Weddings
at Wycombe Museum
A hidden oasis in the heart of High Wycombe
Castle Hill House, the home of Wycombe Museum, has been hosting weddings and creating happy marriages for over 120 years.
In 1901, Fred Skull and Ellen Peace celebrated their wedding in the gardens of Castle Hill House, which at the time was the Peace family home. The couple were married for 51 years, celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary.
Nestled in nearly two acres of wooded gardens, the house is Grade II listed with the oldest parts dating back to the 1600s. The grounds are protected as a scheduled Ancient Monument, and archaeological discoveries evidence people settling here as far back as in Saxon times.
Locally known as The Chair Museum, Wycombe Museum celebrates pride in Wycombe District and the stories of its people. Our connection to the local area inspires our wedding ethos, with our Partner Suppliers being selected from the area whose stories we tell in the Museum. Each of our package names tell stories of the trade history of our town.
Packages
Wycombe Museum celebrates pride in our local history. Our packages are named to reflect key historic trades of our town – furniture making, wool fulling, lace making and paper milling.
The Lace
Make your day extra special with exclusive use of Castle Hill House, gardens and grounds. The Lace Package allows you to create your wedding exactly as you’ve dreamed with the museum, stable buildings, gardens and grounds entirely at your disposal.
Available Mondays and Saturdays, with a maximum capacity of 118 guests, enjoy a full day celebrating in the private serenity of Castle Hill.
Image above: High Wycombe lace maker Emily Strange making pillow lace in 1939 at he age of 95. Bucks point lace, the local style, developed in the 1570s and was well established as a cottage industry by around 1600. Bucks point lace is particularly intricate and time-consuming to make.
The Wood
Whether you are looking for a venue for your reception straight after your ceremony or are celebrating at a later date, The Wood Package provides the perfect option to party uninterrupted. Exclusive use of the site allows you to relax and enjoy yourself, knowing that your day is just how you want it.
Available Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, for up to 118 guests.
Image above: Chairmaker Jack Goodchild constructing a Windsor chair in his Naphill workshop, 1940. Chair making emerged as a woodland craft in the 1700s to become High Wycombe’s largest industry by the 1840s. By 1877, 4,700 chairs were being made every day across 150 workshops and factories.
The Wool
If you are looking for an intimate ceremony venue, somewhere more interesting than a registry office or hotel, The Wool Package gives you not only a ceremony space, but one in a historic, Grade II listed building housing a museum.
Available Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, host up to 40 guests inside Castle Hill House.
Image above: A view of Temple Mill on Bowdrey Lane in the early 1900s. In the 14th century a number of mills on the Wye were converted to ‘fulling’ cloth, a process which involved beating newly woven cloth with hammers in water to thicken and shrink it. Temple Mill was one of them.
The Paper
The Paper Package provides a comfortable and relaxed choice for your ceremony. Celebrate with your loved ones in The Old Stables or The Coach House all year round, or mark your special day outside in our grounds or marquee in the summer.
Available Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, for a maximum of 68 guests.
Image above: Paper manufacturing at Hedge Mill, Loudwater in 1981. Paper was made at Hedge Mill for over 350 years, from at least 1632. Paper making was very profitable, and as it was fairly easy to convert a fulling mill to making paper – adding a metal bed to hold paper pulp was all that was needed – many mills went over to the new industry in the 1500s.
Enquire about celebrating your wedding with us
Send us an enquiry form with a few details about your plans for your special day. Our Wedding Co-Ordinator will be in touch with you soon to set a date for a chat or a visit to our venue.
FAQs
Making a booking - prices, deposits, securing a date
Price lists
Please see our current price list here.
How do we pay and secure our booking?
Once you have booked a date, our Wedding Co-Ordinator will send you an invoice for a 50% non-refundable deposit. Your booking is not secure until this payment has been received by the Museum. The invoice balance is due four weeks before your booking. If you would like to pay your balance before this time or in instalments, please speak with our Wedding Co-Ordinator.
Do you take a breakages deposit?
We require couples to pay a £350.00 fully refundable breakages and damages deposit. This is due at the same time as your invoice balance and will be listed on your final invoice. This will be returned to you within 28 days of your hire so long as no damage or loss of property has taken place during your hire. This may include but is not limited to: broken glassware, damage sustained to furniture, collections or exhibitions, burns, loss, theft. Please see our terms and conditions for more details.
Do I need wedding insurance?
We reccommend all of our couples take out wedding insurance.You must organise this yourself.
Ceremonies - the legal bits, capacity, ceremonies & receptions
Can I get legally married at Wycombe Museum?
Yes, we are fully licenced for civil ceremonies and marriages.
Can we book you for our ceremony only, or receptions only?
Yes, we have packages suitable for couples looking for an intimate ceremony only venue, a local spot for your reception, or for your full day.
What is Wycombe Museum’s maximum capacity for guests?
Our largest space, our marquee, has a capacity for 92 people in total. This number includes everyone in the room including the registrars, photographer and yourselves. This number can be increased by hiring in additional adjoining marquees. Please speak to our Wedding Coordinator if you are hoping to have more than 92 attendees.
Please see our wedding brochure for exact capacities for each of our spaces.
Venue - dry hire, access, parking
What is a dry-hire venue?
Dry hire means hiring the venue as it is, with no extras or staffing included. No food, drink or decorations are included in dry hire. Staff present on site during your hire are there for the safety and security of the museum only.
What access to the venue do we have?
On your event day you will have access during the times you have booked the spaces for. Depending on your package you will have access to the site the day before and after to set up and pack away. Access times will be stated in your booking contract. Exact access requirements for the couple and suppliers must be agreed no later than two weeks prior to your hire. If this deadline is not met, you will revert to our basic access option. For details on this, please see our terms and conditions. Please note, access to the site on the day of your hire will not be granted unless all outstanding invoices are settled.
What parking is available?
We have parking available for 7 cars with the addition of one disabled space. This is to include anyone you have invited or booked that may need onsite parking. There is no option for overnight parking and all vehicles must be offsite by 11:45pm on the day of your hire. The driveway and all fire exits must be kept clear at all times.
Are you a dog-friendly site?
Aside from service dogs, the only dogs allowed on site are that of the couple who wish to share their special day with their canine companion/s. Only service dogs are allowed in the museum itself, and all dogs must be walked off site. All ‘accidents’ must be cleared up by a member of the wedding party.
Suppliers
Does Wycombe Museum have recommended suppliers?
Wycombe Museum’s collection covers the area of Wycombe District. We mirror this in our Wedding Ethos – our Partner Suppliers have been hand-picked from the local area, and are an excellent fit for our site. Due to our commitment to sustainability and locality we require all couples to use our Partner Suppliers only.
Information regarding our Partner Suppliers can be found here, or by speaking with our Wedding Co-Ordinator. Should you wish to use a non-Partner supplier this is subject to additional fees.
Can our suppliers have earlier access to the venue?
Suppliers are bound by the same terms of access as the wedding couple.
Decor - furniture, confetti, sparklers
What furniture does Wycombe Museum supply?
Please see our Furniture & Equipment Inventory for details of the furniture we can supply. The cost of furniture in the inventory is included in your hire. Please note: the furniture available to you will be dependant on space hired.
Can we decorate the walls?
You are welcome to use reversible decorations on our site on the day of your booking.
Do you allow candles/fire pits/fireworks/sparklers?
Due to increased dry and hot weather each summer and our grounds being a scheduled Ancient Monument we have made the decision to not allow any fire hazards on site. This includes but is not limited to: candles, fire pits, fireworks, sparklers.
Confetti must be made from an environmentally friendly and decomposable substance. We recommend the use of dried flower petals. If unapproved confetti is used a £100 fee will be deducted from your security deposit.
Entertainment - music, PA systems
Does Wycombe Museum supply a PA system?
You are able to use our speaker and microphone for an additional charge of £250.
Does Wycombe Museum allow bands and DJs?
Yes, you can have a band or DJ. Whilst we can provide electricity, we do not supply any additional equipment.
How late can we play music?
Music must end on site no later than 11:30pm. Wycombe Museum reserve the right to ask the hirer to turn down their music if it is deemed to exceed acceptable levels. Wycombe Museum also reserve the right to end hires early if requests to lower music are repeatedly ignored or the Manager on site deems it necessary.
Image Gallery
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