Ideal Wedding Venues – Getting Married in a UK Castle

Wedding venues such as a stately home or a UK castle are definitely becoming more of a popular option; especially, since the laws surrounding civil marriages were changed making getting married in a UK castle much more of a feasible option. Certainly, the limit to the wedding venues is only limited to the number of castles licensed for weddings in the UK. A conservative count, excluding Ireland, would make the number around 51, with 35 of those in Scotland alone. There are also a large number of castles in the Republic of Ireland available as wedding venues.

Blairquhan-Castle-Maybole-Scotland
Blairquhan-Castle-Maybole-Scotland

Civil Marriage Act

The law in Scotland is independent to that in England and Wales. In England and Wales the 1949 Marriage Act was updated to enable civil weddings to be solemnised at locations other than in religious establishments or designated registry offices, along with amendments for alternative wedding venues in Scotland.  This opened the floodgates of hotels, stately homes and hotels, applying to the individual Superintendent Registrars responsible for the registry district each location was sited in, for a license to solemnise weddings on their premises. A lesser known place and possibly one of the more unusual wedding venues is the Editor’s office of the Daily Mirror at Canada Square, Isle of Dogs in London.

UK Castles as Wedding Venues

Whether you decide to marry in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland there is a castle licensed for your wedding to be held. There are also innumerable wedding venues in the Republic of Ireland, despite not being part of the United Kingdom. There is a particularly good choice in Scotland if you decide on getting married in a UK castle. There are fewer castles in England itself that hold a license, with even fewer in Wales: Craig-y-nos Castle, Ruthin Castle, Castell Coch and Cardiff Castle perhaps being the better known.

Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle

Cistercian Abbey

Aside from getting married in a UK castle, marrying in an original 12th century Cistercian abbey has to be the next best thing, and the closest you could come to getting married in a UK castle if none of the real thing is located close enough: as wedding venues Coombe Abbey, set amongst 500 acres of parkland is certainly one of the wedding venues to be considered. However, for a real castle setting, how about considering Lumley Castle as one of your wedding venues?

Too Many to Choose From

Described as a ‘haven of peace and tranquillity’ Lumley Castle is a genuine 14th century castle that, as wedding venues go, offers an ideally luxurious location to get married amidst fairytale romance. Standing in County Durham, in the north of England, this castle offers guests’ rooms that are each decorated to reflect the aura and ambience this resilient castle inspires. So many and so varied are the wedding venues within these enduring locations that it would be impossible to discuss each one in detail. However, getting married in a UK castle, wherever it is sited throughout the United Kingdom, remains one of the most popular wedding venues where the ceremony and the reception can both be held in the same venue: a pleasant location that often has sufficient room for the guests to be catered for overnight – always an additional bonus.

For more luxury wedding castle venues, visit our directory of stunning wedding venues.