Few wedding venues in England can match the Old Palace for sheer weight of history. Built around 1485 for John Morton, Bishop of Ely, it is among the finest medieval brickwork anywhere in the country, and it was here that Henry VIII installed his three children after taking the palace in 1538. Elizabeth spent much of her childhood in these buildings and was effectively held under house arrest here during her sister Mary’s reign; in 1558 she was sitting beneath an oak in the park when word arrived that she was queen. Standing in the surviving wing, that is not an abstract fact. It is the room.
What remains is the great Banqueting Hall, and it is magnificent: soaring, warm-toned brick, and a roof that still carries most of its original timbers, some peppered with gunshot from the years when the building served as stables and sparrows were shot out of the rafters. The hall is large enough for up to around 280 seated or 300 standing, with a bar attached, which is an extraordinary amount of space to be given in a building this old. Just outside lie the Knot Garden, laid out in Elizabethan patterns and made for photographs, and the Raised Lawn, which looks across to Hatfield House itself and works beautifully for an outdoor ceremony or a drinks reception.
The wider estate is part of the appeal. Hatfield Park runs to hundreds of acres of gardens, woodland and deer park, still the home of the Cecil family, and the Jacobean house that Robert Cecil built in 1611 sits across the lawn from the palace where Elizabeth grew up. Elsewhere on the estate the Riding School, in the Stable Yard with daylight from a mezzanine, offers a lighter, more contemporary room for around 100 seated. Both the Old Palace and the Riding School are licensed for civil ceremonies, ceremonies of many faiths and none are welcomed, and you can use the in-house catering team or bring your own caterer.
Where the band plays
The Banqueting Hall is a proper hall in the medieval sense, built for feasting and noise, and a live band suits it far better than anything discreet. There is room for a stage and a generous dancefloor at one end without disturbing the dining layout, and the scale of the space rewards a larger line-up — a big vocal, a horn section, something that can fill the volume overhead. Brick and open timber make for a lively acoustic, so a band that knows how to control its stage volume will sound considerably better than one that simply plays loud.
How the evening runs
Standard hire runs from 10am to midnight, which shapes the day nicely: a ceremony in the hall or out on the Raised Lawn, drinks in the Knot Garden, dinner under the old roof, and dancing through to a midnight finish so the band’s last set arrives while the hall is still full. Later hours can sometimes be arranged in advance, at a cost and with the right licence, so raise it early if you want it. Parking is on the estate and load-in is manageable, but do give crews time: the approach is through a historic park, and nothing about an ancient building is ever quite as quick as a hotel loading bay.
Bands available in Hertfordshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Hertfordshire.
- Hertfordshire Wedding Bands
- Hertfordshire Events Bands
- Tribute Acts in Hertfordshire
- Wedding DJs in Hertfordshire
- Hertfordshire Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.