FAQs for hiring a venue at Kew Gardens

What does my venue hire fee include?

Every venue hire fee directly supports the Gardens, helping to fund the vital conservation, research, and educational work carried out at Kew. Below is an outline of what your venue hire fee includes for your event at Kew Gardens.

• Exclusive use of the venue or venue package on your chosen date.
• A dedicated Event Manager who will be your main point of contact throughout the final stages of the planning process. They will also be available on the day of your event to oversee on-site logistics and ensure everything runs smoothly.
• Stewarding and security staffing.
• Cleaning of the venue, before and after your event.
• Access to the greater gardens for your guests throughout their opening hours on the day of your event.
• Set up of the venue prior to guest arrival.

For Cambridge Cottage

• Full use of the venue's furniture stock, which includes 6-foot-round tables and chairs.

For the Nash Conservatory

• Full use of the venue's furniture stock, which includes ceremony chairs, lectern and registrar table for weddings and 6-foot-round tables and chairs for corporates.
• A sound engineer to manage the in-house PA system and oversee microphone set up.

For weddings

• Opportunity for the wedding couple to explore Kew Gardens during their drinks reception for photographs, assisted by a private golf buggy and dedicated driver.

Back to top

Can I outsource my own band or DJ?

We have a great range of music and entertainment suppliers on our approved list, which represent hundreds of acts from DJs, to string quartets, to jazz trios. 

At Cambridge Cottage, we request that you choose only from our listed entertainment suppliers. At our other venues, special arrangements can be made to allow a non-listed act to play at Kew, which include the following:

• All acts must work within the venue and garden regulations, Kew's Premises Licence and Kew’s health and safety protocol.
• All equipment must be PAT test certified.
• For live bands the PA system equipment must be hired through one of our approved suppliers (entertainment or production).
• The act must be covered by Public Liability Insurance for £5 million.
• The act must operate at less than 85 decibels.
• The client is responsible for hiring a sound technician from one of our approved suppliers (entertainment or production) to conduct pre-event checks and oversee the setup, performance and de-rig on the day of your event to ensure that your chosen act is aware of the specifications of Kew Gardens.
• The act must have pre-approved permission from your Operations Manager.
• A maximum of a seven-piece band including vocals is permitted in the Orangery.
• A maximum of a five-piece band including vocals is permitted in the Temperate House.
• A maximum of a four-piece band including vocals is permitted in Cambridge Cottage.

Back to top

What is the booking process?

You can hold a date provisionally with us free of charge for 14 days. We recommend you use this time to contact our suppliers to get a better idea of how much your event at Kew will cost and book in for a showround with us.

Confirmation of a wedding or private event requires a signed copy of our terms and conditions together with a 50% deposit of your venue hire fees. The final 50% payment is required no later than eight weeks before your chosen date.

Payments can be made via bank transfer or credit/debit card. We cannot accept American Express.

Back to top

Can I have a civil ceremony?

You are welcome to have your civil ceremony with us here at Kew Gardens: both Cambridge Cottage and the Nash Conservatory are licensed for these. Richmond Register Office will provide the registrars to officiate your ceremony and make it legally binding.

For all civil ceremony queries please contact:

Richmond Register Office
020 8891 7188
registeroffice@richmond.gov.uk
www.richmond.gov.uk

Back to top

Do you have any restrictions?

Suppliers

As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we work with a trusted network of listed suppliers to ensure the protection of our Grade listed buildings and botanical collections.

For all events at Kew Gardens, we kindly ask that you select from our listed catering, production, and decoration suppliers. For events held at Cambridge Cottage, we also require you to choose from our carefully curated entertainment suppliers.

Entertainment

In accordance with Kew’s Premises License we ask that all music is be performed inside your chosen venue, with the exception the lawn area that is used for Nash Conservatory events. Sound readings are taken and recorded at regular intervals to ensure adherence to our site-wide 85dB sound limit.

We can only accommodate ceremonial drumming in conjunction with a religious ceremony at the Nash Conservatory. This needs to take place prior to 6pm, and can last for a maximum of 10 minutes.

Decoration

For the safety and preservation of our Grade Listed venues, we kindly ask that all decorative flames be LED.

Confetti

To keep our botanical collection happy and healthy, we don’t allow confetti of any kind. This includes rice, petals, or even biodegradable confetti, both inside and outside our venues. We find that bubbles provide a charming alternative!

Fireworks

In order to protect Kew's delicate surroundings, we ask that you refrain from using any fireworks, sky lanterns or flairs.

Pets

As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, we take great care to conserve our historic buildings and living collections. For this reason, pets are not permitted at Kew Gardens, with the exception of service or assistance animals.

Back to top

Do you have corporate event hire packages?

We offer convenient day delegate rate packages for corporate clients, which include your venue hire and catering charged as a simple price-per-head fee.

For further information, please submit an enquiry.

Submit your corporate or private enquiry

Back to top