Aston Hall is a Grade I listed Jacobean mansion, built in the early 17th century and looked after today by Birmingham Museums Trust, with four centuries of history behind its oak-panelled rooms — King Charles I spent a night here during the Civil War, and Queen Victoria visited on more than one occasion. It sits within its own Green Flag public park on the edge of Aston, giving a wedding here genuine parkland for photographs alongside the hall's own gardens.
Where the band plays
Ceremonies are held in the Great Hall, the mansion's grandest room, with oak panelling, a large fireplace and an intricately plastered ceiling providing all the backdrop a couple could want. The room holds up to 80 guests, and civil ceremonies run on weekdays between 11am and 2pm, excluding bank holidays — a registrar conducts the ceremony on site. The exclusive three-hour hire includes furniture set-up, a private meeting room for the registrar, and photography access to selected rooms and the grounds, including Lady Holte's Garden and the North Courtyard.
How the day flows
Because the hire runs to a set three-hour window, an Aston Hall wedding is usually built around a tightly timed ceremony and photographs, with the reception and evening celebration held elsewhere — worth factoring in when you're booking a band, since the room itself is used for the ceremony rather than for dancing. Couples typically move on to a separate reception venue afterwards, using Aston Hall and its park for the ceremony and the photographs that make the most of its history.
Bands available in Birmingham and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
- Mirror — a Midlands mainstay, worth booking for whichever venue hosts your Aston Hall reception.
- The Tommy Guns — a confident, full-sized function band for a reception venue nearby.
- Funking Brilliant — five-piece energy to close out the evening once the ceremony's formalities are done.
- Stereo Jack — versatile enough to suit whatever room your reception moves on to.