Winton Castle is a romantic wedding venue half an hour from Edinburgh that blends castle, palace and family home. Unlike a hotel, it's available for exclusive use which means the castle is all yours during your wedding, and we can be very flexible with your wedding plans.
The 500 year old Scottish Renaissance castle is a hidden gem surrounded by mature gardens, deep in East Lothian countryside. The venue holds a limited number of weddings each year, ensuring that Winton Castle is still something of a well-kept secret.
Winton has links to the powerful Seton family, Mary Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie, and has a rich, romantic history.
Today Winton Castle is still the family home of Sir Francis and Lady Ogilvy, which means that it has a warm, welcoming, relaxed ambience, described as ‘Intimacy on a grand scale’.
Designed for entertaining in the seventeenth century, the castle has five exceptional, inter-connecting reception rooms which are ideal for wedding celebrations.
You will be allocated a Wedding Coordinator who will help you manage all aspects of planning and running your wedding, including:
Pre-wedding food and wine tastings
Personalised printed table plans and menu cards
Freshly-cut flower bouquets
Rehearsal for the wedding ceremony
Classic table settings with candelabra
You can choose to hold a religious, civil or humanist wedding ceremony in the castle or in the gardens.
The castle has space for parties of up to 80 to 130 guests. Alternatively, a wedding marquee is a popular option for 150 to 400 guests. Your bespoke marquee could be set up on our croquet lawn beside the castle, with great views towards the castle and over the terraced gardens and Sir David's Loch.
As an events venue, Winton can also lay on a range of entertaining activities from a mini highland games and whisky tasting, to clay pigeon shooting with Scotland's 24 times champion.
There is luxurious accommodation for up to 50 guests in the castle and three nearby country houses (subject to availability).
Romantic castle venue near Edinburgh
Available for exclusive use and very flexible
Only hosts a limited number of weddings each year
Dedicated wedding planners will help with the planning
Accommodation for up to 50 guests
Both grand and relaxed - called 'Intimacy on a grand scale'
Please be aware that wedding packages for 80 people during the day (up to 120 in the evening) with wedding breakfast, evening buffet, drink and accommodation start at about £14,000. There are also special Winter Wedding packages that start at £10,000 to £11,500.
If you love the idea of holding your wedding at a romantic Scottish castle, please contact the friendly Wedding Team at Winton to arrange your visit or a virtual tour.
On the LochWinton CastleChristmas diningA private momentView from the balconySweetie stationWinton Castle 7Drawing Room silhouetteThe Drawing RoomPier on the LochWinton by nightWinton Castle 16Dining Room rounds set upFamily in the OctagonSpace to danceWisteria in the terracesIn the long grassEnjoying the terracesLots of confettiBy sunsetBanquet style set upDrawing room ceremonyAtmospheric cellarStunning Octagon HallOur Honeymoon SuiteHoneymoon suite- ensuiteWalled Garden CeremonyOutdoor drinksWinton from the airCeremony in the Walled GardenMarquee diningWedding Highland GamesOn the LochWinton CastleChristmas dining
What a hidden gem! Winton Castle itself is absolutely beautiful. They sell themselves as having intimacy on a grand scale and they totally do. We had about 60 day guests and another 30 or so along for the evening. Rae, our coordinator, was incredibly welcoming, flexible and thoughtful. Throughout the whole experience, she was positive, creative and organised. The small details really matter in wedding planning, and Winton always hit the right notes. At the menu tasting, we hadn't thought that we'd be tasting the wines so were offered the bottles to take home with us after having a couple of sips. And when we were not sure, Rae arranged for an alternative bottle to be hand-delivered to our house. Amazing service! Rae was open to all sorts of left-field ideas, too, and helped us bring out our creativity. The whole day was incredibly smooth and I'm not aware of a single thing that went wrong. Our guests all said they had an amazing time, were justifiably impressed with the venue and a few even said our wedding was one of the best they'd been to. Even our ceilidh band were grinning at the end of the night! An honourable mention has to go to the catering staff, who were so slick - it almost looked choreographed when they were serving each course.
Overall, we felt that we got a really personal experience from Winton and that they cared about us, our vision for the day and about providing the best possible experience. I challenge any venue to top that.
Sent on 02/11/2020
Winton Castle's reply:
Thank you so much Vici! I am delighted that we were able to help provide such special memories for you. Best wishes to you and Steve and stay in touch.
Louise W.
· Married on 08/02/2020
4.6
Quality of the Service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value for Money:
4.0
Flexibility:
4.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Spectacular venue, perfect atmosphere!
We had an amazing February wedding despite it blowing a gale outside. The beautiful Winton Castle lived up to our every expectation, it looked amazing, felt homely yet special, gave us enough room to move but without getting lost and gave us a fabulous night of ceildih dancing! The whisky tasting in the cellar was a real hit with the guests and gave us a few minutes to have a tipple and relax. The team were supportive and helpful and met all of our needs without hesitation. Lord Ogilvy popped by to see us at breakfast (which was delicious!), which was much appreciated. The castle accommodation is perfect, with lovely authentic rooms fit for princess! Our families and friends stayed in the self catering cottages, which they absolutely loved and it was great to have them close by. My husband took his mind of the nerves with some wedding-morning clay pigeon shooting, which the boys loved! Most certainly a venue to make you feel special on your precious day and to give you bundles of wonderful memories and photographs. Very very highly recommended.
Sent on 03/11/2020
Winton Castle's reply:
Louise, thank you so much for your lovely words. I am so glad that you and your families had such a special weekend here on the Estate, despite the weather! Wishing you and Ian all the best.
Kate R.
· Married on 15/02/2020
5.0
Quality of the Service:
5.0
Responsiveness:
5.0
Value for Money:
5.0
Flexibility:
5.0
Professionalism:
5.0
Perfect wedding weekend at Winton Castle!
My husband and I got married at Winton Castle in February 2020, it was the most special day and weekend we could have imagined! The castle is such a beautiful venue, the room layout flows perfectly and it felt both grand and homely with the fires lit. Every room is beautiful - so there was no need to decorate them much further; we chose to add some table decorations and that’s it.
With infinite thanks to the Winton staff, particularly our wedding planner Rae, the event ran smoothly from the day we first contacted Winton! We didn’t have to worry about anything; on our wedding day, I was confident that Rae and the Team had it all organised, they did and it all happened effortlessly!
Wedding planning:
Rae was absolutely fantastic! She kept us on-track, asking all the right questions and prompting for information in plenty of time - it never felt stressful. There was never any pressure or ‘up-selling’. Rae just seemed to understand exactly the type of wedding day we wanted, and arranged everything in such a calm way. Thank you!
Accommodation:
My family (9 adults, 2 children) stayed in Winton Cottage for the long weekend and were delighted with the accommodation from arrival to departure. It felt like a home, and there was plenty of space for everyone!
I slept at the Cottage the night before the wedding (Friday night) which worked so well. There was plenty of space for some quiet time which was lovely! The Winton Team were very accommodating, providing extra towels for my husband and two Best Men to get showered and ready at the Cottage after I had left.
I’d definitely stay there again for a holiday!
On the day:
I woke up having slept well in the Cottage, I had plenty of time for a relaxed breakfast with everyone and zero worries about transport to the venue! My dad then drove me, my sisters and our things (2mins drive/ ~700m) to the Castle where we got ready in one of the gorgeous bedrooms in the Castle! There was plenty of room for us and to have our make-up artist and hairdresser both working their magic at the same time. Our photographer had worked at Winton Castle many times before so he knew what he was doing.
The Winton staff were brilliant! Rae was a calm and friendly face before entering the wedding ceremony!
Throughout the day, the Winton staff were friendly and attentive but you also barely knew they were there - delivering excellent service without any fuss!
On such a quick day, they made sure there were opportunities for my husband and I to have a few minutes to ourselves, to take it all in which we loved. We stayed overnight in the Castle in the beautiful bedroom and bathroom (we’d love to stay again!). Having a leisurely breakfast in the ceremony room the morning after was lovely and allowed us to soak up how special our wedding day was.
