This wedding season, it's all about "the scene". Though there's much to love about embroidered veils and Swiss meringue, modern lovers know that such sweet details don't hold a candle to the destination. Recollections of calligraphed menus and wildflower bouquets may pale, but there are two things that live on in eternal vividity: the people and the place. That's where Unique Homestays comes in... among our collection, we hold some of the nation's most exclusive private wedding destinations, and our connections with leading wedding planners, photographers, and private caterers are the cards up our beaded cap sleeves.
Here, we highlight some of the UK's best pre-nuptial, wedding, and elopement destinations; places where no idea is too grand, no wish too far-fetched, and no serenade too sentimental. Be it a great family gathering or secluded mountaintop vows under the new moon, these venues will indulge your every wedding whim. And when it comes to the honeymoon, there's in-room bathtubs, roaring woodburners, and clifftop terraces made for slow dancing into the wee hours.
Where to be wed
In fair Devon, where we lay our scene, you'll find a London dandy's secret retreat turned historic wedding venue: think Arts and Crafts museum meets collegiate library and you'll be partway there. With room for up to 150 guests, The Lost Music Hall counts orchards, walled gardens, and a grand music room among its humanist ceremony spaces. Anything is possible here: set up long banquet tables festooned with eucalyptus and peonies for a classic wedding breakfast, have a folk band perform on the grand Italianate terrace, or bring in food trucks for a backyard jubilee. We see it as a sweethearts' playground in the land of milk and honey.
Enquire about The Lost Music Hall.
Let them have their grandiose weddings. Lovers with their hearts set on a humbler affair will be smitten with Gwendolyn, a caricatured Cornish cottage made for "Shakespeare meets Sienna Miller" micro-weddings. Here, the guest list is capped at twenty, the portraits are drenched in golden hour light on Perranporth Beach, and hounds in bow ties gallivant around the garden. Wrapped in the merry din of a string quartet, the party can sip on martinis while newlyweds have their first dance as sparklers bounce off the glass-like pond. Think of it as a luxury coastal elopement with a touch of Malibu appeal.
Enquire about Gwendolyn.
Browse the wedding and elopement venues.
Where to gather
Need a place to gather in royal style? Meet Orpheus. Perhaps for a pre-wedding gathering where parents meet in-laws, or maybe for a spot of post-wedding mindfulness with your nearest and dearest before the international flight out to some far-flung honeymoon hideaway. Inside this fully-renovated Suffolk manor, you'll find empire garland chandeliers, a state-of-the-art cinema, spa, and gym, and the same palatial bathtubs you would find in Buckingham Palace's bedchambers. Its grounds, with a pool that could be lifted from Lake Como, were made for the footloose and fancy-free: think sun-drenched garden party meets Hollywood retreat.
Think of it as the grown-ups' answer to “that room’s mine!” - across four dwellings on a foliate parcel of edge-of-Cotswolds land, and sleeping up to 25 guests, this celebratory cluster of barns and cottages is our largest offering yet. Be you seven or seventy, wine-swiller or yarn-spinner, you'll find no end of hiding places and gathering spaces at The Marlings. Never has an estate been so primed for barefoot garden parties, poolside coming-togethers, and Pimms-fuelled tennis tournaments: it's more private family resort than holiday home.
Browse the large gathering houses.
Where to honeymoon
Boondock hikers would be forgiven for thinking they'd stumbled upon a cubic mirage. Every inch the picture book cottage, it’s hard to believe that Tincture is more than a figment of imagination. Tucked away in Wales' Cambrian Mountains, with biodiverse gardens and swaying groves all around, this must be what Thoreau meant when he said, “I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees”. If you want Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Sicilian ricotta cake, you can have it; but a honeymoon here is all about soulful connections with your beau, and dancing to the rhythm of the woods.
Browse the honeymoon collection or read our top five UK honeymoon ideas.
