Find Your Ideal Wedding Venue

Choosing your wedding venue is one of the biggest decisions you will make when planning your wedding. It can also be one of the most challenging. Your venue is going to have a huge impact over the look and feel of your special day, so it makes sense to spend as long as you need to find the perfect wedding location. Here you can find some of the UK's best wedding venues and filter down by location, capacity, price, type and more.

You'll need to be organised if you want to secure a popular wedding venue or somewhere that offers a limited number of weddings per year, as many couples tend to book between 18-24 months in advance of the big day. For this reason, if you are planning last minute, you may find a fantastic wedding venue deal.

Find your perfect wedding venue online

An online search can quickly reveal everything you need to know about a venue. Dip into beautiful photography and videos. Take a virtual tour through hallways and reception rooms. Find important information like floor plans, capacities, availability, and cost.

When it comes to venue planning, we know what matters most. Our detailed and interactive listings are how we are able to answer some of your most frequently searched terms like “wedding venues near me”, setting you up with your area's most breathtaking venues.

Plus with our availability checker, you'll be able to find venues that have your date (or a similar one) available.

How much should I budget for my wedding venue?

As a starting point, most couples spend around 45% of their wedding budget on their venue and catering costs. But, it will really depend on your priorities with some couples spending up to 60% of their budget on these 2 elements.

In reality, there is no right or wrong when it comes to how much you and your partner choose to spend on your venue as everyone's desires for their wedding day will be different. Couples who have their hearts set on a country house wedding venues will likely spend more than those who want to be married in a pub or restaurant. Couples that want to have a three course meal with canapes and petit fours as their wedding food will likely spend more than those who are happy with an afternoon tea wedding breakfast.

So, if you have a wedding budget of £20,000 for example, you'll want to reserve around £9,000 for the venue and catering as you begin your venue search. Then, once you find a wedding venue you love, you can make a judgement on whether to increase (or decrease) that spend!

Local wedding venues - near you

Getting married and celebrating your newlywed status at a local wedding venue is a very special thing. Your hometown and locality is often part of your identity and when you find an absolute gem of a venue just a short drive or even a walk from your home, you know you're in luck!

If you are looking for a venue near you, you have come to the right place. On Guides for Brides you can filter through our venue listings and search by location, budget, venue type, features and more. So, you can be sure that you will find an exceptional setting in your local area.

What type of wedding venue can I choose for my big day?

There are so many wedding venues at your finger tips, explore the wide variety using our venue finder. Here are some of the most popular types of wedding venue and what to look out for to ensure it suits you.

Civil ceremony licensed wedding venues

Civil ceremony licensed wedding venues enable you to hold both the legal wedding ceremony and the reception in the same place and can often be a hotel, wedding barn, stately home or castle. These complete wedding venues have one or more rooms licensed for civil ceremonies. Prior to the pandemic, you had to be married beneath a permanent structure for your civil ceremony. Since then, the law has changed to allow couples marrying in England or Wales to do so outside as long as it is within the grounds of a licensed wedding venue.

Those marrying in Scotland and Northern Ireland don't need to worry about ensuring their venue is licensed for civil ceremonies as it is the officiant that is licensed in these nations and not the venue. So, you have a much wider choice when it comes to where to host your legally binding wedding ceremony. The law is hopefully going to be changing in England and Wales to allow for a similar system to Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2023-2024.

Reception venues

If you have carried out your wedding legalities in a church, town hall or registry office, your choice of wedding reception venues is unlimited as you won't need it to be licensed for weddings. This can also keep the cost down as these venues tend to be less busy so offer great wedding packages to encourage you to book. You'll want to identify somewhere that is suitable for the vibe you are wanting to achieve. So, if you fancy somewhere rustic and romantic, a barn wedding venue may be most suitable. Whereas, if you want a luxurious and opulent location, why not consider a stately home or even a castle wedding venue?

Equally, you'll want to make sure the space is suitable for any additional entertainment you are wanting for the evening, from making sure there is enough space for your ideal wedding band or DJ to ensuring you have the right capacity for your guest numbers.

Exclusive Use Venues

Most couples want an exclusive use wedding venue. This means that they want a setting that is private for them and their guests to celebrate. For this, we recommend looking for a dedicated wedding venue. Apart from the odd mid-week conference or Christmas party, these venues are purely focused on delivering weddings and are the most likely to offer exclusive-use of the space and any accommodation that is available onsite.

If you want to marry in a venue that is usually open to the general public, for example a golf club wedding venue, restaurant, a castle or a museum, the cost to have exclusive use of the wedding venue can be high or you may be limited to hosting the event when the space has officially closed to the public. So for example, if you want to marry in a museum, they may only allow your wedding ceremony to take place after 5pm when they've closed their doors and the event can be truly private. Similarly, for a large hotel wedding venue, you may need to commit to filling all the bedrooms to be able to have exclusive use of the property.

Dry Hire Wedding Venues

Dry hire wedding venues are perfect for those wanting a blank canvas space for their big day or for those planning a DIY wedding. You'll pay a flat fee to hire the space and, aside from maybe needing to use approved caterers, you have the freedom to choose whoever you want to work with when it comes to wedding suppliers. It is worth noting that when you choose a dry hire venue you are often needing to remember to budget for things like furniture hire and cleaning costs. Speak to the venue to find out what services are included within their hire fees and whether you will need to arrange any specialist cleaning or hire in your own chairs and tables for the day.

Land for hire

Similarly to dry hire wedding venues, land for hire is ideal if you are wanting a space to start totally from scratch without even a building in place. Land for hire venues are exactly what they say on the tin - land and fields that are available for you to hire at a flat fee. They are usually chosen by couples who want to have a marquee wedding but maybe don't have the space required at home. As with dry hire, you will need to find all of your wedding suppliers and in almost every case hire in your own marquee or tipi structure and furniture for the day.

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