Wollaton Hall Wedding
I recently attended the wedding of Darminder & Alexandra at Wollaton Hall in Nottinghamshire. I was there to act as wedding dog chaperone for their Samoyed cross breed dog Snow. Wollaton Hall is certainly a grand looking venue as I hope this article will illustrate. Unfortunately I don’t have any images from the interior but it certainly looks impressive from images on their website.
Wollaton Hall History
Built in the 1580’s for Sir Francis Willoughby it remained in the family for hundreds of years. In 1925 it was bought by Nottingham City Council, opening as a museum a year later. Being owned by the council means Wollaton Hall is open to the public but is closed when they have a wedding booking. It was also used as a filming location, representing Wayne Manor in the film ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.
If you would like to visit Wollaton Hall as a tourist you can book guided tours on their website:
Weddings At Wollaton Hall
Wollaton Hall is contained within a much larger park that is open to the public. Guests to your wedding will need to park in one of the paid car parks, the nearest being just a few minutes walk from Wollaton Hall. Some wedding suppliers like caterers and the wedding car will be allowed to enter the gates and park within the main grounds. Once through the gates there is still plenty of space to walk a dog, without distractions from the public, other dogs or indeed the deer that the park is known for.
Wedding Ceremony & Reception
For most couples, the wedding ceremony will take place in the Great Hall which has a capacity for up to 100 people. The Great Hall can also be used for the wedding reception providing you don’t require space for more than 100 guests. For larger weddings, Wollaton Hall will have a marquee in the grounds where the reception can take place. A live feed of the ceremony can also be shown in the marquee should you have more than 100 guests attending the ceremony.
Once the ceremony has taken place, the official photographer will usually try and capture the group photos, using the rear of Wollaton Hall as a backdrop. Wedding guests will normally be served drinks and canapés in a large glass building called Camellia House. Camellia house can also be used for the ceremony and wedding reception if you so wish.
The gallery above gives a good idea of the venue as it includes images showing the hall itself, the marquee in the grounds as well as Camellia House. The images of Snow are just a bonus!
It should be noted that Wollaton Hall does not offer overnight accommodation. When making enquiries about weddings they will be able to give advice about local accommodation options for the wedding couple and guests. For the wedding I attended, Snow the dog and I left just before the wedding reception / breakfast was due to start and I returned him to the family home.
If you are a couple looking for a Nottinghamshire wedding venue where your dog can be part of your big day you might like to consider Wollaton Hall as an option.
