Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about your Big Day… 

About the day

Contact Kirklees Registration Service to find out if a Registrar is available to marry you on your preferred date, and make your booking www.kirklees.gov.uk/registrars

£500 deposit secures your date in our diary and is refunded in full if you change your mind within 14 days of making the booking.

50% of the balance is payable no later than 12 months prior to your wedding; with the remainder due 8 weeks before the event.

A Catering Bond of £500 for the use of the kitchen will be payable no later than the day before your wedding, and will be refunded on the first working day following your wedding, provided the kitchen is returned in the same clean condition it was taken, and all equipment is in full working order.
We include the use of our modern white chairs in the Billiards Room for your ceremony – but if you prefer to source a different chair, your venue dresser can hire these in and set them up for you.
When you book Cliffe House for your wedding, you are hiring our venue only, giving you the maximum flexibility to personalise your day, to bring in your own caterers, venue dressers and entertainers, to create a one-off experience. Included is the use of our furniture, but if you prefer to use different chairs for example, you can hire these in.
Before the ceremony, your guests can arrive and gather in the bar, while you meet with the Registrar in the Lounge to complete the legal formalities. If it’s perfect weather, we can also serve welcome drinks outside on the lawn.

Your ceremony will take place in front of the gorgeous fireplace in the Billiards Room. Afterwards drinks are served in the bar and guests can relax here and, in the Lounge, while you have photographs taken in the house and grounds.

The Dining Room is set for your reception meal, using our rustic rectangular oak tables and benches, in various layouts which we can discuss with you. We’re afraid we can’t swap to round tables, but we can remove the benches and replace these with our white chairs if you prefer, or, you could hire an event dresser to bring in and set out different chairs.

Evening entertainment, music and dancing can be set up in the Billiards Room while your guests are still enjoying your speeches in the Dining Room. And, if you have evening guests joining you later on, the entire suite of ground floor rooms gives everyone an opportunity to spread out – whether they want to chat in the Bar, dance in the Billiard Room, or find a quieter spot and a comfy chair in the Lounge.

We call last orders at the bar at 11pm, music ends at 11.30pm and carriages are at midnight.

(Your caterers and venue dressers have access to the house the following morning to collect and pack away equipment.)
Yes – we only host one wedding in the house at a time. Please note that our grounds are generally open to the public, but when we have a wedding, we will put up notices saying the site is closed for a private event. While most people will respect this, the wider grounds are not completely fenced in, so we cannot always guarantee absolute privacy.
Yes – We’re very happy for guests to scatter flower petals or biodegradable confetti outside.
All rooms are available to you to dress the day before, from 6pm until 9pm; and again from 9am on the day of your wedding.

One of the advantages of booking Cliffe House is that you’re able to book the professional caterer of your choice – we don’t insist you use a caterer on a list of pre-approved suppliers. You must, however, use a professional caterer who can provide us with the necessary statutory insurances and food hygiene certification – you can’t provide your own food, or ask family and friends to do it, unless you/they are an established catering business.


Cliffe House is a brand new venue for 2022, so we haven’t worked with suppliers at this location before. Our advice is to do some local research of your own on the internet and social media, and to ask friends for their recommendations. Also, speak to your favourite restaurant, or a food concession you’ve enjoyed at another event or festival. We always recommend a pre-wedding site visit for caterers who will be supplying the food for your event.

Access to the kitchen for your caterer is from 4pm until 9pm on Fridays and from 9am on the day of your wedding.

Prior to your event, your caterer will be required to visit and undertake a kitchen induction session, which we offer Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. You/they can book this with our Cliffe House Catering Team.

No – your caterer should provide all crockery and cutlery used to serve your meal, and also any table linen, if you prefer to cover our oak tables with cloths.
If required, we have 4 highchairs available – please ask us in advance if you would like us to provide these for your event.

We have 40 standard spaces in the carpark, with the option for you to manage some double-parking of guests to maximise capacity.

There is full disabled access to the ground floor including a fully accessible toilet.
We’re sorry, but we can’t allow dogs inside the house.

About the evening

Our bedrooms are not currently available for overnight stays. However, we do make a Dressing Room available to the Bridal Party on the day of the wedding, so that you can change outfits and store personal belongings.
Our bar stocks a selection of popular beers, lagers, wines and spirits, and we’re happy to work with you if there’s something specific you’d like us to stock and serve. We offer a variety of drinks packages to provide drinks for your reception and throughout your meal, so that you can pick and choose what you would like to provide for your guests, and what they may pay for themselves.

For the ease of you and your guests, our bar accepts card payments only.
We do not allow fireworks or Chinese lantern releases, because of the fatal harm and distress they cause to animals and wildlife, and the risk of fire in a predominantly rural area.

We suggest an LED light display in the trees around the brook could be a stunning climax to your celebrations. We also allow metal hand-held sparklers, provided these are extinguished immediately and collected for disposal.
We can’t allow straw bales on site, as we use the grounds for other purposes during the week, but we do have some pretty amazing ready-made fire pits in the woods – ask us for more details.
To protect our historic building we only allow LED battery operated candles and tea lights. We will consider allowing real tea lights on some tables, depending on the type of tea light holders, but please speak to us first.
The Dining Room can only be used for dining, but there’s plenty of room in the Billiards Room for dancing to a live band or a DJ. We will ask you for a current PAT test certificate for all the electrical equipment your DJ or band bring with them, and we will also need to see a copy of their public liability insurance which should be for at least £5m.
Last orders are called at 11pm; dancing and music finishes at 11.30pm, to give you time to say your emotional farewells to guests and leave at midnight.
We’re happy for you to have unamplified music outside on the lawn during the day, but all music should move inside by 7pm to avoid causing any nuisance to our neighbours.
No, you can leave items in the house overnight at your own risk. The house will be open to you and your contractors the following morning between 9am and 11am to collect equipment and other belongings.
All cancellations must be received in writing (email) to wedding.planner@kirklees.gov.uk
Notice to Cancel Cancellation Charge
within 14 days of making booking and paying £500 deposit £0 *your deposit is refunded
after 14 days until 12 months prior to your wedding £500 *you lose your deposit
between 12 months and 6 months prior to your wedding £500 *you lose your deposit but any other monies are refunded in full
between 6 months and 3 months prior to your wedding 25% of the total balance due
between 3 months and 4 weeks prior to your wedding 50% of the total balance due
within 4 weeks of your wedding full payment is due