St Matthew’s Church Guildford
St Matthew’s Church in Stirling Square Guildford is surrounded by quaint treed lawns and cottage garden beds. Situated at the doorway to the Swan Valley it is a wedding ceremony venue chosen by many couples seeking a church wedding before heading to one of the Swan Valley reception centres.
It seems almost normal in the grounds of the historic Guildford’s Stirling Square to see vintage wedding carriages delivering a bridal party to a wedding at St Matthew’s Church as has been occurring for a 150 years now. No doubt Rolls Royce wedding cars have been attending services at the area since the early 1900’s.
Located at the centre of Stirling Square the church is surrounded by park land giving the ceremony a sense of privacy not experienced at many other locations in Perth. The red brick church has period arched door ways and shady trees giving photographers lots of interesting shaded nooks for the family and some feature photography.
The Stirling Square gazebo is also a popular wedding ceremony location for a garden themed wedding.
Wedding Limousine Access
Stirling Square has vehicle access to the church from both Meadow Street (West Swan Road in Guildford) and Johnson Street to the east.
Johnson Street entrance
The Johnson Street entrance is the preferable entrance for church wedding traffic. It has easy access for all classic wedding cars and stretch limos like our Chrysler limousines. Smaller classic cars and shorter limousines can proceed along the drive to the door of the church to deliver the bridal party to the ceremony. These cars can then drive around the church and then usually park in the photographic nook to the south of the church under the shade of the trees.
Longer stretched limos will need to drop the bridal party near the church entrance but will need the path around the church to be clear to easily proceed around the church due to the tight turning circle required.
Meadow Street entrance
The Meadow Street entrance is through an avenue of famous Guildford sugar gum trees which is popular with wedding photographers and videographers. The turn off Meadow Street is quite sharp and not recommended for long stretch limos as it requires two or three corrections in a Chrysler limousine to get through the narrow gate. Classic wedding cars handle the entrance with ease if you would like your videographer to capture a grand entrance to the ceremony.
Click on an image to open or close the gallery.
St Matthew’s Church contact details
A Stirling Square, off Meadow Street Guildford
T (08) 9379 9400
W St Matthew’s Church
Wedding cars at St Matthew’s Church
When booking wedding cars and limousines for a ceremony at St Matthew’s Church or the gazebo in Stirling Square it is important to choose a business that understands the layout of the venue and will help to set the wedding cars into a position that compliments your wedding photography.
Belle Classic Limousines chauffeurs will gladly assist your photographer by positioning the wedding car into a position for optimum wedding location shots.
The following forms are the best for inquiring about or booking your wedding transport with Belle Limousines.
St Matthew’s Church Guildford
Brides enter St Matthew’s Church from the door at the western end of the church. Wedding photos of the bridal party entering and the couple leaving the church will be taken from the west looking back to the church so it is desirable to have the bridal car facing west near the entrance when setting down. This is achieved by driving along the southern end of the church and parking the car next to the entrance door at the western end.
Ask the bride if she has a preferred entry point to the church grounds which may have been discussed with her photographer. The Johnson Street (western) entrance is the the one used most often.
Entering the church grounds from Johnson Street
The picket fence entry gate is quite narrow so drivers of the stretched Chrysler limousines will need to be careful lining the limo up to the driveway. The narrow bridge near the church entrance also needs caution.
Unless the bride requests otherwise, drive to the church and around the church past the northern side and back along the southern side to get the best positioning of the wedding car for photos on either side of the ceremony. The photographer will then get great shots of the bride exiting the car from the passenger side with the church in the background.
Entering the church grounds from Meadow Street
If the bride and her photographer or videographer have organised to capture an entry along the sugar gum lined drive from Meadow Street take care when entering the gates as you leave the road. Chrysler limousines may need two or three adjustments to be aligned to go through the gate. A slow speed along the drive is best for the photographers and caution is needed for pedestrians using the park. Approach the church entrance from the southern side of the church and park as discussed previously.
Popular photo locations at Stirling Square
The sugar gum driveway
The gazebo
The church transept (southern door)
Wedding guest parking
There is no clearly designated guest parking at Stirling Square. Wedding guests usually park along Stirling Street adjacent to the rail line or in western end of Stirling Square on the lawned areas leading to or around the church. It is important for the couple to give some direction to guests about parking otherwise they often park beside the church which will clutter the background of all your wedding photos at the venue with randomly parked cars. It is a shame to spoil this beautiful wedding venue with unnecessary intrusions in your wedding photos.
Stirling Street
Stirling Street is currently being redeveloped adjacent to Stirling Square to provide additional parking for the station. This area may become suitable for guest parking.
Stirling Square
We recommend that you ask your guests to park on the lawn area before the fountain as they enter off Johnson Street. It is only a short walk to the church and elderly guests could be dropped at the church entry before parking the car back near the gates.
The southern side of the church is popular for wedding photos because of the shade it provides. For the same reason it is popular with wedding guests. It is too difficult to have cars moved in the short photo period after the ceremony so you need to have a plan in place for guests so the area is available for you.
As noted earlier you wedding transport will normally need to drive around the church and cars parked in this area are a hinderance, especially for stretch limousines.
