Dulwich College, located in South East London, offers you an elegant and traditional venue for your wedding day. With stunning, luscious surroundings and the grand architecture of the buildings themselves, the venue has a distinct atmosphere and charm that is perfect for your wedding celebrations.
The Old Library is licensed to hold civil ceremonies and partnerships. The wood-panelled room is brightened by the vaulted ceiling, and high arched windows provide a privacy within the grand space. The room can accommodate up to 130 seated theatre-style.
The Great Hall is the perfect space to hold your wedding breakfast, seating up to 240 guests. The grand staircase allows your celebrations to flow, leading to the Lower Hall, which is an ideal reception space opening out onto the front lawns for wedding photographs and relaxed drinks.
The Pavilion Salle is located on the upper floor of the Pavilion with balconies that boast stunning views across the College and grounds. With space for 80 seated or 120 standing guests, it is the perfect area for more intimate occasions.
For your wedding breakfast, our talented, experienced Head Chef and his team have created a superb selection of menus for you to choose from. Ahead of the big day, you will be invited for a tasting where you can discuss your personal tastes and specific requirements to create the perfect bespoke menu.
Throughout your wedding preparations, our welcoming events team will work closely with you to create your ideal day. Using their wealth of experience, the whole team play an important part in ensuring the day runs smoothly, so all you have to do is relax and get married!
Reviews for Dulwich College Events
Recommended by 100% of couples
Mr J H Evans · Married on 07/12/2019
Incredible venue for a very fair price
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.
Sent on 22/09/2020
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.
Victoria Reilly · Married on 27/07/2019
July 2019 Wedding
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!
Sent on 06/08/2019
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
Dulwich College Events's reply:
So pleased you had a lovely day and you all enjoyed the serenity of the Old Library. We wish you all the best for a very happy future life together.Jason R · Married on 06/04/2019
Perfect venue & events management team
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.
Sent on 15/04/2019
Dulwich College Events's reply:
We are so delighted that you had a lovely day in the newly refurbish Barry Buildings on our special 400th centenary year! It was a pleasure working with you and we wish you the happiest future together.
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