A Georgian manor · The English countryside
The front door is yours. Ashden Manor hosts one wedding at a time.
One wedding at a time. Up to 100 guests, from the ceremony to the last dance, and nobody else checking in.
- One wedding at a time
- 100 guests, at most
- Indoor ceremony room
- In-house kitchen
- Dogs very welcome
Exclusive use, explained
Two registers. One wedding day.
This is what "exclusive use" actually means. Here is a hotel's book of arrivals on your wedding day, and here is ours.
A hotel
on your wedding day
- Room 14Mr & Mrs Hale, anniversary weekend
- Room 22late check-in, 11 pm
- OrangeryHenderson Ltd, sales away-day
- Ballroomanother wedding, 4 pm
- Spatwelve day guests
- Baropen to non-residents
- Function suiteyour wedding, squeezed in from 2 pm
Ashden Manor
on your wedding day
The whole house: the two of you, and the hundred people you invited.
Nobody else on the page, and nobody else in the house.
Keys signed out to you
- iCeremony room
- iiDining room
- iiiDressing room
- ivKitchen
- vGardens
The order of the day
Ceremony to last dance, under one roof.
Every wedding here is a full day, and each one runs to its own clock. Here's roughly how a day might go. Watch the light change as you scroll.
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Morning: The dressing room
A private room to get ready in, with the people you want around you and a door that closes behind them. Put the music on. Nobody is waiting to use it after you.
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Early afternoon: Up the drive
Guests come through the gates to a house that is expecting only them. There’s no lobby, no front desk and nobody else’s wedding on a sign.
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Two o’clock: The ceremony room
You say your vows indoors, in a room meant for it. If the English weather turns, nothing has to change. The day stays as you planned it.
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Half past three: Out into the gardens
Drinks and canapés move out onto the lawns. There’s room for the children to run, for the dog to follow them, and for old friends to catch up properly.
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Golden hour: Just the two of you
Your photographer has the whole grounds to work with, and nobody walks into the back of your shots. Ten minutes on your own, with the house quiet behind you.
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Seven-thirty: The Georgian dining room
Dinner is cooked by a kitchen whose only job that day is your wedding. Then come the speeches, the toasts, and someone’s uncle going on a bit too long.
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Late: The party
Shoes come off and the dance floor fills. For one night it’s your house, and nobody upstairs is trying to sleep. It’s still yours when the last car pulls away.
Is 100 enough?
Write the list.
both mums×2both dads×2Gran, who’ll cry firstGrandpathe siblings×4their other halves×3nieces and nephews×5the aunt with the hatsUncle Pete, and Uncle Pete’s speechthe cousins×11godparents×3the wedding party×8the school lot×7the uni lot×10the flatmate who introduced youwork friends who became real friends×6the five-a-side team×5book club×4the neighbours who fed the cat×2the couple you met in Lisbon×2your oldest friendplus-ones×12family friends you’ve known forever×7the one you nearly forgot
…and the dog, who doesn't count.
That's a hundred. Everyone you'd cross a room to hug, and at Ashden you'll actually get round to all of them. Dinner feels full rather than cavernous. Nobody is a plus-one of a plus-one. When you look up from the top table, you'll know every face.
The table
Food is a big part of what we do.
Our catering is all in-house. That means one kitchen, one team, and a single wedding to cook for that day. The people who plan your menu with you are the people who cook it, a few rooms away from the table.
It's what your guests will talk about in the car home, after the vows.
- On the lawn
- Canapés passed round while you're still off having photographs taken
- In the dining room
- Dinner at the table, then speeches, then the toasts
- Later on
- Something to keep the dance floor going
Before you ask
The questions everyone asks first.
Straight answers to the four things every couple wonders about, and a few more besides.
01Is 100 guests enough?
For most couples, yes, and it usually makes for a better day. Write the list and you’ll see: a hundred is everyone you’d cross a room to hug, and here you’ll actually get round to all of them. If your list is longer, we’ll tell you honestly. We’re not the right house for it.
02Will it feel too formal?
Only if you want it to. It’s a Georgian manor, so it has the proportions and the good bones, but it’s a house rather than an institution. Dogs are welcome, shoes come off by nine, and the evening is yours to make as loud as you like. Elegant and warm, never stuffy.
03Is exclusive use worth it?
It’s the whole point of Ashden. You aren’t sharing the corridors, the gardens or the staff with anyone. There are no hotel guests in your photographs and no second wedding next door, and the kitchen is cooking for one party. It’s the difference between being hosted and being fitted in.
04How is this different from a nice hotel?
A hotel is a business that has a wedding in it on Saturday. On your wedding day, Ashden is only your wedding. You arrive to an empty house, not a lobby, and the rooms, the gardens and the people who work here are all yours.
05Can our dog come?
Yes. Ashden is pet-friendly, and plenty of couples want their dog in the photographs. Tell us about them on the reply card and we’ll plan for them.
06Do you do the food?
Yes, all our catering is in-house, and food is a big part of what we do. Your menu comes from our own kitchen, which only has your wedding to cook for that day.
07Can we get a price before we visit?
Yes, please ask. Send your date (or a rough season) and your guest numbers on the reply card below, and we’ll come back with a figure. You shouldn’t have to drive out and see the place just to find out whether it’s in budget.
Kindly reply
Tell us your date. We'll tell you a price.
No brochure request and no "call us to discuss". Give us a date or a season and roughly how many guests, and we'll come back with a real figure for the whole house. Then, if you like it, come and walk round.
Thank you
We'll reply to .