Meet Bijou Weddings

The team behind Bijou Weddings has made planning the perfect luxury country-house wedding an effortless experience for thousands of couples, offering both fabulous exclusive-use mansions and all the expertise you need to host your dream celebration

Bijou Weddings has been designing luxury celebrations at its exclusive-use country house venues for some 20 years now, along the way realising the dreams of thousands of couples. Weddings here are a home-from-home experience – albeit in an impossibly glamorous, luxurious and photogenic setting. Beautiful historic houses, manicured grounds, lovely bedrooms (including gorgeous bridal suites) and space to spread out and celebrate make Bijou weddings a party like royalty experience.

All of this has required vision – and a very firm idea of what a dream country wedding should be – and rests on the personal and bespoke nature of its approach. “We have always been a family-run business,” says Bijou’s marketing and communications manager Francesca Cribb. “That means everyone on our planning team has expertise – not just inside-out knowledge of our venues, but all the other elements that ensure a wedding with Bijou is truly exceptional.”

“Beautiful and historic venues and space to spread out make Bijou Weddings properties a party like royalty experience”

Once you’ve fallen in love with your Bijou venue, the team set about making the wedding process as stress-free as possible. Francesca says: “We have a really easy to use proprietary wedding planner that we designed to cover all bases. It takes couples through all the decisions they need to make, and in the right order. Our planning team stay in touch to keep things on track and are on call as and when needed”. The process ensures couples decide the complete timeline of their day (each property is hired on a 24-hour basis), as well as choosing perfect menus and sourcing key suppliers – from cakemaker to photographer to florist.

Each of the wedding venues has been painstakingly renovated and styled to make it the perfect base for ceremonies and receptions in all four seasons. While spring and summer weekends and weekdays will always be popular, the team have seen a steep rise in popularity of winter celebrations, when cosy log fires and twinkling lights make a country wedding a seductive prospect.

“Because we manage every detail from first to last, we ensure the party flows seamlessly”

The jewel closest to London is Botleys Mansion, a grand Palladian property set in 56-acres of rolling Surrey parkland just half-an-hour from the capital. With a ceremony capacity of 250, and double that for evening parties, this is a magnificent space for a grand celebration. Cain Manor, on the Surrey-Hampshire border, has fabulous bedrooms and breakout spaces and is perfect for a relaxed barn-style party.

Romantic Notley Abbey in Buckinghamshire was once the home of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh and stars such as Marilyn Monroe have stayed within its picturesque medieval walls. Silchester House in Berkshire is the original and smallest Bijou property – but still hosts up to 180 for an evening party and is perfect for a classic English summer-garden wedding. The newest Bijou properties offer something a little different. Chateau du Bijou in Provence is a dreamy venue perfect for a longer destination-style party. The Harper by Bijou is soon to open as a boutique hotel, spa and wedding venue and is located just a mile from the idyllic golden-sand beaches of North Norfolk.

“We have a really easy to use proprietary wedding planner that we designed to cover all bases”

Now with six venues in the fold, Bijou has country celebrations covered, whatever your style and vision for your day. While the properties are all stars, many couples discover Bijou because they have attended someone else’s wedding and loved the way it was organised. Francesca says: “Every wedding is unique but we do have a signature style and standard across all our properties. We are a tight-knit team and, because we oversee every detail, we ensure the party flows seamlessly and delivers what couples want – perfect wedding-day memories.”