Ellingham Hall
A Complete Review & Venue Guide - [Updated May 2023]
An Overview of Ellingham Hall
Ellingham Hall - Key Information:
The first thing couples should know about Ellingham Hall is that it offers couples a unique two-night wedding experience vs the in-and-out experience you often see at other North East wedding venues. Ellingham Hall also offers accommodation for up to 54 wedding guests included in the cost of your wedding. Often, couples will sub-let the bedrooms and cottages back to their guests to help recoup some of the wedding costs. It’s definitely something to think about if you haven’t already considered an approach like this to your wedding day.
Ellingham Hall Is Exclusively Yours For Two Nights
Couples and up to 68 wedding guests can arrive at Ellingham Hall from 4 pm the evening before their wedding day and have full and exclusive access to the hall and grounds to kick off the celebrations in style without having to worry about driving/travel the next day.
A pre-wedding feast will be prepared and served for everyone staying over the night before your wedding by Ellingham Hall’s award-winning chef Chris Allison and his team. When the morning of the wedding arrives, Chris and his team will prepare a delicious breakfast in the dedicated farmhouse kitchen so you can all get the wedding day off to a perfect start.
Ellingham Hall has two choices for an indoor ceremony as well as an extensive outdoor ceremony area too. Whichever option you choose it is guaranteed to be magical – especially when you get to make your grand entrance to each of those ceremony spaces via the elegant open staircase which sits at the heart of Ellingham Hall.
Drinks and Canapés are typically served beside the Front Lawn and Chapel Patio during the summer months. This area is one of my personal favourite parts of Ellingham Hall as the perfect backdrop for stunning photographs of all of your wedding guests, family and friends.
The Wedding breakfast is served in Ellingham Hall’s main dining space with the Top Table usually sitting right in front of Ellingham Hall’s famous grand fireplace.
Ellingham Hall requires a 20% deposit to secure your wedding date
Once your speeches and meal are over, wedding guests are invited for refreshments outside the dining room on the lawn and fantastic terraces spaces before heading back inside for the evening reception and entertainment.
You may think that all sounds amazing but it is not over yet, the next morning Head Chef and his team will again prepare a luxurious and hearty Northumbrian cooked breakfast only this time it will be served inside the beautiful Chapel space. Can you imagine how amazing that breakfast banquet will be when you all get to share your stories about the amazing two day’s you all shared at Ellingham Hall? I can’t think of a more perfect way to start your new life together – Can you?
- Two-Night Wedding Experience
- Exclusive Use
- Up to 140 Daytime Guests
- In-house Catering
- Dog-friendly Wedding Venue
- Excellent Staff
- Exceptional Food
- Amazing Canapés
- Outdoor Ceremony Available
- All-In-One Wedding Venue
- Great For All Seasons
- Fireworks & Sparklers Allowed
- Plenty of Outdoor Space
- Fantastic Atmosphere
- Not Suitable For A Marquee
Average Wedding Cost & Pricing at Ellingham Hall
All Costs & Pricing based on 2024 Estate Hire and a full wedding day with up to 80 guests to take place on a Saturday in April to September. (High Season)
( Prices and brochures correct as of May 2023 )
Ellingham Hall Virtual Tour - Full Video
Join me as I take a walk around the popular North East Wedding Venue Ellingham Hall. Taking a look at the entire estate, all the main function rooms including the bars and toilets. I even give you a full tour of all of the bedrooms and bathrooms in the main building including an exclusive sneak peek at the fantastic cottages available onsite.
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A Two-Night Wedding Experience £16000
Venue Hire & Accommodation for 54 Guests including breakfast and evening meal the night prior to the wedding day. (This may seem expensive but you can always recoup a lot of this cost by subletting the bedrooms back to your wedding guests - scroll to the Bedrooms section to find out more).
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Registrar £560
Essential for the legal proceedings
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Canapés £800
Treat your guests to 4 delicious Canapés during the Drinks Reception.
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Wedding Breakfast £5200
A traditional 5-Course Main Meal for 80 guests
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Evening Buffet £1196
A Selection of Barbecued Food
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Total Wedding Cost £23,756
(Does not include things like wedding photography, cake, flowers etc)
The Bedrooms at Ellingham Hall
There are a total of 17 bedrooms and suites within the main building of Ellingham Hall. The Superior Suite and the Gothic Suite are generally reserved for the Bride and Groom but the rest can be assigned to your guests however you see fit. In total, they sleep a maximum of 33 guests and there is a good mix of Kingsize, Double and Single bedrooms to choose from.
With all of the bedrooms at Ellingham Hall being included in the initial cost of hiring the wedding venue – the price can seem quite high compared to other North East Wedding Venues. The difference here is that guests usually have to pay for their own accommodation at other venues like Le Petit Chateau and Newton Hall and where the price can be as high as £250 per night if you times that cost by two-nights it really starts to skyrocket!
Use this Pro Tip to cut the price of your wedding in half!
A unique and interesting idea I know many couples have done in the past is to sublet the bedrooms to their wedding guests in the same way a normal hotel would. As an example, you could set a charge for each individual room or have a set price for each person per night.
Let’s say that you hired out the whole Ellingham Hall estate which sleeps 54 people if you include all of the 18 bedrooms in the main building and all of the bedrooms within the 7 cottages. If you charged your guests £100 per night per person and don’t forget all of their food and breakfasts are included in that price, you could recoup a whopping £13,600 on the cost of your wedding. That’s more than half the total cost of the wedding! Crazy!
Below is a breakdown of all the bedrooms in the Main Building. It’s worth pointing out that not all bedrooms have an ensuite and guests will have to share a bathroom with others on that floor.
First Floor Rooms:
- 1 x Bridal Suite
- 5 x Double Bedrooms
- 1 x Twin Bedroom (2 Singles)
- 1 x Single Bedroom
Second Floor Rooms:
- 1 x Bridal Suite
- 6 x Double Bedrooms
- 1 x Twin Bedroom (2 Singles)
- 1 x Single Bedroom
You can click here to download the Full Bedroom Floor Plan for Ellingham Hall
The Cottages at Ellingham Hall
Set within the leafy, private estate of Ellingham Hall are 7 stylish and luxurious holiday cottages that sleep up to 36 guests. Each cottage has its own unique look and feel, whilst also sharing a high standard of furnishings and facilities.
The hire of the cottages is an additional extra on the wedding day but I have already included the cost in my pricing breakdown at the top of this review and guide as I think the added value they provide is worth it on so many levels. You get to have all of your favourite people in one place for the whole weekend and no-one will ever feel left out or like they don’t have their own space to relax if needed. Plus you can use my Pro Tip from the above Bedroom section to cut the price of your wedding in half!
- 4 x Three-Bedroom Cottages
- 3 x Two-Bedroom Cottages (1 x Dog-friendly)
You can click here to download Ellingham Hall’s Floor Plan for the Cottages on the estate
The Two Indoor Ceremony Areas at Ellingham Hall
Ceremonies at Ellingham Hall typically take place at 1 pm and last for around 30 minutes or so. If you’re planning an outdoor ceremony you can have that outside on the front lawn by the huge trees – If that doesn’t sound like you, then you have two fantastic choices as to where your wedding ceremony can take place indoors.
The first and most popular choice with couples is the Dining Room. As this space is a smaller space than the Historic Chapel (Area 2) it usually has a much better atmosphere but be aware – this ceremony space can only accommodate up to a maximum of 100 wedding guests so if you are planning on having more than 100 you might be better off in the much larger Historic Chapel as it can hold up to 140 guests.
No matter which space you choose for your wedding ceremony you will still get to have your grand entrance via the stunning open staircase that sits at the heart of Ellingham Hall.
Walking down here on your way to getting married is a truly magical moment and makes for some spectacular photographs. It’s also a unique feature to Ellingham Hall that you won’t find at many other North East Wedding Venues.
Important: Before confirming a date with Ellingham Hall you must check that there is a Registrar available to marry you first.
To check availability, you can contact the Northumberland Registrars directly on 01665 602870. For 2021/22 Weddings, there’s a £45 non-refundable booking fee to pay to secure a Registrar. After that, you can expect to pay Northumberland County Council a further £515 for the service and ceremony fees depending on the date you chose.
Confetti is allowed outdoors at Ellingham Hall after your wedding ceremony. It often takes place on the Chapel Patio which also happens to be the main entrance to the building and makes for excellent photo opportunities.
The Bridal Suite at Ellingham Hall
The main bridal suite at Ellingham Hall – also known as the Gothic Suite – sits on the first floor and overlooks the main driveway and lawn leading into Ellingham Hall. The French-inspired suite is gorgeously light and spacious and in my eyes probably the best Bridal Suite in the North East.
Probably the best Bridal Suite in the North East
There is a super kingsize bed, an opulent 4-piece bathroom suite with free standing roll top bath. A large private dressing room for hanging your wedding dress and having hair and makeup done as well as an oriel window seat where you can look out and watch your wedding guests arriving.
The Gothic Suite is the perfect place to share some truly special moments with your family and friends on the morning of your wedding. It is elegant, light, spacious and airy and makes for stunning photographs. From the suite, it is just a short walk to the Grand Staircase where you will make your entrance to the ceremony.
Ellingham Hall is Dog-friendly!
One of my favourite things about Ellingham Hall is that it is a Dog-Friendly wedding venue which means you won’t have to leave your best buddy behind! However, it’s worth noting that pets are not permitted on the first and second floors but anywhere else in the venue is okay. Ellingham Hall even have a dog-friendly cottage on site. Perfect!
If you’re not sure if you want your pet at the wedding or you’d like them to be there for just an hour or so for photographs – Wishbone Weddings offer a VIP personalised chaperone service for your dog and will pick-up, walk, play, pamper and take care of your dog during your wedding day. They will also drop off your dog to an agreed location. Prices start from just £150.
Featured Wedding Galleries at Ellingham Hall
Megan & Shaun
Ami & Kamron
The Dining Area at Ellingham Hall
The Historic Chapel is where you’ll be having your speeches, meal and evening party at Ellingham Hall. It’s a gigantic and ambient hall with high ceilings and a fantastic modern mezzanine that overlooks the entire space.
Many couples choose the Ellingham Hall Historic Chapel for their wedding ceremonies too and I have personally photographed many styled shoots here for the top wedding magazines and blogs. It’s a gorgeous room!
At Ellingham Hall the wedding speeches and meal generally start around 4 pm in the afternoon and finish around 6 pm or 6:30 pm depending on the length of speeches and the number of guests needing to be served.
All chairs, crockery, cutlery, glassware, napkins, table number stands, are included at no extra charge on the day. Any additional decorations such as centrepieces, runners, placemats and favours would need to be sourced by yourself.
If you are planning on bringing your own decorations or hiring styling companies such as The Whole Sch-bang, Rosewood Co, The Master Cakesmith and Coco Luminaire create your dream look.
Providing you book Ellingham Hall for a two-night stay – suppliers can get access to set up for you on the evening before your wedding.
Pro Tip: After your meal is a great time to sneak off for some quiet time together and get a few extra photographs with your wedding photographer.
Your DJ/Entertainment can get access to set up around 6:30 pm.
Food Menus for Ellingham Hall
Each year, Ellingham Hall’s award-winning chef, Chris Allison and his team create a brand new tantalizing menu for attending wedding guests. Compromising a large choice of amazing dishes, (including vegetarian and vegan-friendly options) Chris can create a traditional 3-course meal or a spectacular 5-course feast for your wedding guests.
The average mealtime at Ellingham Hall is around 2 hours if your guest numbers are below 100. Expect things to take a little longer if you’re having more guests or planning on having extended speeches.
The price for a spectacular 5-course meal (Ellingham Hall’s top meal package) is £70 per person.
To begin, a choice of soups is served to keep your guest’s appetites at bay whilst the wedding speeches are going ahead.
The way the rest of the meal works is that you choose the three dishes that you’d like to be served to your guests for each course.
Popular Starters include the Venison Carpaccio, the Crab and Mussel Chowder and the Seared King Scallops.
For Mains, popular options include the Roasted Duck Breast, Pan Roasted Halibut and Grilled Turbot Fillet.
Again couples are spoilt for choice when it comes to desserts too. There’s a whole host of tantalising options to choose from with popular choices being Champagne, Strawberry and White Chocolate Ganache or the Buttermilk Panna Cotta.
The final and fifth course is a fabulous selection of local and French cheeses with all of the usual trimmings.
Quick Maths:
Based on 80 wedding guests the total price for food would be £5600
You can download a list of Ellingham Hall’s 2024 Food & Drinks Packages here.
It is worth noting that Ellingham Hall DOES allow you to purchase and serve your own alcoholic drinks at your Drinks Reception and Wedding Meal. The current price for corkage is by the bottle and costs £12.50 per 70cl bottle. However, you must let Ellingham Hall know if you will be providing your own drinks no later than 2 months before your wedding.
A bottle of Ellingham Hall’s house White or Red wine starts at £17.50 per bottle. So it’s up to you to decide if it is worth the hassle of pre-purchasing your own wine and then paying corkage on top. If you’re having 80 wedding guests and would like to give each guest two glasses of wine with their meal (This is the norm for most weddings) then you will need approximately 40 bottles of wine in a mixture of white and red or rosé if you prefer.
Drinks Packages for wedding guests are very popular these days and you’ll often find most North East Wedding Venues offer them in some form or another. Generally, a wedding venue drinks package will consist of an exclusive beer or cocktail of your choice that’s served to guests right after the wedding ceremony. Each guest will also get half a bottle of wine each during the meal as well as a glass of Prosecco when it comes time for the celebratory toasts. Lots of venues do it differently and some packages may be more extravagant than others. Ellingham Hall offers 4 types of drinks packages for couples to choose from ranging from £12-£30.
Canapé Options at Ellingham Hall
Canapés may seem like just another added wedding expense to some couples but apart from keeping your guests from going hungry they really do serve another very important purpose. Canapés are fantastic ice-breakers! I’ve been to so many weddings in the past where the post-ceremony atmosphere has at times seemed a little awkward for some reason. I can’t quite put my finger on why maybe it’s because there are lots of people attending that may only be meeting each other for the very first time but as soon as the canapés start coming out everyone starts mingling and having fun. It really does make a huge difference and it works fantastically for natural and candid photographs because no-one is paying the photographer any attention whatsoever – they’re fixated on the canapés on offer.
If canapés aren’t the right fit for you but you would like an alternative option to help your wedding guests get talking and mingling – I’d highly suggest hiring a musician or magician to come and entertain everyone for an hour or two! Better yet opt for Canapés and a little light entertainment and your wedding is off to an unforgettable start.
For music, I’d highly recommend an acoustic guitarists such as Jessica Avison, John Gatenby and Richard Sutton.
For magicians, You just can’t beat Luke Howells. He is unbelievable!
There’s a whole host of tasty canapés on offer at Ellingham Hall. As mentioned earlier – Canapés are usually served out during the Drinks Reception directly after your wedding ceremony.
For £10 per person, each guest can enjoy 4 canapés of your choosing. (There are Vegan and Vegetarian options available too)
Popular choices of Canapés are the Mini Yorkshire Puddings with Beef Fillets, French Toast and Maple Syrup or the Tandoori Baked Tiger Prawns with Mango Chutney but there are tons of other options available.
Quick Maths:
Pricing for Canapés is based on 80 guests having 4 Canapés at £10 per person. The total would be £800.
You can download the entire Food Menu for Ellingham Hall here.
Ellingham Hall is the Perfect Wedding Venue to Throw a BIG Party!
Once your meal is over and you’re off getting some beautiful photographs with your photographer – the staff at Ellingham Hall will begin to set up the Historic Hall ready for you to cut your cake, have your first dance and kick off the party in style!
How you choose to host the party is up to you! Ellingham Hall is open until midnight and even longer for guests that are staying overnight.
Music companies such as AMV Live Music offer a huge selection of amazing wedding bands and talented solo artists if you’re looking to entertain. A really good party band I’ve seen tear it up at North East wedding venues is House of Sax and Hip Hop Hooray but it all depends on what you’re into!
It’s worth noting that there are no disco lights in Ellingham Hall so you’ll need to use Ellingham Hall’s recommended DJs or find a one of your own that can provide lighting for you.
If you’re looking for a world-class DJ with a fresh new take on the outdated and often cringe-worthy wedding DJ – there is no one I would recommend more than Bride & Groove. I had them DJ at my own wedding last year and we didn’t stop dancing for the entire night!
Fireworks are not allowed at Ellingham Hall but Sparklers and Candles are OK. In fact, during the winter months, Ellingham Hall offers their couples an exclusive winter wedding experience where you can have a fairly lit Chapel, an evening sparkler reception, open fire pits and marshmallows for toasting. You even get cosy winter blankets and welcoming hot chocolates for each of your guests.
You can invite additional evening guests if you wish to. The maximum capacity for Ellingham Hall is 180 so if you have 80 there on the day you can have a further 100 guests arrive in the evening if you wanted to have a mega party.
If you do invite more guests, it is advised to ask them to arrive from 7:30 pm onwards so that you’ve had plenty of time to finish your meal and the DJ/Entertainment can be set up.
Usually, the bride and groom will cut the cake around 8 pm so that gives everyone a chance to grab a drink and mix with the other guests before the cake cutting, first dance and evening’s entertainment gets underway.
It’s worth pointing out that Ellingham Hall requires that all evening guests be catered for with food. They offer another meal for all wedding and evening guests at around 9:00 pm after an hour of dancing.
Just as with the regular Wedding Breakfast menu – There are tons of food choices available for the evening meal.
Ellingham Hall offers a variety of buffet-style evening meals and BBQs for your guests. They have everything from Locally Souced Fish & Chips to Hot Dog Carts and Northumbrian Hog Roasts. Evening food always goes down so well with wedding guests and it can help soak up some of that alcohol so you can all party a little longer!
Prices for evening food start at £14.95 per person depending on the style of meal you choose.
You can download Ellingham Hall’s entire Food and Drinks Menu here.
A Sample Timeline for a Perfect Wedding Day at Ellingham Hall
Hotels & Airbnb's Near Ellingham Hall
If you’ve booked out all the bedrooms and cottages on the Ellingham Hall Estate and still need somewhere for your extra guests to stay – I’ve got you covered!
I’ve searched the entire local area to find out all of the best alternative accommodation options for your family and guests.
Is Ellingham Hall Worth The Money?
So what is the bottom line? Is Ellingham Hall worth it? I have to say it is a resounding yes from me! You’re guaranteed to have the perfect wedding weekend at Ellingham Hall.
The stunning scenery and hospitality couples can expect at Ellingham Hall are second to none. Couple that with the option to hire the entire estate as a two-night wedding experience and at the same time cut down the cost of your wedding day dramatically. You can have a wedding day at Ellingham Hall like no other wedding venue in the North East of England.
My advice is that Ellingham Hall should be top of your list of North East wedding venues to visit before choosing your wedding venue.
I’d highly recommend all interested couples to call Ellingham Hall and request a tour of the wedding venue and estate. You’ll only ever get married once so make sure you choose a wedding venue that speaks to your heart.
Looking for a friendly and chilled wedding photographer who will mix well with your guests?
I capture the day exactly how it happens whilst giving my brides gorgeous and natural photos.
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