St Giles House - one of our favourite wedding venues

One of our favourite wedding venues in Dorset is St Giles House in Wimborne St Giles, home to Lord and Lady Shaftesbury, two of the coolest dudes on the planet. 

There’s a lot to be said for choosing the right wedding venue, although it’s not an easy task when there are so many fantastic and varied options out there, from stately homes or converted barns to a simple marquee in your back garden.  Each one has such a different vibe, and you are looking for something which fits yours.   

For us, wedding venues are great, because they are professionally run establishments which take a lot of the potential grief out of the day of the event, and the build up for that matter. 

St Giles House have painstakingly restored the house over a number of years, in the most creative way.  So although it’s imposing perhaps, as you come round the drive and see it sitting composed in a sea of tranquillity, it’s also wildly exciting and inspiring, not least when you discover the fully kitted out nightclub in the basement.  In addition, they have completely transformed a number of beautiful buildings on the estate, into superb accommodation for yourselves and your guests, and the décor is adorable in all of them. 

I first discovered the house in about 1986, it appeared uninhabited and looking a bit sorry for itself, somewhat abandoned you might say.  I was out walking with some great friends when we seemed to just come across it out of nowhere.  We stood on the terrace, gazing in through the immense, full-length windows and said, ‘you know what, I think if we all clubbed together, we could pick this up for a song.’  The arrogance of youth.  

Twenty-five years later, I’m cooking a private dinner party for Lord and Lady Shaftesbury and a group of their friends in the kitchen, in the very house we’d all been gawping at.  One of the friends I was with back then was Edward Hurst, antique dealer extraordinaire, even then.  He went on to work and consult with the great and the good, and it was he who introduced me to Jasper Conran, over in Tisbury, for whom we cooked a lavish banquet for his 50th birthday party.  Lord Shaftesbury was a guest, loved the food and service, so invited me over to cook for him. 

I think it was a trial, to see if we could impress him twice, it worked.  And that’s when we started working alongside Nick and Dinah as they developed their plans to open up the house to weddings.  They certainly don’t cut corners, and before long, a fully equipped kitchen emerged.  Our first gig at the house was to cater Nick’s brother’s wedding for 200 guests in a marquee in the grounds.  I think we did about six or seven courses and all the food came from the estate.  Vegetables from the walled garden, brown trout, venison, rabbits, fare from all corners. 

So we’ve been doing weddings at St Giles House before they started doing weddings commercially, and we have loved every single one.  The house is now absolutely spectacular and a wonderful backdrop to your wedding celebrations.  Everywhere you look is a photo opportunity, so that when you look back on your day in years to come, you’ll be beaming with delight at the memories those pictures evoke.  Sadly no one ever takes photographs of the food, but we hope we will have contributed a memorable experience for you to savour for ever.