the night of the wedding, to make it more than just a single day event. St Osyth has accommodation for over 50 people to be able to stay on-site.
With all the rooms being recently renovated and refurbished, keeping the character and elegance of the estate, the accommodation here is nothing short of excellent. Our families and friends were able to stay onsite and we had use of the outside Deer Park Kitchen for an informal bbq on the night before. This was a great opportunity for family and friends to get to know each other ahead of the big day, making a more cohesive wedding day.
The Service
From the moment we arrived and met Head of Weddings, Livi, we had instant confidence in her. She wasn’t insincere, over the top or desperate to get us to book our wedding. Instead she was relaxed, let the beauty and history of the venue sell itself and told us that it was our wedding day, and that she was open to letting us do everything how we wanted. She had an integrity and honesty about her, that we both instantly bonded with. That first impression was right and even post event, she is still exactly the same and still in contact with us.
Livi is effortlessly in control of everything. She contacted all of our supplies and ensured that everything was in place, without us having to be involved. She kept us informed, arranged meetings with us and maintained contact with us throughout the planning process. On the wedding day she was present, ensuring that we were being looked after, as well as guests and suppliers too. One of our suppliers even fed back to us that in all the years he has been working on weddings, he has never had a single venue take the time to show him around on his arrival.
Livi even went the extra mile to help us get the perfect golden hour photos. In spite of her natural glamour, she piled us all onto a buggy and took us off-road, with the photographer and videographer, across the estate to the lakes to get that perfect shot. She was incredible and is a true asset to the venue. We are forever grateful to her.
Of course Livi has a whole team at St Osyth. She was our primary contact throughout and on the day, but Molly arranged all of the accommodation for our guests, was present on the day too and was simply wonderful.
We don’t know the names of the other team members on the day, but everyone was friendly, professional, helpful and it was almost as if they were all sharing in the joy of our day. Every single member of the team that we encountered, offered their congratulations to us. They weren’t just their doing a job, they were a part of our day and all helped give us the wedding that we had dreamed of having.
Overall
Well, we can only give St Osyth Priory the full five stars. Everything we both wanted was delivered. They were collaborative with us and our suppliers too. Our wedding day was exactly what we wanted, with every detail delivered as planned. We simply feel we would not have attained this kind of experience with any other venue.
We cannot recommend St Osyth Priory to anyone getting married enough. And we recommend that you do not book any other venue until you have visited here.
A stunning venue, high end food, a wonderful team and weddings that you dream of! Thank you so much to everyone at St Osyth for our perfect, magical wedding day!
They say you know when you’ve found the right house, from the feeling you get when you walk in … and this is exactly how we felt when we first visited St Osyth Priory Estate.
We had been to many venues before this visit, but this place just felt right. We had engaged with so many wedding planners at other venues, with cookie cutter formats and fake interest, but St Osyth felt authentic, genuine, bespoke and honest. And it turns out that was our experience throughout the planning and all the way through to our wedding day; Saturday 20th June 2026.
The Venue
We cannot describe in words just how incredible this venue is. There are so many different facets, so many incredible places and each is stooped in history and beauty. The legend of St Osyth is where the story starts, but the ancient ruins of a once magnificent monastery, a 13th century chapel, a restored gatehouse, The Great Hall and The Gallery in Darcy House, along with a deer park and stunning lakes, gave us so many options to design the wedding day that we wanted.
For our wedding day, we chose to have an intimate ceremony in the chapel, followed by a confetti walk by the gatehouse, with drinks and canapés served on the precinct lawn. Our wedding breakfast took place in The Gallery, with gorgeous views across to the deer park. And following our flash mob dance, the party started in The Great Hall, before a stunning fireworks show on the North Lawn. The venue allowed us to have the day we wanted, with a journey for our guests, being able to experience so many different places at St Osyth Priory Estate.
Upon reflection, following our wedding day, there is nothing that we would have changed and we are both overwhelmed with how incredible our day was. We have only received - and weeks on still receiving - only wonderful feedback from our guests, most of whom are telling us that it is the best wedding that they have ever attended - some even saying better than their own!
The Food
The wedding food served at St Osyth Priory is world class. We have never known such great quality food, with so many options compared to any other wedding venue. We understand that the Head Chef previously cooked for Queen Elizabeth II and having experienced the food, we can only imagine that she would have been very satisfied. Nothing was too much trouble and everything we wanted was catered for.
Ahead of the wedding, we were invited to a food tasting, to taste the different options that we had chosen from the extensive menu. This took place in the dining room of Darcy West and it was comparable to eating at a high end restaurant. We were given the four canapés to try, as well as full size portions to share of each dish from all three courses. So, we had three appetisers, three main courses and three desserts, as well as unlimited wine to taste, to help us decide what we would have on the day. This day was simply wonderful.
We chose to offer our guests a menu choice. This was a small surcharge, but in our opinion totally worth the cost, as it gave our guests the flexibility to choose their own menu for the wedding breakfast. A highlight of our menu was the pancetta wrapped venison loin, which was reared on-site from their own herd. Our food was beyond delicious, served efficiently by a wonderful team and thoroughly enjoyed by our guests.
The evening food options are also very flexible and varied, but we decided to go for the bowl food option, with Mongolian crispy lamb with stir fried noodles, crab and samphire risotto and a mixed bean chilli with potato wedges. Again, our evening guests were delighted with the food offered.
All dietary requirements were catered for without any issue at all and we have to say that the catering at St Osyth is so much better than any wedding food we have ever had before.
The Accommodation
Being able to stay at our wedding venue was something that was quite important to us and to our families. We wanted to stay the night before and the night of the wedding, to make it more than just a single day event. St Osyth has accommodation for over 50 people to be able to stay on-site.
With all the rooms being recently renovated and refurbished, keeping the character and elegance of the estate, the accommodation here is nothing short of excellent. Our families and friends were able to stay onsite and we had use of the outside Deer Park Kitchen for an informal bbq on the night before. This was a great opportunity for family and friends to get to know each other ahead of the big day, making a more cohesive wedding day.
The Service
From the moment we arrived and met Head of Weddings, Livi, we had instant confidence in her. She wasn’t insincere, over the top or desperate to get us to book our wedding. Instead she was relaxed, let the beauty and history of the venue sell itself and told us that it was our wedding day, and that she was open to letting us do everything how we wanted. She had an integrity and honesty about her, that we both instantly bonded with. That first impression was right and even post event, she is still exactly the same and still in contact with us.
Livi is effortlessly in control of everything. She contacted all of our supplies and ensured that everything was in place, without us having to be involved. She kept us informed, arranged meetings with us and maintained contact with us throughout the planning process. On the wedding day she was present, ensuring that we were being looked after, as well as guests and suppliers too. One of our suppliers even fed back to us that in all the years he has been working on weddings, he has never had a single venue take the time to show him around on his arrival.
Livi even went the extra mile to help us get the perfect golden hour photos. In spite of her natural glamour, she piled us all onto a buggy and took us off-road, with the photographer and videographer, across the estate to the lakes to get that perfect shot. She was incredible and is a true asset to the venue. We are forever grateful to her.
Of course Livi has a whole team at St Osyth. She was our primary contact throughout and on the day, but Molly arranged all of the accommodation for our guests, was present on the day too and was simply wonderful.
We don’t know the names of the other team members on the day, but everyone was friendly, professional, helpful and it was almost as if they were all sharing in the joy of our day. Every single member of the team that we encountered, offered their congratulations to us. They weren’t just their doing a job, they were a part of our day and all helped give us the wedding that we had dreamed of having.
Overall
Well, we can only give St Osyth Priory the full five stars. Everything we both wanted was delivered. They were collaborative with us and our suppliers too. Our wedding day was exactly what we wanted, with every detail delivered as planned. We simply feel we would not have attained this kind of experience with any other venue.
We cannot recommend St Osyth Priory to anyone getting married enough. And we recommend that you do not book any other venue until you have visited here.
A stunning venue, high end food, a wonderful team and weddings that you dream of! Thank you so much to everyone at St Osyth for our perfect, magical wedding day!