Full of rustic charm, The Pilgrims Rest is a unique East Sussex wedding venue licensed for weddings and civil ceremonies; the perfect backdrop on which to create your wedding day - just how you want it to be.
We believe a wedding morning should be calm and enjoyable. This is why we offer access to the building the afternoon before the wedding for suppliers and/or friends and family to set up. The Bryant Dressing Room and The Fitzherbert Dressing Room will be ready from 8.30 on the morning of your wedding. The Bryant panelled sitting room with its inglenook fireplace and window seat is also perfect for pre-wedding photographs.
The vaulted Great Hall seats up to 60 for your ceremony. Complete with inglenook fireplace and oak floors, vaulted ceilings and ancient pargetting walls, The Great Hall is a pretty special place to make your vows. We provide rustic benches topped with faux furs, our seasonal look garlands with pea-lights for the staircase and above the fireplace as well as safety candles and plenty of wood for the huge inglenook fireplace.
After the ceremony, you and your guests can spill out into the sunny walled or cottage gardens. As the nights draw in you can congregate in the cosy Webster Bar around its open fire.
The Dining Room, complete with oak floors, beams and fireplace can seat up to 60 guests. We have furnished it with lime washed trestle tables which are wide enough for sharing platters and en-famille dining, Chivari chairs, pewter candlesticks and candles, vintage decanters and wine buckets. The Dining Room is also decorated seasonally with garlands and pea-lights.
While you are enjoying your meal and speeches our team will quietly set up The Great Hall ready for dancing. If you would like to invite more guests in the evening we can accommodate up to 100 people in the building.
We offer you the flexibility to choose your own caterers and suppliers or doing the whole thing yourselves (with a little help from your friends and family). If you prefer to hand over the reigns, we have put together a "little black book" of local suppliers to help take some of the leg work out of your wedding planning. Whatever you choose, our team at The Pilgrims Rest simply provides a beautiful wedding venue and a little hand holding, with exclusive use, no corkage charges and absolutely no hidden extras.
The Pilgrims Rest is nearly 600 years old, full of rustic charm and historic soul. Our design team have thoughtfully designed and furnished the venue to need little (if any) decoration and create seasonal looks four times a year to alleviate the need for expensive venue dressing; any decorations can be easily removed if you would prefer to do your own thing. Everything you see when you view the building is included in the venue hire price, giving you the option to add small, personal touches or go completely wild - the choice is yours.