Mulberry House is a listed Georgian house at High Ongar that has been turned, with considerable skill, into a boutique hotel and wedding venue. The original architecture has been kept and its details cared for, with 21st-century additions worked in around it, so the place manages to be both properly elegant and genuinely comfortable. It is family run, and it collected the Wedding Industry Awards title for best hotel wedding venue in the East of England and then nationally in 2025, which tells you something about how the days here are handled.
The grounds are the real surprise. There are 22 acres of them: rolling fields, lakes and streams, wildflower meadows, wishing wells and a stretch of ancient woodland, with alpacas in a paddock and black swans on the water. It gives photographers an embarrassment of choice and gives guests somewhere to wander when they need a breather from the party. Ceremonies can be held beside the lake in a gazebo through the warmer months, among the trees in the woodland setting, or indoors with the Oak Room and its vaulted ceiling standing by when the English weather does what it does.
Inside, the Copper Room is the grand one — a breathtaking vaulted ceiling, chandeliers, a private bar and cloakroom, and room for up to 130. Alongside it stands an all-seasons marquee that has nothing temporary about it: ivory drapes, a starlit ceiling hung with crystal chandeliers, air conditioning, a built-in bar and its own private decking, seating 140 or holding 200 for something less formal. Upstairs the honeymoon suite waits for the couple, and a newly refurbished changing suite gives the wedding party somewhere proper to get ready. With 24 bedrooms sleeping up to 55, a good part of your guest list can stay the night.
Where the band plays
Most couples put live music in the marquee, and it is easy to see why: at 200 standing it is the largest space, the bar is built in so the crowd stays put, and the decking gives people somewhere to spill out to without leaving the party behind. The Copper Room is the alternative, smaller and more dramatic, with its own bar and a vaulted ceiling that gives a band plenty of air. Whichever you choose, talk to the events team about where the stage will sit and how a band will get its kit in — the marquee and the house are separate buildings, and knowing the route in advance makes for a much calmer set-up.
How the evening runs
Because this is a hotel as well as a venue, the day is unusually relaxed at both ends: guests can settle in beforehand and nobody is watching for a taxi at the end. Ceremony by the lake or among the trees, drinks on the lawns, dinner in the Copper Room or the marquee, then dancing. Evenings generally run to about midnight, giving a band two full sets with time for an encore, and the bedrooms upstairs mean the last song usually plays to a room that is still full. If you would like music outdoors by the lake or on the decking, it is worth raising when you book so it can be agreed in advance.
Bands available in Essex and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Essex.
- Wedding Bands in Essex
- Events Bands in Essex
- Essex Tribute Acts
- Essex Wedding DJs
- Essex Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.