Why do so many people get married at stately homes?

[diningiswest]

They're expensive, almost always a pig to get to and everything looks the same (gilding, nice gardens, mostly marquee).

And - although I accept that this isn't what most people would think - we're paying our money to the upper classes to keep them lording it over us.

Because they want the grandeur of a cathedral without the perceived inconvenience of God.

Did you get married at a stately home?

Because they are nice places and surroundings to get married in and they usually provide a complete wedding package.

I've never found one difficult to get too. Which one did you?

Yeah I’ve always found it weird people choose castles etc for their wedding, like they are pretending to be a princess for the weekend

They're lovely venues and create a beautiful set of atmospheric surroundings that feel special, with large enough rooms and kitchens to cater for large parties.

I didn't get married in one, but I enjoy attending weddings at them.

I'm not seeing your puzzlement, tbh.

Another way of putting this might be…because they want beautiful architecture and a lovely garden setting, without the necessity to engage with a supernatural belief system they do not share.

God isn’t an inconvenience to atheists. He’s an irrelevance.

I didn't but "in my day" you got married in church or at the local registry office. The law changed regarding wedding venues about 2 years after Mr Moasty Toasty and I tied the knot.

What a daft question.

They are big so have large rooms big enough to accommodate 100/150 people together.

They have large gardens in which people can congregate. Nicely designed gardens that are beautiful.

They tend to be very beautiful and build with design in mind.

They are available to book as the owners rent them out.

Registry offices don't include the meal, you can't get married in a church if you aren't religious and you can't get married in the pub. Meanwhile many big house-type venues have registrar arrangement and are licensed to marry people, plus they are used to catering for large numbers at once.

They're nice settlngs for a nice day.

That's it. It's not complicated.

I got married in a castle. It was local, familiar to most of the guests and easy to get to. We didn't get the whole package and had the meal and the evening do elsewhere. The upper classes didn't get a penny it went to English Heritage and we got some lovely photos.

Because they want to and the local tip doesn't have a license?

Why do you think it's strange for people to get married where they want ? I got married in an old stately home that is now a hotel with fabulous gardens. we were able to book the whole venue out it wasn't impossible to get too. 10 mins drive off motorway. most of our guests drove an hour max. plenty of room for everyone to stay and park. ceremony reception photos everything on site so allowed us to have it later in day and no travelling to different church and reception for guests. it was amazing. I specifically didn't want the generic church then hotel function room wedding which is more common where i live .

Because they are pretty and have the wow factor many want these days, and they offer packages and do all the organising so couples don’t have to.
I’d never pay those prices myself but many couples want big weddings with beautiful photos

Do you think women wearing traditional wedding dresses are weird for pretending to be princesses?

I've never quite understood the allure of big, extravagant weddings. Even as a child, I never dreamed of one. To me, a wedding is an intimate moment between two people—a celebration of love, not spectacle. I always imagined something simple, perhaps just a small gathering with family and a few close friends.
When I got married, circumstances made that simplicity a necessity. As an immigrant, far from my family and without much money, we held our wedding in our tiny apartment, surrounded by a dozen dear friends. The entire affair cost around five hundred pounds, including my dress and my husband's suit. The only thing I wished for was my parents' presence, but beyond that, I wouldn’t change a single thing.

Yep I was invited to a wedding at stately home, barely any food and had to buy all of our own hideously priced drinks.

If you want to posh wedding you need to actually be able to afford it and think about your guests not just the photos

Who says it has to be a princess style dress? Plenty of slimline white dresses?

I don't know anyone at all who got married at a stately home.

I would imagine that the people who choose them like them because the surroundings are attractive and they offer good wedding packages and have lots of lovely places for photos. Not really any different from getting married in a country house hotel, is it, so I'm not sure what the issue is.

I loathe the concept of aristocracy, but ultimately stately home is simply a business with an owner and employees and I really don't think that a business that happens to be owned by a random lord is any worse than a hotel chain owned by a Russian oligarch or something.

And unless people visited them and/or paid for events there, they would just end up being sold off as hotels - and therefore hosting weddings anyway - or would fall into disrepair. Some properties would end up going up going to the National Trust but the NT's funds aren't unlimited.

Because they’re pretty and offer wedding packages 🤷🏻‍♀️

What a dumb question

I guess because of the whole package offers however they are dull as ditchwater & next one same as last despite the bride & groom believing it to be unique to them. In the last 5 years I’ve been to 6 weddings at the same venue & I can’t remember which wedding was who’s they were all the same standard of bland

Equally as a guest I would know in at least a year in advance where the wedding is and be prepared to pay silly prices if I want a drink

They are nice, and you can have the whole day there. Ceremony, wedding breakfast then the party later on. Some have accommodation so people travelling can stay there too.
My sister got married to her husband at the private school he used to go to, so he had a connection to that venue. They also had the whole day there.

I have been to a church wedding where we then had to travel to a pub whilst the couple had photos done, go to another venue for food, then another again for the evening do. It was a pain in the bum.

It’s hard to find a venue big enough to host of you are from a large family. We had 80 during the day with 40 more at night. Plenty of marquees which I really didn’t want and a couple of hotels were our only reasonably local options but there were plenty of castles to choose from. The castle we chose was far cheaper than the hotels too. The photos are obviously better the generic ‘hotel wedding’ photos too.

We were married in a church so it was just a reception venue we were after.