Birmingham Botanical Gardens have looked after this part of Edgbaston since 1832, and the venue's three named suites sit right alongside the working gardens and glasshouses rather than in a separate building — a couple can move from a drinks reception under the Palm House's ironwork straight into their wedding breakfast without leaving the grounds. The largest of the three, the Garden Suite, holds up to 350 for a reception; the Terrace Suite, a Grade II listed room built in 1884 with a genuine sprung dance floor, holds up to 260; and the Loudon Suite, the smallest and most intimate, adjoins its own conservatory and holds up to 70.
Where the band plays
The Terrace Suite's sprung dance floor makes it the natural home for a band and an evening of dancing, though the larger Garden Suite is built to the same purpose for a bigger wedding. Both come with their own bar and dance floor, along with dressing rooms and AV equipment as standard. The venue doesn't publish a sound limiter figure, which is worth confirming directly when you book, particularly for the smaller Loudon Suite.
How the day flows
Most weddings start with drinks among the glasshouses — the Palm House, the Mediterranean Glasshouse and the Arid House are all used for arrival photographs — before moving into whichever suite fits the guest list for the wedding breakfast and evening reception. The Terrace and Garden Suites both convert from a seated meal into a dancefloor once the tables are cleared, so the band's slot and the room's own turnaround are planned together rather than as an afterthought.
Bands available in Edgbaston and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
- Mirror — a Midlands mainstay, comfortable filling the Terrace Suite's sprung dance floor.
- Stereo Jack — a full-sized function band built to scale up to the Garden Suite's larger capacity.
- Kickback — high-energy floor-fillers for whichever suite you book.
- Juno — polished and versatile, well suited to the more intimate Loudon Suite as well as the larger rooms.