A Spanish hacienda in the old cheese market.
Artà is a tapas restaurant, bar and events space spread over three floors of a building on Albion Street that the venue says was once Glasgow's cheese market. Inside, it is dressed like a Spanish hacienda: dark timber beams, carved wood, statues in niches and candles on every ledge. I married a couple here on a Friday afternoon in August 2024, and by one o'clock the candles were already lit.
A ceremony by the fireplace
Our ceremony was set in front of the big carved fireplace, with the signing table dressed in white, iron candelabras either end and a floral arch at the front. There was a handfasting, and a moment where I asked the guests to promise to stand by the couple and got a loud "We do" back.
Artà is dim and candlelit even on a bright August afternoon, and that suits a ceremony. Nobody is squinting into the sun, the flowers glow against the dark wood, and every eye in the room goes to the front. The whole place feels like evening, and that takes the stiffness out of a daytime wedding.
Seven rooms, three floors
The venue quotes up to 120 seated in the main bar, and it describes the Gold Room, which has its own private bar, as its space for intimate weddings: 60 for dinner, 100 standing. The Red Room seats 40 and is joined to the Gold Room by a short hallway with a bar between them. The Courtyard has a ceiling of twinkling lights, a cobbled floor and a fountain, with room for 40 at dinner, and the restaurant overlooking the main bar seats 130. For smaller weddings Artà offers packages for under 50 guests.
I've only stood at the front in one corner of this building, so walk the rest of it yourself before you choose, and picture where your people will be at each point of the day.
Before you book
Check access early. The venue notes that the Gold Room, the Red Room and the restaurant aren't wheelchair accessible. If anyone on your list uses a wheelchair or struggles with stairs, build the day around the rooms that work for them.
Ask which parts of the building are yours, and when. Artà is a working restaurant and bar with its own late-night club, Canvas, so find out how your wedding sits alongside everything else going on in the building that day. Ask about music too: the Gold and Red Rooms can have music piped in from elsewhere in the venue, or speakers set up for your own device, so decide who looks after your entrance, signing and exit tracks.
Be flexible with the date if you can. The venue runs offers on quieter days and in winter, and a Friday wedding has an easy, end-of-the-week feel. My guide to weekday and off-season weddings has more on that.
The legal bit, handled
As a Humanist Society Scotland celebrant I make your wedding legal as well as personal. The declarations, the witnesses and the marriage schedule are mine to look after, and a humanist wedding in Scotland is every bit as binding as any other. I write every ceremony from scratch, around the two of you. I'm a humanist wedding celebrant covering Glasgow, and I live across town in the West End. My Glasgow wedding celebrant page has more on the city, and if a handfasting appeals, here's how a handfasting works.
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More Glasgow venues I know inside out: Citation · Sloans · The Tall Ship · The Exchange · Òran Mór · Glasgow Film Theatre · House for an Art Lover