Weddings Venue

A setting to treasure

Welcome to one of the UK’s favourite wedding venues! The Italian Villa at Compton Acres is a multi award-winning wedding venue in Dorset and has the grandeur and scope to host the most memorable day of your life. Set within the beautiful gardens and grounds of Compton Acres, the elegant villa combines the ideal venue with a breath-taking location perfect for your wedding or special event.  Licensed to perform marriages and civil partnerships, the Italian Villa is available for exclusive wedding venue hire in Dorset.

The Medici Suite

The Medici Suite provides a truly breathtaking setting for your ceremony.  There are varying options if you decide to hold your day at the Italian Villa which can accommodate your ceremony, wedding breakfast and reception. Accommodating 180 guests with ease, this magnificent location leads directly to the enchanting Italian Gardens for your drinks reception while your wedding breakfast tables are set. While drinks are served to your guests in the Italian Garden, you can take advantage of the endless photographic opportunities around the gardens. Watch The Italian Villa’s Medici Suite being set up by our team for a wedding.

The Verona Suite

With views over the celebrated Italian Garden, the Verona Suite is licensed for up to 120 guests and enjoys romantic and elegant surroundings. With ample space for live acoustic musicians, and in-built sound system is also available for your music throughout the service. The Verona Suite is a truly unforgettable setting for your ceremony before you make your way into the Italian Garden for photographs and the start of your magical wedding reception.

The Siena Suite

The Siena Suite located on the lower ground floor is the perfect venue for wedding parties and discos of up to 250 people with its own sound system.

The Italian Garden

This was one of the finest gardens built by Thomas William Simpson in 1924 and early pictures show evacuation work being carried out by hand with barrows of soil being pushed up on wooden planks to form the high banks around the garden. Symmetry and an elegant formality are the prime characteristics of the Italian Garden, which is arranged around the cross of the central ornamental lake, with its carved stone fountains, exquisitively coloured water lilies and flashing shoals of Koi Carp to delight the eye. At each end of the lake the fine statuary compels attention. At its head, the famous bronze Wrestlers of Herculaneum face each other in perpetual competition. Behind them, York Stone steps lead up to the terrace on which stand two ornate Venetian bronze lanterns, bearing the winged lions of St. Mark patron saint of Venice. Below there is a central stone grotto housing a bronze bust of Mr. J Stanley Beard, the second owner. Dominating the far end of the lake is the domed temple of Bacchus supported on the stone pillars – ‘the Roman god of wine’ is beautiful sculpted in Carrera marble. Arranged around the central lake are formal grass-bordered beds massed with tulips in spring and replaced with summer annuals at the end of May. Permanent planting is backed by 32 columns of weathered Bath stone; rhododendrons form a massed background of dark foliage and protect the gardens from all inclement winds, while letting in all available sunshine.

The Japanese Garden

To enjoy a moment’s tranquility and a perfect photo opportunity, escape to the beautiful Japanese gardens before re-joining your guests.

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