Blue bedroom with a mahogany four-poster bed, large circular print wallpaper, matching curtains and a blue velvet chaise longue beside a doorway with a gilt mirror
Blue bedroom with a mahogany four-poster bed, large circular print wallpaper, matching curtains and a blue velvet chaise longue beside a doorway with a gilt mirror

Parley Green, Dorset

Parley Manor: Wedding Venue Interior Design in Dorset

Refurbishing the guest bedrooms of a family-run Georgian manor house near Christchurch, so wedding parties stay in comfortable, individual rooms that suit the house.

Book a call with Sonia

Guest bedrooms for exclusive-use wedding parties

I was asked to refurbish the guest bedrooms at Parley Manor, a family-run Georgian manor house near Christchurch. The manor is hired exclusively by one wedding party at a time, so its bedrooms have to be comfortable and private as well as elegant. The brief was to give each room its own character without losing the feel of the house.

  • Guest bedroom with blue and coral toile wallpaper, a striped upholstered headboard, red velvet lamp shades and a striped armchair beside the fireplace
  • Beaded chandelier above a white fireplace, with three gold-framed botanical prints on blue toile wallpaper and a red-and-white ginger jar on the mantel
  • Sage green bedroom with an antique cane bed, blue velvet curtains, a reupholstered chaise longue and framed chinoiserie wallpaper panels
  • Corner of the green bedroom with an antique dressing table and round table with chairs between tall windows hung with blue velvet curtains and a crystal chandelier
  • Bedroom with antique map wallpaper, a green velvet headboard, a palm-print bedspread, pink lamp shades and a white fireplace
  • Bedroom window wall with safari-print roman blinds and pink pelmets, a leather captain’s chair and an antique pedestal desk, with botanical palm prints on the wall
  • Blue bedroom with a mahogany four-poster bed, large circular print wallpaper, matching curtains and a blue velvet chaise longue beside a doorway with a gilt mirror
  • En-suite bathroom with a freestanding roll-top bath, high-level cistern toilet, white metro tiles, chrome fittings and a herringbone floor under pale blue sloped walls

Much of the family’s antique furniture was worth keeping, so I built the new schemes around it. I introduced fresh colour schemes and luxury carpets, and added blackout curtains for privacy and a good night’s sleep.

Chaise longues and bedroom chairs were reupholstered rather than replaced. I added decorative table lamps and overhead lighting, and sourced original artwork and accessories to finish each room.

Each bedroom now has its own look while still belonging to the same house. Wedding parties get comfortable, characterful rooms, and the venue gets bedrooms that match the quality of the wedding day itself.

Interior design for wedding venues: what this project shows

A wedding venue’s bedrooms have to look beautiful in photographs and still work for a party getting ready, staying over and checking out the next morning. Parley Manor shows how I do that: keeping the antiques that give a house its character, and adding the comfort and privacy guests expect. It’s the same approach I take with country house hotels, barn venues and estates, where the bedrooms are part of why couples book.

View my work

Recent interior design projects

A hand picked selection of projects managed by Sonia Aucott, Interior Designer

Douch & Small

Wimborne, Dorset

Douch & Small

Parley Manor

Parley Green, Dorset

Parley Manor

Acorn Cottage

Wimborne, Dorset

Acorn Cottage