The Grade I Listed Assembly Rooms is a historic building owned by the National Trust, and a perfect setting for a stylish city wedding. Located in Bath, one of the UK’s most beautiful cities, this stunning venue is also more recently a Bridgerton filming location.
The Assembly Rooms was purpose built in 1771 for social gatherings - Jane Austen frequented the building which features in a selection of her novels. Today, the venue can still be used for its original purpose and is a spectacular location for weddings, brimming with Regency elegance and atmosphere.
Couples can have the most beautiful wedding day, whatever the weather. The large, airy rooms allow for whole wedding party photographs and the elegant interior makes an incredible backdrop - the crystal chandeliers are the finest set of 18th century chandeliers in the world. The building is set in a leafy part of central Bath and is only a short stroll to the iconic Royal Crescent, which is a popular spot for wedding photography.
The Assembly Rooms can be hired for private hire events through Bath’s Historic Venues until December 2022. From March 2023 responsibility for the venue will transfer to the National Trust, who own the building.
Call us on 01225 477786 or fill out our quick enquiry form to get started.
The inter-connecting rooms at the Assembly Rooms can be hired individually or in combination allowing optimum flexibility for every couple for ceremony only, reception only or both together.
A popular option for weddings with 40-120 guests is to hold a ceremony in the Great Octagon followed by a reception in the Tea Room. The Tea Room and Ball Room combination is suited to larger ceremonies and receptions.
This bright octagonal-shaped room features four original marble fireplaces and the largest chandelier in the Assembly Rooms’ collection.
It is a stunning room for a ceremony or drinks reception, prior to a wedding celebration in one of the adjoining rooms.
Wedding ceremony in the Great Octagon
Ceremony in the Great Octagon, Lee Niel
Great Octagon, Assembly Rooms
Great Octagon, Martin Dabek Photography
Great Octagon, Marianne Taylor Photography
Ceremony in the Great Octagon, M and J photography
Capacity & pricing
With its striking double columned balcony, original fireplaces and three stunning chandeliers, the Tea Room makes the perfect backdrop to a wedding ceremony or reception.
South-facing, it is bright and light on even the greyest of days.
Tea Room, Marianne Taylor Photography
Ceremony in the Tea Room, A Tall Long Legged Bird
Tea Room
Tea Room, M and J Photography
Wedding reception, Box Clever Productions / Laura Lees Photography
Capacity & pricing
The largest eighteenth century room in Bath, the Ball Room has intricate plasterwork, five crystal chandeliers and a balcony which overlooks the whole room.
This breath-taking space is most often chosen for wedding receptions and parties but is also available for large ceremonies.
Ball Room, Captivent productions
Wedding reception, Amy Sanders Photography
Ball Room
Ball Room, Marianne Taylor Photography
First dance in the Ball Room, Amy Sanders
Speeches in the Ball Room, A Tall Long Legged Bird
Ball Room, A Tall Long Legged Bird
Wedding reception in the Ball Room, Kristy Field Photography
Capacity & pricing
The Card Room serves as the venue’s bar area, housing a fully stocked bar and with direct access to a small, south-facing garden - the perfect location for summer drinks. While not available to hire on its own, the Card Room and garden is available free of charge when you hold a wedding reception in one of the larger rooms.
Card Room, Andy Fletcher Photography
Card Room, Michelle Waspe Photography
Assembly Rooms garden
Allow our friendly and experienced wedding team to organise a relaxed and magical wedding.
Venue information
Whilst you concentrate on finding outfits and tweaking your guest list, we will complete a full venue and catering schedule to ensure that everything runs smoothly on the day. This will include:
- Bespoke table plans and room layouts
- Timings to guarantee your guests love every minute
- Supplier liaison to answer their queries without you losing sleep
- Accurate guest numbers noting any guest requirements
- Full menu planning with dietary requirements
We can also:
- Help make suggestions for décor and how to make your wedding unique
- Recommend trusted suppliers, from florists to photographers, string quartets to magicians
- Help in any other way we can with our in-depth knowledge of Bath and the surrounding area
Included in the venue hire
Included as part of your venue hire fee: AV for speeches and ceremony music; staging for your band or DJ; easels for your table plan; all furniture; security staff. On the day, a dedicated Function Manager will make all the announcements and ensure that your wedding runs smoothly.
Last Minute Events
We often have late availability and are experienced at managing weddings with short lead times. Don’t hesitate to contact us with your requirements and we will do our best to help. A short lead time still equals a perfect wedding!
Location
Our city centre location means we are easily accessible via public transport (both train and park and ride bus) and within a short walking distance of various long and short stay car parks. Bath also boasts an enviable selection of hotels, B&Bs and self-catering accommodation, suited to a variety of tastes and budgets, all just a stone's throw away.
Pre-Wedding Receptions
If you are holding a daytime wedding at the Assembly Rooms, why not extend the occasion by booking a pre-wedding drinks reception at the atmospheric Roman Baths the evening before? This gives your guests a chance to get to know one another before the big day and creates the perfect Bath experience.
Favour Gifts
We are happy to make suggestions for favours to match your venue – from brooches from the Fashion Museum shop (housed in the Assembly Rooms) to chocolate Roman coins from the Roman Baths gift shop. On larger orders, we can also offer a discount – please ask for details.
If you need any further help or information, please contact our helpful team.
Wedding catering
With their delicious and flexible menus, Searcys can cater to a variety of tastes and budgets, from fantastic contemporary bowl food to a seated three course dinner. They are also happy to put together a bespoke package tailored to your specific needs.
Searcys prices include*:
- Wedding coordinator to help with the planning of your special day
- Dedicated Banqueting Manager on the day
- White table linen and napkins
- Use of 14” cake stand and cake knife (round or square)
- Menu tasting for the bride and groom (further details apply)
- All special diets catered for
- Full bar facility (minimum spend of £360.00 inc. VAT applies)
Wedding packages from £68.50/guest
Searcys wedding packages are designed to include everything you need for your guests, leaving you free to enjoy your special day! Package contents start from a three-course dinner menu with wine, reception and toast drink included – please see brochure for further details.
Dinner menus start from £40.50 per guest + VAT
Perhaps you’d like to tailor your own wedding menu? You may wish to go for something quite seasonal, or tailor choices to yours or your guests’ preferences, and their dinner menus are flexibly designed with this in mind. Dinner pricing is based on a three-course set menu, but further options and choice menus are available on request – additional costs may apply.
Seated Buffet menus start from £31.15 per guest + VAT
A seated buffet combines formality with a more relaxed feel compared to a dinner, there are two packages to choose from. Guests will be invited up to the buffet, usually two tables at a time and the banqueting team will be there to serve them. All tables will be dressed with crisp white linen and laid with cutlery, crockery and glassware.
*For a seated dinner, there is a minimum spend of £1800 + VAT.
For bowl food events, there is a minimum spend of £1200 + VAT.
For receptions, there is a minimum spend of £1000 + VAT.
Within these charges, staffing costs are covered for events lasting up to 5 hours. To extend your event or put together a different package, additional charges may apply, and Searcys will quote accordingly.
Perhaps you have something else in mind?
We are very happy to discuss with you any catering ideas that you may have, whether you’re looking for something more informal or aren’t quite sure where to start.
Contact the Searcys team on 01225 444477 or e-mail [email protected]
Take a walk through the elegant Assembly Rooms using the virtual tour below.
Let us know if you'd like a guided virtual venue visit. We will join you on a virtual tour, answer your questions in real time, and highlight the key points of interest relevant to your wedding.
Email [email protected] or call 01225 477786 or to arrange a guided virtual tour.
Find out more about the eventful history of the Assembly Rooms, which remains the most elegant meeting place in Bath.
A short history of the Assembly Rooms
For centuries Bath has been a centre of fashion, attracting visitors to its spa and social diversions.
The Assembly Rooms, one of Bath’s finest Georgian buildings, was purpose built in 1771 for a particular 18th century form of entertainment: the assembly; ‘a stated and general meeting of the polite persons of both sexes for the sake of conversation, gallantry, news and play’. Guests would gather in the rooms in the evening for balls, concerts and other social functions, or simply to play cards and socialise.
Scenes such as this feature in the novels of Jane Austen, who lived in Bath from 1801-1805. Her two novels set in Bath, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion both mention the Assembly Rooms, which she called the “Upper Rooms”. Charles Dickens visited Bath on several occasions and gave public readings in the building. Adaptations of several historic novels have also been filmed in the Assembly Rooms, in addition to films such as The Duchess with Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes.
Since Georgian times, the Assembly Rooms has had a turbulent history. During the nineteenth century Bath lost its pre-eminence amongst the fashionable resorts, such as Brighton, and this decline was reflected in the fortunes of the Assembly Rooms. During the First World War the building was occupied by the Royal Flying Corps and subsequently the Ball Room became a cinema before extensive restoration and redecoration was completed and the building re-opened by the Duchess of Kent in 1938. Unfortunately, only four years later on 25 April 1942 the Assembly Rooms was heavily bombed during the Baedecker raids and reduced to a roofless shell.
Bath’s Assembly Rooms also claims the invention of the ‘screw shot’. Billiards and gambling were popular pastimes and in the early 1800's a dedicated billiards room was built in the Assembly Rooms. In the 1820’s Mr Bentley, proprietor of the tables, developed a new shot, the ‘side twist’, by striking the ball on one side. John Carr, who worked as a marker perfected the stroke and convinced his admirers the secret was to use a special ‘twisting chalk’ thus inventing the screw shot and commercial cue chalk, which was in fact only standard chalk which Carr ground down and sold in small pill boxes for 2s and 6d.
Following further programmes of restoration after the war, the American government in 1950 requested to buy the Assembly Rooms' chandeliers, the finest set of 18th century chandeliers in the world, for the White House. Luckily this was never agreed by the National Trust or Bath City Council and the Whitefriars chandeliers remain in-situ. In 1963, it was decided that the world-famous Fashion Museum be located at the Assembly Rooms and it is now one of the world’s great museum collections of historical and contemporary dress.
After extensive restoration in the 1970s, the Assembly Rooms once again became the grand building that it is today and is now owned by the National Trust and managed by Bath and North East Somerset Council.
For more information about availability, fill out our short enquiry form or call us on 01225 477786.
