What should couples know about a wedding at Raffles Hotel Singapore?
Raffles Hotel Singapore offers wedding spaces in a National Monument setting; confirm event arrangements and photography access with its events team. This guide sets out what the hotel states about its wedding spaces, how an offsite solemnisation works here, and what to check before you commit to a date.
- Raffles Hotel was founded in 1887 by the Sarkies brothers and, according to its own history page, was declared a National Monument in 1987.
- The hotel’s own weddings page lists six named spaces, from the Jubilee Ballroom to the courtyard Lawn.
- The hotel’s weddings page describes The Lawn as suited to the exchanging of vows and names it as the solemnisation venue in its Raffles Romance offer.
- For a civil marriage, a solemnisation here would be an offsite ceremony requiring a licensed solemniser and completion of ROM’s application, declaration and marriage-licence requirements.
- The hotel’s weddings and history pages reviewed for this guide do not specify wedding photography or videography access rules; confirm these with the events team.
- Ask about indoor backup space early, since much of the hotel’s appeal for photography sits in open courtyards.
What Raffles Hotel Singapore is
Roots, the National Heritage Board’s heritage portal, records that four Armenian brothers, Martin, Tigran, Aviet and Arshak Sarkies, founded Raffles Hotel in 1887; the hotel’s own history page says it opened to the public on 1 December that year as a 10-room hotel. Roots adds that the three-storey Main Building, completed in 1899 to plans by Regent A. J. Bidwell of Swan & Maclaren, replaced the earlier Beach House and was designed in the Neo-Renaissance style, with wide verandahs around the building.
According to the hotel’s own history page, it was declared a National Monument in 1987, on its 100th anniversary, restored between 1989 and 1991, and restored again from 2017 before reopening in August 2019. The courtyard Palm Garden is built around a cast-iron fountain that Roots.gov.sg states was originally installed at the former Telok Ayer Market, moved to a plaza outside Orchard Road Market in 1902, and rediscovered in 1989 before being restored and installed where it now stands.
Spaces the hotel offers for a wedding
According to the hotel’s own weddings page, Raffles Hotel Singapore offers the following spaces for a wedding, each with its own character:
- Jubilee Ballroom - hosts 250 or more guests, with cream and gold interiors, chandeliers and an air-conditioned pre-event foyer.
- Palm Ballroom - holds up to 200 guests, with an adjoining foyer suited to pre-drinks or an afterparty.
- Casuarina Suite - an intimate indoor room with champagne-gold drapery and pastel panels.
- Palm Garden - an outdoor courtyard around the historic cast-iron fountain, which the hotel describes as suited to memorable gatherings.
- East India Room - an indoor space that opens directly onto the Palm Garden.
- The Lawn - an outdoor garden space the hotel names for cocktail events and, as below, for the exchange of vows.
The weddings page gives guest figures for the two ballrooms only; ask the events team to confirm capacities for your chosen spaces and layout.
Solemnisation at Raffles Hotel
The hotel’s weddings page describes a solemnisation offer, Raffles Romance, that includes exclusive use of The Lawn as the solemnisation venue; ask the hotel what it currently includes. For a civil marriage, a solemnisation here would be an offsite ceremony requiring the venue’s agreement, a licensed solemniser and completion of ROM’s application, declaration and marriage-licence requirements; offsite ceremonies may take place on weekends and public holidays. ROM advises booking a solemniser 3 to 6 months ahead, and the solemniser must accept your booking through ROM’s portal before your ROM appointment. Submit your marriage application no earlier than six months and at least 21 days before the solemnisation, and bring two witnesses above 21. Our guide to finding a solemniser and guide to how ROM solemnisation works cover this process step by step.
The legal side of your marriage, including the application and the declaration, still runs through the Registry of Marriages itself, which currently operates from a temporary site at The Esplanade Mall while its Canning Rise building is redeveloped. Raffles Hotel is the venue for your ceremony, not a ROM office, so keep both processes on your timeline.
Photography, videography and heritage access
The hotel’s weddings and history pages reviewed for this guide do not specify wedding photography or videography access rules; confirm these with the events team. Ask the events team directly what a dedicated wedding photography session may include, whether that is time in the Palm Garden, the Lawn, or the corridors and staircases of the older wings, and whether advance notice is needed given the building’s heritage status.
If part of your day includes outdoor portraits in the Lawn or Palm Garden, our guide to outdoor wedding venue photography covers the general planning points worth raising with any heritage or garden venue.
Light through the day
The hotel’s courtyards sit under tropical greenery and colonial architecture, and the light changes considerably through the day, with softer, more even light generally available later in the afternoon than around midday. Indoor function rooms may be lit for evening events rather than for daytime photography, so check the lighting when you visit.
If your solemnisation or portraits will take place in a courtyard, discuss timing with your photographer so it falls within a window that suits both the light and the rest of your schedule.
Rain backup
Much of Raffles Hotel’s appeal for photography sits in open courtyards and verandahs, so ask whether an indoor alternative is available and what conditions apply for portraits and any outdoor moments. The hotel’s weddings and history pages reviewed for this guide do not specify a standing wet-weather plan; confirm which covered or indoor spaces, if any, would be available for your booking and discuss alternatives with your photographer.
Our guide to wet-weather planning for an outdoor wedding sets out the questions worth raising with any venue that relies on open-air space.
Timing across the day
Which spaces you use for your solemnisation, cocktail reception and banquet depends on what the hotel has booked for your date, so confirm the sequence with the events team early and pass it to your photographer and videographer so they can plan movement between spaces in advance. A day here might move from a courtyard for photographs and a cocktail period into a ballroom or suite for the banquet.
If you plan family photographs or courtyard portraits between solemnisation and the banquet, allow time to move between the spaces confirmed for your booking. Confirm this interval with the events team, and share your run sheet with both the hotel and your photography and videography crew so the day moves in step. Our wedding day timeline guide has a fuller structure for building this out.
What to ask the venue
Before finalising plans at Raffles Hotel Singapore, confirm the following details with the events team for your booking:
- Which spaces are available for the solemnisation, cocktail reception and banquet on your date.
- What access and advance notice a dedicated wedding photography session needs in the courtyards or heritage wings.
- What time vendors can begin accessing the function room or courtyard.
- What the indoor or covered backup plan is if it rains.
- Parking and vendor drop-off arrangements along Beach Road.
- Whether vendor meals are provided during the event.
Our wedding photography coverage can be planned around whatever the events team confirms for your date.
How RS Media handles this on the day
Before the day, we confirm photography access and event timing with the hotel's events team, and ask about the indoor backup space. Our photographer then plans portraits in the courtyards and the room you booked, working around the programme. We keep a run sheet so the ceremony, the portrait window and the banquet each have a set slot. See our wedding photography.
Confirm photography access, permissions and event timing with Raffles Hotel’s events team well ahead of your date. If you would like to talk through coverage of a solemnisation or banquet at Raffles, check your date with us, or read more about our actual-day wedding photography.