There cannot be many wedding addresses in the country to beat this one. Pembroke Lodge stands at the highest point of Richmond Park — the largest of London’s Royal Parks, enclosed by Charles I in 1637 — and the drive up through the gates, past the deer and the ancient oaks, does a good deal of the work before your guests have even parked. The house is a Grade II listed Georgian mansion, white-fronted and genuinely elegant, and its occupants have included Elizabeth, Countess of Pembroke, who gave it her name, and Lord John Russell, the Victorian prime minister, whose grandson Bertrand Russell grew up here. Queen Victoria, Dickens and Tennyson all came to call.
Around the house lie some 11 acres of landscaped gardens, with a rose garden, a laburnum walk and pockets of ancient woodland, and from the lawns the view runs west across the Thames Valley for what feels like half of England. It is at its best late on a summer afternoon, conveniently when most couples want it. Pembroke Lodge is family-owned and independently run, and close to 10p in every pound spent here goes back into the upkeep of the park.
Two suites are let, each on exclusive use, each with its own outdoor space and its own licensed oak gazebo for the ceremony. The Russell Suite is the lighter and more intimate of the pair, seating 70 for the wedding breakfast and holding 100 in the evening, with doors straight out to the garden. The Belvedere is the grand one, seating 140 and taking 200 later, and it comes with the panorama. Everything is cooked on site, and the team have been running weddings here since 1997, which shows in how unhurried the day feels.
Where the band plays
Which suite you take makes a real difference to the music. The Russell Suite is a room a four-piece fills without effort, small enough that a band can play at a civilised volume and still fill the floor. The Belvedere is a different proposition — 200 people and far more air — and wants a fuller line-up and a PA with something in reserve. In both rooms the dancing ends up near the garden doors, which is a happy accident: guests who drift out for a breather are never quite out of earshot.
How the evening tends to run
Most celebrations here go on until around midnight, which gives you room for two full sets, a first dance placed in the middle of the evening rather than crammed into the end of it, and an encore that lands while the floor is still busy. Some dates stop at 11pm instead, so it is worth settling your own finish time early on — the whole running order hangs off that one number.
Arriving and loading in
The one practical quirk is that this is a Royal Park, and the park’s rules come before the venue’s. Gate times, the speed limit and where vehicles may go are set by the Royal Parks rather than by Pembroke Lodge, and a band bringing a van in has to plan around them. It is why musicians arrive noticeably earlier here than at a barn down a farm track — reason enough to name the venue to your act as soon as the date is fixed.
Bands available in Surrey and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Surrey.
- Surrey Wedding Bands
- Events Bands in Surrey
- Tribute Acts in Surrey
- Surrey Wedding DJs
- Corporate Entertainment in Surrey
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.