Guide
Best wedding venues in Lancashire
Thirty of the best wedding venues in Lancashire, from the Tower Ballroom to the top of the Ribble Valley, grouped by the kind of day you want. Every one links to its own page, where the facts carry their sources.
Last updated
We are Lee and Dom, two wedding photographers from Poulton-le-Fylde, and this is our list of the best wedding venues in Lancashire. It runs from the seafront ballrooms in Blackpool, through the country houses round Preston, to the barns and halls of the Ribble Valley and the fells beyond Lancaster. We have kept the places where the rooms, the light and the grounds give a couple a good day.
Each entry has the facts that matter: where it is, how many it seats, who can stay, and whether the drone can fly. They are the same facts as on our venue pages, where every number carries its source. The paragraph under each name is our honest take.
Two photographers come as standard at any of these venues, and we travel free within 10 miles of Poulton, then 50p a mile. Our prices are in the open, and you can check your date now.
Grand ballrooms
Blackpool Tower Ballroom
Our home ground. Frank Matcham’s ballroom opened in 1899 and it still looks like a wedding cake turned inside out: gilt, balconies, a sprung floor and a stage. It is dark in the way old theatres are dark, all tungsten and velvet, so we work it with fast lenses and a bit of flash for the groups. Tower Top is licensed too, 380 feet up and facing west, and the beach is over the road. Your guests will not forget where they were.
- Where: Blackpool, FY1
- Capacity: Ballroom 750 cabaret-style. Tower Top up to 150. The Fifth Floor 750 standing, 500 theatre-style, 350 seated house layout. Wedding figures are not published
- Stay: None
- Drone: Depends on the launch spot. The Tower is about 0.6 km north of the Blackpool Airport flight restriction zone. The beach and prom south of the Tower are inside it. The launch spot decides it.
Best for: big town-centre weddings with a ballroom first dance and the sea over the road.
Winter Gardens Blackpool
The Winter Gardens is a run of halls on Church Street rather than one room, and the fun is choosing which. The Empress Ballroom is the big one, the Baronial Hall is gothic and dim, the Spanish Hall has painted villages round the walls. Nothing in here has daylight to speak of, so the ceremony and the breakfast are flash jobs, and we nip out to the prom, ten minutes’ walk, for the couple photographs while the room turns round.
- Where: Blackpool, FY1
- Capacity: From the wedding brochure: Baronial Hall breakfast up to 200 · Renaissance Room breakfast up to 100 · Spanish Hall breakfast up to 200, evening up to 350 · Empress Ballroom 500 to 800 · Conference Centre Foyer Level 100, Circle Level 500. Event capacities are higher: Empress 3,250, Spanish Hall 600, Baronial 300, Renaissance 200
- Stay: None
- Drone: Depends on the launch spot. About 0.7 km north of the Blackpool Airport flight restriction zone. The beach and prom to the south-west are inside it. Nothing to fly over at the building itself; the aerial is on the seafront.
Best for: big weddings in grand rooms, with a ceremony and a reception under one roof.
Country house wedding venues in Lancashire
Lytham Hall
Lytham Hall does the ceremony and the drinks and that is all, which suits a lot of couples very well. You marry in the Gold Room, you have your fizz and canapés on the ground floor, and you have 78 acres of parkland at the end of a mile-long drive for photographs before everyone moves on to the reception. John Carr built the house in the 1750s and it is Grade I. The light under the trees late in the afternoon is as good as the Fylde gets.
- Where: Lytham, FY8
- Capacity: 60 guests in the Gold Room, plus the couple, two registrars and any musicians. The weddings page says about 65 in all
- Stay: None
- Drone: With permission. Just inside the Blackpool Airport flight restriction zone, about 4.5 km from the runway. We apply to the airport 72 hours ahead and ask the Trust as landowner.
Best for: a Georgian ceremony for up to 60 with parkland portraits, before a reception elsewhere.
Singleton Lodge
A Georgian house from 1702 on Lodge Lane at Little Singleton, five minutes from our door. It is a small-wedding place, up to 80 at the table in the main dining room, with the whole hotel to yourselves if you take the exclusive-use package. The rooms are on the cosy side, so we bring bounce light for the ceremony, then head out to the walled garden and the parkland once the sun has dropped a bit. Fourteen bedrooms means most of your party sleeps where they danced.
- Where: Little Singleton, Poulton-le-Fylde FY6
- Capacity: The main dining room seats up to 80, with two smaller private dining rooms
- Stay: 14 en-suite bedrooms
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone nearby. The Blackpool Airport zone edge is about 5 km to the south-west and Warton’s about 7 km to the south.
Best for: small exclusive-use country-house weddings of up to about 80, with everyone staying.
The Villa, Wrea Green
The Villa at Wrea Green is the one people picture when they say country house hotel on the Fylde. Vows in the oak-beamed Hall or outside at the Octagon in the walled garden, drinks in the Piano Lounge, then the Pavilion for the breakfast and the party, with room for 300. The beams and panelling soak up light, so we fill in gently rather than let the room go muddy. Thirty-one bedrooms on site, and the village green with the duck pond is a short walk for a quiet ten minutes.
- Where: Wrea Green, PR4
- Capacity: The Hall 150 for a ceremony · The Octagon 19 seated · Piano Lounge 40 · The Pavilion 300 · the restaurant 100 · Garden Suite about 12. Visit Lancashire gives the Pavilion as 250 and the Piano Lounge as 50
- Stay: 31 en-suite bedrooms, including 4 staterooms (2 with four-posters, 2 on split levels) and 2 suites. The Bridal Suite is reached from the Piano Lounge staircase
- Drone: With permission. Inside the BAE Systems Warton flight restriction zone, about 4.3 km from the aerodrome. We ask Warton air traffic control ourselves.
Best for: a traditional country-house wedding with a big evening and everyone staying over.
Ribby Hall Village
Ribby Hall is a holiday village of over 100 acres between Wrea Green and Kirkham, and it runs weddings on a scale nowhere else on the Fylde can. Outdoor ceremonies at the Summer House, three suites inside up to the Woodland at 350, cottages and lodges for the guests, the adults-only Spa Hotel for the two of you. The grounds give us open shade all afternoon. It sits inside the Warton flight zone, so the drone is something we ask air traffic control about, not something we promise.
- Where: Wrea Green, PR4
- Capacity: Summer House 130 for an outdoor ceremony · Garden Room 130 for the ceremony, 110 for the breakfast · The Rowan 180 · The Woodland 350, all day and evening
- Stay: The Balcony Suite at the Spa Hotel for the couple; the adults-only Spa Hotel has 38 bedrooms; self-catering cottages for guests, with the larger ones sleeping up to 14
- Drone: With permission. Inside the BAE Systems Warton flight restriction zone, about 3.8 km from the aerodrome. We ask Warton air traffic control ourselves.
Best for: big, flexible weddings with an outdoor ceremony and guests staying on the village.
Bartle Hall
Bartle Hall is really two venues on one estate, ten minutes west of Preston. You come down the grand staircase in the Country House to get married, then the whole wedding walks through the trees to the Coaching Barn for the meal and the party. That walk is the reason two photographers earns its keep here: one of us is ahead of you, one behind. Every wedding is exclusive use of the lot. It is inside the Springfields restricted area, so no drone, and we say so up front.
- Where: Bartle, Preston PR4
- Capacity: Not published by the venue. Bridebook lists 150 dining and 200 in the evening
- Stay: Rooms and suites on the first floor of the Country House, reserved for wedding guests. Bridebook lists 15 bedrooms sleeping 40. Thicket Lodge in the woodland sleeps 6, and Ivy Cottage has a hot tub
- Drone: No. Inside the Springfields restricted area EGR312, a 2 nautical mile circle around the nuclear fuel site at Salwick, about 2.4 km south-west of the hall.
Best for: private, exclusive-use weddings that start in a country house and end in a barn party.
Farington Lodge Hotel
An 1830s Georgian house on Stanifield Lane between Leyland and Preston, one wedding a day, with the Jubilee Suite for big breakfasts and the Garden Pavilion for outdoor vows. The Ionic porch and the open-well staircase do the formal photographs; the three acres of garden and woodland do the relaxed ones. Twenty-seven bedrooms, free parking and the M6 along the back fence, which sounds worse than it is, because the trees hide it. Easy for guests coming from all over Lancashire.
- Where: Farington, Leyland PR25
- Capacity: Up to 150 by day and 250 in the evening. The venue’s brochure gives the Jubilee Suite as up to 200; Bridebook lists it at 130 for a dinner dance
- Stay: 27 en-suite bedrooms, classic rooms in the Georgian house and courtyard rooms in the 2007 wing, with a honeymoon suite included on the night
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone nearby. Warton’s zone edge is about 9 km to the west and Samlesbury’s about 10 km to the north-east. The M6 runs along the east side of the grounds.
Best for: hotel weddings near Preston with a garden ceremony and everyone staying over.
Hoghton Tower
Hoghton Tower is the one on top of the hill above the A675, with a straight drive of nearly a mile and a Grade I house from the 1560s at the top of it. The Banqueting Hall takes 120, the Inner Courtyard is licensed for outdoor ceremonies, and you have the house, both courtyards and the three walled gardens from one o’clock to midnight. The Banqueting Hall is a big stone room that goes dim by the evening, so the speeches are a flash and candlelight job. Outside, the drive at dusk is the photograph.
- Where: Hoghton, PR5
- Capacity: 120 during the day in the Banqueting Hall, with up to 40 more in the evening; Bridebook gives 160 for the evening
- Stay: Two nights for the couple in the Irishman’s Tower, a self-catering former garrison tower in the ramparts, sleeping two. Guests stay off site; the house has partner hotels
- Drone: With permission. Clear airspace: Warton is about 20 km west, Blackpool Airport about 30 km, and the old Samlesbury runway 4.5 km north has been closed since 2015. A Grade I house with registered gardens, so the drone is at the house’s say-so.
Best for: a grand, old-stone wedding with the drive, the courtyards and the stained glass.
Samlesbury Hall
A black-and-white timber hall from 1325 on the road between Preston and Blackburn, run by a charity and open to the public on other days. Ceremony in the Whittaker Room, which was the chapel, then the Great Hall for the breakfast and the evening. The oak inside is dark and the glass is leaded, so we work with window light where we can and bring the flash for the speeches. The shepherd’s huts in the grounds mean the whole party can stay, and the walk up the drive from the car park is the arrival shot.
- Where: Samlesbury, PR5
- Capacity: Great Hall 120 for the breakfast and the evening, Parlour 25. Bridebook shows 150 dining and 250 evening
- Stay: The Gatehouse for the couple, and 25 shepherd’s huts in the grounds, the bunk huts sleeping four. Bridebook counts 27 bedrooms sleeping 116
- Drone: With permission. No live flight restriction zone. Warton is about 20 km west and Blackpool Airport about 30 km. The old BAE Samlesbury runway is 500 m north but flying there stopped and the runway closed by 2015; it is still a BAE defence site, so we keep off it and ask the Hall first.
Best for: a medieval house with everyone sleeping over in the huts.
Eaves Hall
Eaves Hall stands on the lane above West Bradford, two and a half miles from Clitheroe, with Pendle Hill off to the east. The house is Georgian in style with a veranda along the south front, and there are four licensed spots: the Ballroom, the Pendle Room, the Veranda and the Wedding Pavilion. Exclusive use comes with all 30 bedrooms held for your night. It is open country with no airspace restrictions anywhere near, so the drone film of the house from the parkland is a safe bet, weather permitting.
- Where: West Bradford, BB7
- Capacity: Up to 120 seated for the day, minimum 60 to 80 depending on the day of the week; up to 250 in the evening
- Stay: 30 bedrooms over the top two floors, including six suites, plus The Lodge with three en-suite bedrooms
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone anywhere near. Warton aerodrome is about 36 km west and Blackpool Airport about 44 km. We ask the hall on the day as a courtesy.
Best for: a big country-house day with everyone staying over, and a ceremony outside with the house behind you.
Mitton Hall
Mitton Hall sits on the south bank of the Ribble between Whalley and Clitheroe, and the old part goes back to 1487. The panelled Great Hall with its minstrels’ gallery is where the character is; the Party Room, licensed for up to 165, is where the light and the dancing are. The new Walled Garden takes outdoor ceremonies. The terraces run down to the river, which is where we would take you for twenty minutes before the meal. Eighteen bedrooms, the King Suite with the four-poster for the two of you.
- Where: Mitton, near Whalley, BB7
- Capacity: Up to 165 seated in the function room, minimum 60 day guests; up to 250 in the evening
- Stay: 18 bedrooms: six suites, two large standard rooms and ten standard doubles. The King Suite with the four-poster is usually the honeymoon suite
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone within 30 km. Warton aerodrome is about 31 km west, Blackpool Airport about 40 km. We keep clear of the hotel guests and the road.
Best for: a riverside manor-house day with the old hall for character and a big light room for the party.
Browsholme Hall
Browsholme is the Parker family’s Tudor hall out at Cow Ark, five miles past Clitheroe where the Ribble Valley turns into Bowland. Weddings happen in the restored Tithe Barn, with the Regency Drawing Room in the hall for small ceremonies and the Lily Pond, the Italian Steps and the front lawn for outdoor ones. The hall itself gives you a backdrop most venues would pay for. Woodland Lodges and the Mews Cottage take the wedding party overnight. It is a private estate with livestock, so we ask before we fly.
- Where: Cow Ark, near Clitheroe, BB7
- Capacity: 130 seated for the day and 200 in the evening in the venue FAQ; the Tithe Barn page says 120 and 180
- Stay: 10 Woodland Lodges in the Woodland Glade and the two-bedroom Mews Cottage, all held for the wedding night, plus the three-bedroom Shepherd’s Cottage a short drive away
- Drone: With permission. No flight restriction zone within 30 km (Warton about 32 km west). It is a private estate with livestock and a family home, so we ask the estate office before the day.
Best for: a barn wedding with a real Tudor hall behind it, an outdoor ceremony in the gardens, and everyone sleeping in the woods.
Stirk House Hotel
Stirk House is the 1635 manor on the A59 at Gisburn, right at the top of the Ribble Valley, with Pendle Hill straight across the front lawn. The Gallery takes the ceremony, or you marry outside on the Pendle View lawn or at the Stirk Tree, and the Ballroom seats 250 for the breakfast. Thirty-three bedrooms, so it suits a big wedding where everyone stays. Clear skies for the drone, 40 km from anything restricted, and the view towards Pendle at the end of the day is the one we would plan around.
- Where: Gisburn, BB7
- Capacity: Gallery 113 for the ceremony; Ballroom up to 250 for the breakfast and the evening
- Stay: 33 bedrooms including two-bedroom suites with connecting rooms, and a Honeymoon Suite in the main house with views to Pendle Hill
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone within 40 km. Leeds Bradford is about 41 km east, Warton about 45 km west. We stay off the A59 side and away from the hotel guests.
Best for: a big wedding with everyone staying, an outdoor ceremony facing Pendle, and a proper party in the Ballroom.
The Shireburn Arms
The Shireburn Arms is a stone inn on Whalley Road in Hurst Green, with the Stonyhurst estate over the wall and the Ribble down the hill. The Ribble Room takes up to 110 and looks south over the garden to the valley, which is where the light comes from all afternoon. It is a pub downstairs, which is a good thing on a wedding day. Twenty-one bedrooms, the best suite kept for the couple. We fly over the inn’s own garden and the valley side, never the college.
- Where: Hurst Green, BB7
- Capacity: Up to 110 in the Ribble Room for the ceremony and the breakfast (the venue FAQ says 100 seated); up to 150 in the evening
- Stay: 21 bedrooms, including three suites; the best suite is kept for the couple
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone within 25 km (Warton about 28 km west). Stonyhurst College’s 1,000-acre estate is next door and private; we fly over the inn’s own garden and the valley side, not the college.
Best for: a smaller country-inn wedding with a view, the pub downstairs and everyone staying over.
Longridge House, formerly Ferrari’s Country House Hotel
Longridge House is what Ferrari’s Country House became after the sale in 2024 and the refurbishment that followed, reopening in summer 2025 on Chipping Lane at Thornley with Bowland in front of it. The Dovecote in the garden is the outdoor ceremony spot, with the guests seated round it, and the Library and the Garden Room are inside. Twenty-three bedrooms in the house and Blackmoss Cottage in the grounds for the night before. Open airspace, so the drone can show the hills behind the house.
- Where: Thornley, Longridge, PR3
- Capacity: 150 dining, 200 for the reception, from 15 guests up. The Ready To Wed package is 50 day and 80 evening
- Stay: 23 bedrooms in the house, and Blackmoss Cottage in the grounds with three bedrooms sleeping six, set up for the wedding party the night before
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone within 22 km: Warton is about 22 km south-west and Blackpool Airport about 30 km west. The old Samlesbury runway is about 9 km south and closed in 2015. No prison nearby.
Best for: an outdoor ceremony with the Bowland hills behind, and everyone staying in the house.
Leighton Hall, Carnforth
Leighton Hall is the white Gothic house in a bowl of parkland near Carnforth, with the Lakeland fells stacked up behind it, and the Gillow family still live there. The Music Room and the Herb Garden Pavilion each take 80 for the ceremony, a marquee off the Drawing Room takes 150, and the house is yours for the weekend. No bedrooms at the hall, so guests stay in Carnforth and Yealand. The owners need to give written permission for a drone, and we sort that before the day, not on it.
- Where: Carnforth, LA5
- Capacity: 80 for the ceremony and breakfast in the house, 110 in the evening, or 150 with a marquee attached to the Drawing Room
- Stay: None at the Hall. The venue lists hotels and B&Bs within five to ten minutes’ drive
- Drone: With permission. No flight restriction zone: the Heysham zone edge is about 14 km south and Barrow about 30 km west. The estate requires the owners’ written permission for any drone, and RSPB Leighton Moss adjoins the park to the north.
Best for: a country-house wedding with the house to yourselves and the Lakes on the horizon.
The Locks at Pyes Mill, Conder Green
Pyes Mill is the new name for The Mill at Conder Green, a 1740s mill beside the sixth lock on the Glasson branch of the canal, four miles south of Lancaster, reopened under new owners in January 2026. The Locks suite takes 120 and the lawn by the water is licensed for outdoor vows. Twenty-one bedrooms, five of which you need to book to hold a date. The canal gives us still water and reflections in the evening. Heysham’s power station zone is across the estuary, so we fly east of the canal and never towards the bay.
- Where: Conder Green, LA2
- Capacity: Up to 120 seated for the ceremony and the breakfast, more in the evening
- Stay: 21 bedrooms, including the bridal suite
- Drone: Depends on the launch spot. The Heysham power station zone (EG R444, 2 nautical miles) starts about 3.6 km to the north-west across the Lune estuary. The mill is outside it; we fly east of the canal and never towards the bay.
Best for: a canalside wedding with a lawn ceremony and the whole party sleeping over.
Barns
Bashall Barn
Bashall Barn is on a dairy farm at Bashall Eaves, two miles out of Clitheroe, and the cows are still milked while you get married. The Brook Room has bi-fold doors for a ceremony with the garden behind you, or you marry under the oak pergola in the woodland garden by the water. Fifty to 130 for the breakfast, 250 in the evening, and 11 bedrooms in the Bedroom Barn for the wedding party. It is exclusive use and one wedding a day. For the drone we agree the take-off spot with the farm and keep clear of the stock.
- Where: Bashall Eaves, BB7
- Capacity: 50 to 130 seated in the Dining Room, up to 250 in the evening
- Stay: 11 en-suite bedrooms in the Bedroom Barn for up to 32 guests, block-booked by the couple, plus a wedding suite for two nights
- Drone: Depends on the launch spot. No flight restriction zone within 30 km (Warton about 34 km west). It is a working dairy farm, so we agree the take-off spot with the venue and keep away from the stock.
Best for: a relaxed barn day with an outdoor ceremony by the water and everyone staying on the farm.
Beeston Manor, Hoghton
Beeston Manor is a 16th-century barn in 140 acres at Hoghton, between Preston and Blackburn, with nothing else in sight but fields and Beeston Woods. You marry upstairs in the Oakland Room and eat downstairs in the Woodland Room, 125 for the day and 200 at night. Both of you can get ready on site: the Dove Suite with its balcony for one of you, the Meadows for the other the night before. Fourteen bedrooms in all. Open airspace, the old Samlesbury runway long closed, so the drone is straightforward.
- Where: Hoghton, PR5
- Capacity: 125 for the day, 200 in the evening
- Stay: 14 en-suite bedrooms: 11 upstairs and 3 downstairs including the Bridal Suite. The Dove Suite, with a balcony and hot tub, is the couple’s. The Meadows, three suites with a courtyard and hot tub, is for the night before. Bridebook shows 18 bedrooms sleeping 51
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone within 18 km: Warton is about 18.5 km west and Blackpool Airport about 28 km. The old Samlesbury runway, 3.8 km north-east, closed in 2015. HMP Preston is about 6 km away, well outside its 400 m limit.
Best for: a barn wedding where both of you get ready on site and everyone stays.
The River Barn
The River Barn is two miles from our house, on Mains Lane at Little Singleton, beside a Tudor manor from 1536 and the River Wyre. It used to trade as the Great Hall at Mains, so you may know it by that name. The barn is oak from floor to ceiling, licensed for 120, and it looks onto a courtyard topiary garden. High beams eat light, so the ceremony is a flash job and the walled gardens and the riverbank do the rest. Seven bedrooms in the manor and six cabins in the woods for the night.
- Where: Little Singleton, Poulton-le-Fylde FY6
- Capacity: 120 for the ceremony and the wedding breakfast, 150 in the evening
- Stay: 7 bedrooms in the manor, including a honeymoon suite with its own staircase, and 6 en-suite Oak Tree Cabins in the woodland. One directory says 8 manor bedrooms
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone nearby. The Blackpool Airport zone edge is about 6 km to the south-west and Warton’s about 9 km to the south.
Best for: rustic riverside weddings where the wedding party stays over.
Wyresdale Park, Scorton
Wyresdale Park is restored stone barns on an 800-acre estate at Scorton, between Garstang and Lancaster, with the boating lake in front and Nicky Nook rising behind. The Chapel or the walled Ceremony Garden for the vows, the White Barn for 144 at the breakfast, the Atrium for 200 in the evening. There is a lot of ground, which is where two of us comes in. Yurts in the orchard and cottages round the hall sleep 42. The parachute drop zone at Cockerham is six km away, so we check the NOTAMs before we fly.
- Where: Scorton, PR3
- Capacity: Ceremony 140; wedding breakfast 144 in the White Barn; evening 200 in the Atrium. Minimum 70 guests
- Stay: North Wing of the hall (sleeps 6) and the Lodge the night before; Honeymoon Suite, Coach House, Keeper’s Cottage, the Nook and ten Orchard Yurts on the night, 42 beds in all
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone. Warton aerodrome is about 23 km south, Blackpool Airport about 26 km, and the Heysham zone about 15 km north-west. Black Knights parachute drop zone at Cockerham is 6 km away, so we check NOTAMs on the day.
Best for: a barn wedding with a lake, the Bowland fells behind and the whole party sleeping on site.
Coastal hotels
The Imperial Hotel Blackpool
The Imperial has been on North Promenade since 1867 and it is the hotel we would send our own family to. The Louis Room has the tall seafront windows and takes 50 for the day; the Washington Suite is the 1901 ballroom for the big ones. With 180 bedrooms, your guests sleep in the building where the wedding is. The prom over the road faces west, so sunset is a two-minute walk, and it is windy, so bring grips for the veil. Two km north of the airport zone, so the drone flies without permission.
- Where: Blackpool, FY1
- Capacity: Louis package 50 day, 80 evening. Washington Suite a minimum of 75 day and 120 evening. Capacity chart: Washington Suite 400 banquet, 340 dinner dance · Lancastrian Suite 400 banquet · Louis Room 84 banquet · Princess Room 100 banquet
- Stay: 180 bedrooms. The bridal suite on the wedding night is in the package
- Drone: Yes. About 2 km north of the Blackpool Airport flight restriction zone. No permission needed at the hotel; we still check Drone Assist on the day.
Best for: a classic seafront hotel wedding where everyone stays over and the sunset is across the road.
The Clifton Arms Hotel, Lytham
The Clifton Arms is the red-brick hotel on West Beach at Lytham, built in 1839, with the bay windows facing south over the Green to the estuary. The Clifton Suite takes 50 for the ceremony with the Green in the window, the Ballroom up to 148 for the breakfast and the night. The windmill is ten minutes along the front and the skies over the Ribble do the rest. Forty-eight bedrooms. Warton’s runway strip reaches over the estuary just south of the Green, so we choose the launch spot carefully and ask.
- Where: Lytham, FY8
- Capacity: Library 16 · Talbot Suite 30 · Clifton Suite 50 · Clifton and Talbot together 80 · Ballroom 80 to 148. Bridebook gives 150 dining and 200 for the evening
- Stay: 48 bedrooms, including sea-view rooms, the Director and Chairman rooms and family suites
- Drone: Depends on the launch spot. About a kilometre outside both the Blackpool Airport and Warton zones, but Warton’s runway protection strip reaches over the estuary just south of the Green. We pick the launch spot and ask Warton.
Best for: a smart seafront hotel wedding with the Green, the windmill and the estuary on the doorstep.
Grand Hotel St Annes
The Grand is the big 1897 hotel at the south end of South Promenade in St Annes, with turrets under domed roofs, a Jacobean-style staircase and the dunes over the road. Fifty-four bedrooms in the main building and 22 more across the road. The hotel does not publish wedding capacities and it was not on the county’s approved-ceremony list when we checked, so confirm the licence with them before you book the registrars. It sits inside the Blackpool Airport zone, so the drone needs the airport’s permission and is never guaranteed.
- Where: St Annes, FY8
- Capacity: Not published by the hotel. A venue-hire directory lists a function suite with a 150-guest wedding in 2022
- Stay: 54 bedrooms in the main building, plus 22 in the Grand TwentyTwo annexe 50 m across the road
- Drone: With permission. Inside the Blackpool Airport flight restriction zone, about 3 km from the airport. We apply for permission ourselves, 72 hours ahead, and it is never guaranteed.
Best for: a seafront hotel wedding in St Annes with the dunes for portraits and everyone staying over.
Modern spaces and ceremony venues
The Glass House at Staining Lodge
The Glass House is the modern one, three miles from Blackpool on the golf course at Staining and ten minutes from us. Everything happens in one glass-walled room with timber beams, 150 seated, and there is a white gazebo in the garden licensed for summer ceremonies. Glass walls mean the light changes all day, which we like, and the estate gives us 160 acres to walk out into. Lodges with hot tubs on the course for the night. About a km outside the airport zone, so the aerial of the glasshouse is on.
- Where: Staining, Blackpool FY3
- Capacity: 150 seated, 200 or more for an informal evening party
- Stay: Lodges on the golf course, each sleeping up to 6 with a hot tub on the balcony
- Drone: Yes. About 1 km outside the Blackpool Airport flight restriction zone (EGRU304). The venue is roughly 5.8 km from the airport; the zone reaches 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) out.
Best for: light-filled modern weddings close to Blackpool, with everything in one room.
Holmes Mill, Clitheroe
Holmes Mill is an 1823 cotton mill in the middle of Clitheroe, with the Cotton Room for ceremonies up to 150 and the Bowland Beer Hall next door for when the formal bit is over. The Beer Hall, the Food Hall and the cinema stay open to the public, so it is one wedding a day rather than exclusive use, and the yards are busy, which gives the photographs life. Limestone walls, tall windows and iron: the light is good and the texture is better. Thirty-nine rooms in the Spinning Block, the Penthouse in the hoist tower.
- Where: Clitheroe, BB7
- Capacity: 50 to 150 seated for the day, up to 180 in the evening
- Stay: 39 bedrooms in the Spinning Block hotel, with the Penthouse in the hoist tower for the couple
- Drone: With permission. No flight restriction zone within 15 km; BAE Samlesbury is about 16 km south-west. It is a town-centre site with public yards, so we need the venue’s consent and the right permissions to fly over the Mill Yard.
Best for: an industrial-chic town wedding where the party carries on in the Beer Hall.
Lancaster House Hotel
Lancaster House is the four-star hotel at Bailrigg on the edge of the university, three minutes off junction 33, and the point of it is that the whole day happens in one building. Get ready upstairs, marry in the Dalton Suite, eat and dance in the Bowland Suite for up to 180, then everyone walks to bed. Seventy-nine bedrooms. It is a modern hotel, so we make the photographs from the people rather than the architecture, and the grounds give us trees for the couple portraits.
- Where: Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1
- Capacity: Dalton Suite 110 for a seated breakfast; Bowland Suite 180, for weddings of 28 to 180
- Stay: 79 bedrooms and four apartments. Packages include the first night in a Luxury Suite
- Drone: Yes. No flight restriction zone. The Heysham power station zone (EG R444) is about 5 km to the north-west at its nearest edge. The hotel publishes no drone policy, so we clear it with the co-ordinator.
Best for: a hotel wedding with everyone staying over, three minutes off the M6.
The Ashton Memorial, Williamson Park
The Ashton Memorial is the domed folly on the hill in Williamson Park above Lancaster, and the council hires out the ground floor for two-hour ceremony slots. It is licensed for 120 including the registrars, and the gallery outside looks over Morecambe Bay. You marry under the dome, have your confetti on the steps, and head down into town for the reception. It is as grand a ceremony backdrop as the county has. The park stays open, so there will be joggers in the background and we work round them.
- Where: Lancaster, LA1
- Capacity: Licensed for 120 including two registrars and two staff. Evening hire seats 80 for a meal, or 120 without tables
- Stay: None
- Drone: With permission. No flight restriction zone. The Heysham power station zone (EG R444, 2 nautical miles) is about 5 km to the north-west. The park is council land and open to the public, so we ask the park’s events team before we fly.
Best for: a ceremony with a view and a reception somewhere else in Lancaster.
Blackpool Wedding Chapel at Festival House
The Wedding Chapel at Festival House is the gold building on the seaward side of the Promenade, next to the Comedy Carpet. The Tower View Room takes 60 with a full-height window onto the Tower; the Sea View Room takes 10. The couple and the photographer get the balcony over the beach, which is where the photographs come from. It does ceremonies, not receptions, so the party is somewhere else in town. For a weekday ceremony here, our Micro & Register Office package is one of us for two hours from £299.
- Where: Blackpool, FY1
- Capacity: Up to 60 guests
- Stay: None
- Drone: Depends on the launch spot. About 0.5 km north of the Blackpool Airport flight restriction zone. The beach in front is on the edge of it. The launch spot decides whether we need permission.
Best for: small seaside ceremonies with the Tower in the window and the beach downstairs.
We take one wedding a day.
If your date’s still free, it’s yours. A £100 deposit holds it.