Icy and frost-filled mornings are now giving way to the tiniest glimpses of sunlight coming through the clouds – this can only mean one thing: Spring has finally Sprung! Whilst the busiest months in the Wedding Calendar seem to be June – September, quite often Spring gets sadly left behind.
But, for this journal entry we have decided to celebrate all the ways in which the Springtime is the perfect season for a wedding at the Bodleian Libraries. So please do get comfy and settle down to read all about how Spring is an ideal season to get married at the Bodleian Libraries.
Easter Holidays
We’re all familiar with schools and workplaces having time off at Easter – but how many of you knew that the University of Oxford breaks up for Easter too? For alumni, you might want to pay attention to this next part. Outside of the University Term Times, you can ask your former Oxford College if they are able to hold the wedding in their College Chapel, quite often for free! Also, please don’t worry if only one of you is an Alumnus, it only requires one half of the couple to have graduated to enquire about this.
A large percentage of our couples are alumni who have their marriage ceremony at one of the historical nearby colleges, then proceed on foot to enjoy their reception at the equally historic Divinity School. As the dates for Easter always shuffle around do always check the University webpage to find out specifically when the terms end.
But for those of us who aren’t lucky enough to attend the University of Oxford, holding your wedding around Easter time does still have its perks. Due to the bank holidays in place around Easter (Good Friday and Easter Monday of course), it is much easier often for guests to take time off work to come and attend your big day! Additionally, for guests with little ones, the time off from school also means no early bedtimes or difficulty in attending a weekday or Sunday wedding for example.
April Showers
Spring, when nature is about to be reborn is obvious synonymous with rain! But both of our Ceremony options come with wet weather cover on the day. Let’s start with the Convocation House wedding. The hire of the Convocation House uses both the Convocation House room and the adjoining Chancellors Court. This is used for the drinks reception, which can be catered by Benugo or The Shaker Bar. Once you have finished your ceremony in the Convocation House, you and your newlywed can step into the Chancellors Court and grab a drink before instructing your guests to follow suit. At that point you and your guests can move between the rooms before moving onto your reception venue of choice.
If you’ve decided to hold your Wedding Ceremony in the Divinity School, you get the luxury of all three rooms; Divinity School, Convocation House and the Chancellor’s Court. As the ceremony is taking place in the Divinity School, Benugo or The Shaker Bar will set up their drinks table in the Convocation House, whilst using the Chancellor’s Court as a back-of-house space. We can’t imagine a more unique wedding and drinks reception venue in Oxford, whilst also keeping you dry from the April showers!
For those who are thinking of an intimate wedding for 50 guests or less, each of our Small Weddings Packages also are fully indoors, ideal for when the outside weather isn’t quite ideal! Our Small Wedding Packages use the Convocation House & Chancellors Court for a quick 2-hour Ceremony, whereas you can access all three rooms with either the Ceremony & Lunch (hire times: 10:00 – 17:00) or Ceremony & Evening Meal (hire times: 16:00 – 22:30). With each of these two bookings, the Ceremony takes place in the Convocation House with the drinks reception and Wedding Breakfast taking place in the Divinity School.
Easter Parade
No we’re not asking you to burst into song, nor to put on your finest Easter bonnet! But with Spring about to be sprung in Eastertime, the world is your oyster with regards to florals! If you’re stuck for ideas, do get in touch with our recommended florists – they’re absolute experts in knowing what works best for a Bodleian Wedding.
It also helps that the “classic” Easter colours (think yellow, blue, pink, and purple pastels) also work very well with white or cream tones too if you want to add pops of colour to your wedding day. Additionally, if you’re thinking about colour palettes, a darker tone also looks fantastic against a white/cream & pastel tone for incredible contrast. When booking your wedding at the Bodleian Libraries, our partner caterers Oxford Fine Dining take care of all linen and tableware hire, so do talk to them about adding some more colour for the wedding breakfast.
We don’t want to admit it, but when we think of Easter, we also think of sweet treats as well. There are also a couple of fun twists you can do with this for an Eastertime Wedding too. Maybe instead of the traditional sugared almonds in little bags, swap them out for some Mini Eggs (and they have their own little bags too!). The benefit of an Eastertime Wedding is that the temperatures have not increased to sweltering (and therefore melting!) degrees yet, so you don’t have to panic about your favours turning into mush by the end of the evening!
Hot Cross Buns (and other Easter Treats)
We mentioned this above with the Mini Eggs, but Easter is a time for treats! If you’re thinking of a Springtime Wedding, why not use the opportunity to get seasonal with your wedding cake and food. Even for those who are adverse to chocolate, you of course have the classics like Hot Cross Buns and Simnel Cake too to take inspiration from. If you’re not in the mood for dried fruit, then do talk to your cake baker about bringing fresh fruit into your cake – to give it that real Springtime touch! If you have no idea where to start, do talk to some of our recommended cake bakers.
We’ll now take a departure from sweet treats to talk more about the Wedding Breakfast. We’ve mentioned this plenty of times already, but with the arrival of Spring, it would be a shame not to have a wonderful seasonal meal for your guests. Our catering partners Oxford Fine Dining can work to a seasonal menu, so do click on the “Spring” option to see what could be on offer for your big day. If for some reason red onion Tart Tatin; spiced vegetable Wellington; or rhubarb frangipane Tart don’t tempt you, Oxford Fine Dining do also a whole selection of menus, so rest assured you’ll have plenty of choice to pick from for your perfect Wedding Breakfast.
From everyone here at the Bodleian Weddings Team we would love to wish you a very “Hoppy” Easter, whether that is munch down on plenty of chocolates, spending time with your loved ones or even just enjoying the long Bank Holiday weekend relaxing!
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