Rushton Hall holds one wedding a day. The rule shapes everything else about the house: the Orangery, the Grand Hall, the Picture Gallery, the Ballroom, the gardens and the bedrooms belong to a single wedding party from the morning to the last dance. The hall is a Grade I listed country house near Kettering in Northamptonshire, dating from the sixteenth century and standing in 25 acres of grounds, and a wedding here moves between a historic interior and a stone Orangery designed to sit comfortably beside it.
A sixteenth century house in 25 acres
Rushton is a village between the M1 and the A14, a few minutes from Kettering and Corby, and the hall sits at the end of a drive that opens onto a wide lawn. The stone front has balustraded parapets and a carved doorway with figures set in niches on either side. Behind it lies a garden court of clipped topiary and a fountain, a lily pond, a sunken lawn and a courtyard of honey coloured stable buildings with a clock tower. The gardens and courtyards are open to the wedding party for arrival drinks, guest photographs and portraits of the couple. More than five centuries of history lie behind the house, and a wedding here takes place inside that history rather than beside it.
Indoors the hall keeps the character of a house that was built to be lived in. Oak panelling, ornate plaster ceilings, historic fireplaces and an oak staircase give the principal floors their weight, and afternoon tea is served in the Great Hall. The AA rates the hotel at four red stars, and its 51 bedrooms, restaurant and spa mean that a wedding party can stay on site for the whole weekend.
The Orangery and the rooms around it
The Orangery is the signature wedding room. Its stone façade was designed to keep the historic Rushton look, and inside there are intricate plaster ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, crystal chandeliers and stone floors, with a grand marble fireplace for the colder months. Two craftsmen spent three months on the ceilings alone. Glass doors open onto the grounds, so the room is full of daylight in every season and can be opened to the garden in warm weather. It takes weddings of 80 to 280 guests, and civil ceremonies are held here.
Three more rooms work with it. The Grand Hall has a stone floor, a marble fireplace and detailed ceiling plasterwork, and it holds the Orangery Bar. The Picture Gallery has a minstrel gallery and is also a ceremony room; it can be set while the wedding breakfast is taking place, then opened to guests when the party starts. The Ballroom has high ornate ceilings, chandeliers and windows that reach ceiling height, and it is the room for the wedding breakfast. The Cellar Bar is included in the private hire, and across the whole hall a drinks reception can take up to 500 guests.
How the wedding day moves through the house
The ceremony, the drinks, the wedding breakfast and the evening all take place in the same house, so guests do not travel between venues, and the Picture Gallery, Ballroom and Orangery each have a dedicated purpose across the day. The wedding team agrees the timings for the ceremony, photographs, drinks reception and wedding breakfast with each couple, and the toastmaster and banqueting team follow that plan on the day.
The garden is part of the plan. Drinks and photographs take place in the gardens and courtyards, and the sunken lawn is available for an outdoor ceremony, for celebrant led services only. Each outdoor plan is agreed together with a wet weather plan, so an indoor alternative is always ready. In the evening the Orangery’s voiles draw back to reveal the dance floor. Evening food can be party bowls, food stations, an Italian buffet, a cheese station or an evening buffet, and up to 50 additional guests can join for the evening.
Private hire covers the hotel and the Orangery for the agreed period, with the gardens and courtyards, the Cellar Bar, the allocated bedrooms and a dedicated toastmaster. The hotel can hold the ceremony and the whole reception, and the wedding team prepares a proposal for each date and guest number before a couple commits.
For portraits the house offers a good deal within a short walk: the carved entrance front, the fountain in the garden court, the oak staircase, the lily pond, the sunken lawn and the stable courtyard with its clock tower. All of them lie within the grounds, and the indoor rooms are the alternative if the weather turns.
Dining and the wedding breakfast
Everyday dining at Rushton Hall is in the Tresham Restaurant, where menus use seasonal ingredients and local suppliers where possible. Tables of more than six are served in a private dining room, and children are welcome. Wedding food is a separate arrangement of four packages. The Regal, at £105 a person, and the Imperial, at £130, are three course wedding breakfasts. The Royal, at £140, and the Sovereign, at £180, are four courses, with the Sovereign drawn from a gourmet menu and a selection of wines from the cellar. The three upper packages serve Laurent Perrier champagne for the drinks reception and the toasts, and every package includes a dedicated wedding team, white linen and free parking. A toastmaster is included when day guests number 100 or more. The couple’s menu tasting is complimentary, and a children’s menu is available for younger guests.. Packages include a bottle of Laurent Perrier champagne in the bridal room or suite.
Staying at the hall
There are 51 individually styled bedrooms, from Classic and Superior rooms to Luxury, State and Four Poster Bedrooms, each with an en suite bathroom or shower room, Penhaligon toiletries and an evening turn down service. The State Bedrooms are the historic ones: nine rooms with king size beds, en suite baths and separate showers, and original fireplaces. A four poster suite is reserved for the couple at no charge.
The wedding hire includes ten bedrooms on a bed and breakfast basis, for two guests in each room. These contracted rooms must be taken, and they are the rooms closest to the Orangery, so they can hear the party; a wedding may be held on the day before yours, which affects guests staying both nights. Further bedrooms can be booked for guests at a discount of £40 a room on selected rooms, including the night before the wedding. North Lodge and South Lodge, two refurbished lodges in the grounds, have three bedrooms each, with breakfast in the hotel and use of the spa for up to six guests; they suit a small family or a group of friends. The lodges, the spa and the car park sit outside the private hire. Accessible bedrooms are also available, and extra beds and cots can be added in selected room types, though not in the Classic Double Bedrooms.
The Stableyard Spa
The Stableyard Spa opens onto a courtyard garden of sun loungers and clipped topiary. It has a heated indoor swimming pool, an indoor jacuzzi, a steam room, a sauna and a fitness suite, with five single treatment rooms and one double, and a café that serves light lunches. The pool and fitness suite are open from 7.00 am to 8.30 pm each day. Treatments are available daily and are booked with the spa directly.
Getting there and what is nearby
Rushton Hall stands on Desborough Road, NN14 1RR. Kettering is the nearest station, about two miles from the house in a straight line, and London St Pancras is about an hour away by train; the hall is a short taxi ride from the platform. East Midlands Airport is about 40 minutes by road and Birmingham Airport about 55. Kettering town centre is ten minutes away. For a free afternoon the staff recommend golf at Stoke Albany, a driving experience at Rockingham Speedway, sailing at Rutland Water or a Land Rover off road drive, all booked in advance, and there are walks around the hall and the surrounding countryside.
Planning a wedding at Rushton Hall
Venue hire varies by day and by season, up to £14,000 for a Saturday between April and October or in December, and it applies with one of the wedding breakfast packages. Hire includes the Orangery, Grand Hall, Picture Gallery and Ballroom for one wedding. Day guests number at least 60 adults. The registrar and the registrar’s fees are arranged separately through Kettering Registrars. Weddings run throughout the year, and hire and package prices differ between weekdays and weekends and between summer and winter. Check the Orangery’s capacity for your date and layout with the wedding team, along with the rooms reserved for your party and the registrar’s availability.
The hall suits couples who want a whole house, with its rooms, gardens and bedrooms, devoted to their own wedding rather than shared with a second party. A date can normally be held provisionally for up to two weeks while you visit. See the Rushton Hall Hotel & Spa profile for the rooms and gallery, or browse wedding venues in the United Kingdom and Northamptonshire.
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