At Rowden Abbey we believe your wedding should feel personal, unhurried and entirely your own. That’s why we open the doors for just five weddings each year — five weekends devoted to five love stories.

The rise of the intimate wedding

Across the country, couples are re-defining what a wedding looks like.
According to Bridebook’s 2025 UK Report and Hitched’s 2025 Trends, searches for micro-weddings have risen more than 20 percent this year, while Pinterest reports growing interest in dinner-party and garden-party aesthetics.

Having a smaller guest list allows for a more unique experience and quality in every element of the day, when guest numbers shrink, the moments expand: pre-wedding suppers, fireside breakfasts, long walks in the parkland. Couples are spending not less, but more wisely — investing in experience over excess.

Why five weekends?

Fewer dates mean more care.

Every couple is known by name; every detail has time to breathe. When plans evolve, we adapt. When ideas bloom, we make space for them. You’ll never feel like one of many — the Abbey is yours from Friday to Sunday, to celebrate in any way that feels true to you.

Three ways to shape your weekend

Petit Rowden (up to 30 guests) – for gatherings with your nearest and dearest. Exclusive use from Friday 11 a.m.–Sunday 3 p.m., accommodation for 22 guests, and optional glamping for 20 pitches.

Midi Rowden (up to 50 guests) – the best of both worlds. Includes wedding-planner support, introductions to trusted suppliers and a courtesy vintage car within four miles.

Rowden Grande (up to 70 guests) – the full country-house weekend: a private-chef supper, glamping for 25 pitches with welfare unit, and luxury extras from clay-shoots to on-site beauticians.

Each path can be refined with marquee hire, wellness or beauty options — enhancements, never restrictions.

Ceremony your way — within the Abbey or beyond

Rowden Abbey holds a full civil licence, giving you freedom to exchange vows in the half-panelled Dining Room, beneath the woodland canopy, or beside the lake with the Abbey as your backdrop.

For couples who dream of a church wedding, we work closely with St Peter’s Church in Bromyard, just minutes away. Its historic tower and peaceful setting make it the perfect partner to the Abbey — a place where you can marry in church and return here for your celebration.

This balance of flexibility and tradition reflects a wider national shift. Bridebook’s data shows a 59 percent rise in religious and faith-based ceremonies, particularly among Gen Z couples seeking authenticity and connection. More couples are blending old and new: honouring faith, family and meaning while creating celebrations that feel modern and deeply personal.

Authentic, unplugged, and in the moment

Nationally, nearly one in three couples now choose a tech-free ceremony. “Screens off, love on,” says planner Stacey Simpson — and we couldn’t agree more. Rowden’s oak-panelled rooms and woodland clearings lend themselves to ceremonies that are fully present, where vows are heard, not filmed.

Tradition, sustainability and soul

Gen Z couples are also embracing a quiet return to meaning: more faith-based ceremonies, more sustainable styling, more sentiment. Three-quarters of couples now weave vintage or second-hand details into their décor — for the planet and for the stories they carry.

Our 1881 Arts & Crafts house, with its original panelling and William Morris wallpapers, already embodies that same principle of lasting beauty and craftsmanship.

A weekend, not a day

With exclusive use of the house and thirty acres of parkland, your wedding unfolds over an entire weekend. Long dinners, morning coffees, quiet corners — time becomes part of the celebration itself. It’s a rhythm of connection that modern couples increasingly crave: less spectacle, more substance.

If that’s the wedding you imagine — authentic, intimate and deeply personal — send a note to the Abbey to arrange a private viewing. Let’s choose one of our five weekends for 2026 together, and make it yours.