Seven Georgian townhouses and a courtyard under glass.
Kimpton Charlotte Square is seven interconnected Georgian townhouses looking onto Charlotte Square, the New Town square Robert Adam designed in 1791. Behind that classical front it's a busy, characterful city hotel. I married a couple here on the first of November 2025, at two in the afternoon, with a piper to bring the guests in and to play the newlyweds back out.
The rooms
The largest room is the Gallery, a light, airy space overlooking George Street. The hotel quotes up to 250 for an evening reception there, and its floor plans show it dividing into two halves for smaller numbers. Down in the basement, the Cellar is the industrial-chic one, with room for 40 at a sit-down meal. For something tiny, the floor plans also list a Dining Room for 16 and a Drawing Room for 10.
My ceremony was in one of the event rooms: bright, plain walls with panelled mouldings, set with a long white aisle runner and petals scattered down it. A room like that is a blank canvas, so your flowers and dressing do the work. I haven't stood in every room here, so ask the wedding planner which one suits your numbers, and go and see it set for a ceremony rather than a conference.
A courtyard under glass
The heart of the hotel is the Garden, a courtyard in the middle of the building with a glass roof over it: a coffee house by day and a bar by night, full of greenery and wicker chairs. After the signing, that's where everyone went for a drink, with the daylight coming down through the roof. It's the hotel's everyday bar as well, so ask how much of it will be set aside for your guests, and when.
The hotel also offers private access to Charlotte Square Gardens, which are otherwise closed to the public. A private garden in the middle of the New Town is a rare thing to have on your wedding day, and it's where I'd want the photographs taken.
Pipers, phones and November light
A piper at a city hotel needs a plan: where they stand for the arrivals, whether they come inside for the exit, and who gives them the nod. Pipes are glorious and they are loud, so agree it all with the hotel in advance. My suppliers page has pipers I recommend. My couple also asked their guests to put their phones away for the ceremony and left the pictures to their photographer. It's a request I'd always back: people watch you, not a screen.
In November the daylight goes early, so a two o'clock start is about right. It leaves you the tail of the afternoon for photographs in the square before the lamps come on. If you're new to all of this, here's what happens at a humanist wedding, from the walk in to the signing.
The legal bit, handled
A humanist wedding is legally binding anywhere in Scotland, and as a Humanist Society Scotland celebrant I handle every legal word of it: the declarations, the schedule, the witnesses. Every ceremony I write starts from a blank page. I'm a humanist wedding celebrant covering Edinburgh from my base in Glasgow, and the capital is under an hour away along the M8 or on the train. My Edinburgh wedding celebrant page has more on the city and the venues I know there.
★★★★★ 5.0 from 47 Google reviews Read them →
More Edinburgh & Fife venues I know inside out: Riddles Court · Fingal, Leith · Royal College of Physicians · The Den at Culross · West Lothian Burgh Halls