Dulwich College Events

We were so pleased to have booked Dulwich College for our wedding ceremony, which took place in the beautiful Old Library. The venue was perfect for us as it felt formal and grand for the wedding ceremony, but also intimate and wonderfully light and bright. It’s in a great location and was a fantastic place to have our formal photos taken outside.

From the beginning of the process, Julia was incredibly helpful and friendly, answering all of our questions and giving us a tour of the venue. Closer to the wedding, she went through all of the details to make sure that the ceremony would run smoothly (which it did, thank you also to Anna) and she even showed our family around the venue too, which we really appreciated. We would absolutely recommend Dulwich College for anyone looking for a special place to get married.

My wife and I got married at Thomas More Catholic Church, East Dulwich, with the reception at Dulwich College in December 2019 and fell in love with the venue on our first visit. We live locally, in East Dulwich, often admiring the beautiful, imposing 400 year old building but did not consider it for a wedding venue, until we saw that our preferred caterers listed it as one of the venues where they work.

First off, the venue was incredibly good value for money. My wife and I saw around 20 venues in London, and Dulwich College was one of the least expensive, whilst also being one of the most beautiful and impressive. We paid £5,000 for the venue hire fee, which represented a £1,000 discount because it was winter.

Second (and most important), the venue is absolutely stunning. Our guests were completely wowed by how grand, old, and beautiful the venue is - inside and out. I don't think the photos on the website do it justice. Do bear in mind that the grandness could potentially make it look a bit stuffy (if you don't like that kind of thing) so it's very important that you consider the decorations very carefully, so that the beauty of the venue shines through. My wife and I had a winter wedding, so opted for a 'touch of Christmas'. My Stepfather owns a landscape gardening company so we arranged to fill the venue with lots of Christmas trees and classy lights, which looked amazing.

Third, we really enjoyed the fact that there are 3 different rooms, each with their own character. This meant no need for change overs, and made each 'stage' of the wedding feel unique and special. There is a dance floor room (South Cloisters), with those wanting more quiet able to mingle in the Lower Hall.

One thing to be mindful of is that it is very much a dry hire venue. A dry hire venue is great if you have particular tastes and want to put your own mark on the wedding, and it can work out cheaper if you can find good value suppliers. However the disadvantages of dry hire are that it involves a LOT more work (getting quotes from different suppliers, coordinating them, making constant decisions), and if your tastes are more generic, then you might prefer an 'all inclusive' type of venue.

In the weeks and months before the wedding, we worked with Events Manager Sonia, who was a consummate professional, having good ideas and linking us with good suppliers. On the day itself, the college offers a point of contact, Florin, who helps to tell suppliers where to go etc. Florin was a very nice and flexible person, however Florin's role is not to be a co-ordinator, or do the heavy lifting on the day. Our advice is therefore to hire a wedding day co-ordinator, because Dulwich College being a dry hire venue means there is a great deal of decisions and coordination to be done, which could cause the bride and groom quite a lot of stress - even if delegated to members of the wedding party.

Another thing to be mindful of is that the venue is a functioning school. So if your wedding is during term time, there are quite a few restrictions, for example around leaving equipment, drinks etc at the venue on the day before or day after the wedding.

Overall, we absolutely loved the venue, and thought that it was perfect for us. So many people came up to us, in awe of the venue, and to say that this was the best wedding they had ever been to. For those couples who had similar considerations to us (see above), we would 100% recommend it as a wedding venue.

We got married at the Old Library at Dulwich College. A beautiful venue for 70 guests. Staff were very supportive and quick to response to any questions. Nothing was too much trouble!
On the day staff were great, helping the ceremony to run smoothly.
Wonderful location, stunning building and great staff. Would definitely recommend for anyone considering a ceremony in south east London

We had our wedding there in April 2019. Our contact was Julia and she was very professional, friendly and helpful throughout. Her calm and positive attitude gave us a lot of confidence that everything would turn out well on the day, which it did. During planning she was very quick to respond to our questions. On the day the on the day manager was great by all accounts, I only saw him once but it sounds like he was buzzing about the place making sure everything was going according to plan. The venue itself is gorgeous. It had been recently refurbished for the school's centenary celebrations, so we were especially lucky with our timing. The only downside for us to this venue was the limited capacity of 150 for the old library, where you can choose to have your wedding ceremony there. We chose this and it is a beautiful space but such a shame that not all of our 230 guests could fit in, so we had to have some come just after the ceremony. But it didn't have a big impact, it was still a perfect day for us. The weather wasn't on our side but it didn't matter as there was plenty of space in the lower hall for all 230 guests. There was a very nice buzz to the place with that many people. The great hall upstairs is a magnificent room, so majestic. I don't know what else to say - just a massive thank you to everyone at Dulwich for helping make us a very happy bride and groom.

We hired the Barry Buildings and had in-house catering.

The team at DCE were fantastic! However, I have a special place in my heart for Sonia Delshadian, who was absolutely amazing. She was patient, kind, informative, advising, nothing was too much trouble, and she made the whole process much easier to cope with.

Half the stress of wedding planning comes from dealing with other people along the way, brought on by your perceived lack of control and wondering whether someone else will see your vision.

You need someone in your corner, who feels like a friend at the venue; someone that has your best interest at heart; and that’s what we had with Sonia. Nothing was too much trouble, even when I couldn’t have exactly what I wanted, she compromised and advised as to what could be achievable and what really wasn’t necessary and she was always right.

They advised on timings and had everything planned to the last detail.

The day was amazing! All our guests commented on how beautiful the venue was; how amazing the food was; how the staff made them feel welcome and the fact that they never had an empty glass or so much lovely food to eat. They were truly astounded by the top class service.

The Grand Hall was out of this world. The sun shone through the windows and from the top table, we could see that everyone was smiling.

I really can’t put into words, what a wonderful day we all had, I didn’t have to think about anything and I mean anything, they made it perfect!

We would recommend this venue and in-house catering to any couple that wanted to feel like a Prince and Princess for their special day, because with Dulwich College Events, it really is achievable!

It was the perfect setting for our ceremony, traditional and cozy for a Winter wedding. The Old Library doesn't need over-decoration, the space is wonderful as it is. Thank you!

We had a fantastic level of support from our event manager from start to finish. She was professional, personable and responded quickly to any queries we had. In addition, she was happy to arrange further meetings at the venue with us.
Overall, we thought that Dulwich College was an amazing venue for our wedding. The grounds and architecture were picturesque, the Great Hall was able to accommodate our numbers and we felt that the hire was good value for money. It was just the classy venue we were looking for.

A superb experience, Dulwich College offers an historic venue combined with highly organised, professional and helpful staff. This is the perfect venue for any large-scale special event.

My husband and I got married on 7th May 2016 and had our reception at Dulwich College. We had lots of juggling with dates for the venue, church and caterers and Sonia the events manager was so flexible. We managed to secure a date after we fell in love with the venue. It was so hard for us to find a venue near to our church which had parking on site and was easily accessible yet stunning. Dulwich ticked all the boxes with over 100 car park spaces, stunning grounds and internal building. Our guests were absolutely blown away by the venue. For the very reasonable and competitive price for a grade 2 listed building we had access to 4 rooms. We were able to have our guests have canapés and drinks in the lobby , then move up to the great hall for their meal and then down to the another room for the evening dancing and drinking. No worry about having to clear around the guests. We also had another room where we had kids entertainment whilst we done our speeches. My husband and I also took beautiful pictures in the library, such a special place that just captures the ambiance of Dulwich. The staff were amazing all the way through with regular check ins and planning meeting before hand to put our minds at rest. I can't say thank you enough to them such a personal and caring touch. We used in in house caterers Burrell catering and everyone said it was the best wedding food and service they have ever received. I could not recommend any more! Fantastic venue and service. Thanks Dulwich.

Lovely venue for an exclusive small wedding. We hired the old library only and it was perfect for our small wedding. The building and grounds are stunning and the events team before and during the day were very helpful. Thank you to you all again for helping to make our day perfect! Would highly recommend this venue!

A very magical and unique day, full of east-west fusion. Excellent Operations Team, very attentive, professional service, considerate, efficient. We and our guests were very well looked after.

I just wanted to drop you a belated thank you email for all your help with our wedding. You made everything seamless and it was a pleasure working with you!

The day was amazing and we really lucked out with the sun, so we were thrilled.

I'll certainly recommend you to anyone else I come across that plans to marry in London.

It was absolutely lovely. I enjoyed the exclusivity the venue provided. Great parking and easy access. Sonia was a complete star. She was always a phone call or email away.

I cannot praise Dulwich College or its events team highly enough - they were in a word, PERFECT!

As a venue it has everything you need for a fantastic wedding; the Old Library is a beautiful place to make your vows, the Great Hall is stunning for the wedding breakfast and the Cloisters and Lower Hall provide the room for your guests to drink and dance the night away. It is also incredibly good value for money considering you get the entire Barry Buildings - it makes you feel like royalty for the day!

This gorgeous venue offers so many places to take memorable photographs, it is hard to chose where to pose first. I would suggest the sweeping staircase myself!

Our contact at the college during the year of planning was the wonderful, Head of Events, Julia and we knew straight away that we were in safe hands and that we were assured a stress free wedding day.

The events team were impeccable throughout the day and no request was too small or trivial, they understood that every detail counts on your big day. Our guests were so impressed with the quality of the food and service - the best they'd ever had at a wedding.

All we can say is another massive thank you to everyone at this beautiful college for creating a magical day that we will remember forever. If you are thinking of getting married in London, come to Dulwich College, you won’t be disappointed.

We have no regrets whatsoever about booking Dulwich College for our daughter’s wedding. Sonia’s advice and suggestions, based on our ideas and needs, were extremely helpful and well worth following.
On the day the venue looked wonderful and the Great Hall really had the WOW factor. We got complements all round, justifiably, on the quality of the food.
Florin’s management and attention to detail made sure the day ran smoothly and helped ensure a happy, relaxed atmosphere.
As promised all we had to do was enjoy ourselves.
We have no hesitation on recommending Dulwich as a wedding venue. They have a highly professional team who go out of their way to make you feel special.