Weddings at Forde Abbey

Forde Abbey offers a truly spectacular location for celebrating your wedding. It affords a unique wedding experience by combining a beautiful and historic country house venue with award-winning gardens. Due to the monastic history of the building, and the sympathetic manner in which it has been converted into a family home, the features of the rooms on offer to bridal parties are not found in any other building in England. They combine to provide a venue that offers romance, elegance, grandeur and beauty not available anywhere else.

Forde Abbey has two rooms available for civil ceremonies:

The magnificent Great Hall will seat up to 200 people and offers an event of sheer grandeur. The Great Hall opens onto the front lawn through the archway of Chard’s Tower, allowing your guests to spill out into the beautiful gardens after the ceremony. For a winter ceremony, the fire and chandelier are lit, creating a warm and romantic atmosphere for you and your guests.

For a cosier ceremony, the Monks’ Refectory will accommodate up to 80 people. This room, which is not usually open to the public, allows a more intimate and informal setting and has its own entrance from the gardens.

Whichever venue you choose, you can be sure that your ceremony will be the only one hosted at Forde Abbey that weekend, giving you exclusivity of the house for an extra-special occasion. And we do not charge corkage, so you are free to provide your guests with a variety of drinks to suit your occasion.

Despite its Somerset address, Forde Abbey is in Dorset and so couples wishing a civil ceremony should contact Dorset County Council to book a registrar.

Following the ceremony, Forde Abbey is available for either an afternoon or evening reception.

To request a copy of our wedding pack please  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or to download a pdf of our wedding pack please click here.