Schloss Leopoldskron Wedding: Lake Terrace and Marble Hall
Schloss Leopoldskron is a palace of 1740 on a lake outside Salzburg, with the Untersberg in view from its terrace. A Schloss Leopoldskron wedding can begin with a first look in the Green Salon, take its vows on the lake terrace or in the Max Reinhardt Library, and end with dinner under the painted ceiling of the Marble Hall. The photographs are from a wedding there in June.
The Terrace by the Lake
The terrace of Schloss Leopoldskron lies between the palace and the Leopoldskroner Weiher, closed off from the water by a stone balustrade with two stone seahorses at the water's edge. The lake is in view in one direction and the Untersberg in the other, and the venue offers the terrace and the Max Reinhardt Library as its two ceremony settings.
Marisa and Ryan chose the terrace. Their planner from A Very Beloved Wedding designed the ceremony without an arch: an arc of flowers in orange, white and apricot was set out on the gravel, open towards the lake, and the guests sat on orange velvet stools in curved rows on both sides of it. Marisa walked in on her father's arm down the middle of the arc, and at the end of the ceremony Ryan carried her out of it in his arms, past the stone seahorses, with the lake and the mountain behind them.
At Leopoldskron you can marry outside on the terrace or inside in the Max Reinhardt Library, which the venue lists for up to fifty guests.
The Green Salon and the Library
The morning at Leopoldskron began in one of the suites of the palace. Marisa had her dress hung at an open window with the park behind it, read a letter on the white chest of drawers under the window, and got ready in a patterned pyjama with feathered sleeves. Her bouquet was designed from white callas and white orchids, and her shoes were orange slingbacks, the colour of the whole day.
The first look took place with her father in the Green Salon, one of the rooms Max Reinhardt added in the 1920s, with hand-painted chinoiserie panels, gilded mirrors and a door through to the library. Her father waited in that doorway, Marisa came in with her veil on, and the photographs of the two of them were taken between the painted panels and the turquoise velvet chairs. The library itself, designed in 1927 after the abbey library of St. Gallen, has two storeys of shelves with a gallery running around them, and the venue lists it for ceremonies as well.
Years from now, when the two of you sit down with your own photographs, the morning of your wedding day will still be there, in a room like the Green Salon.
The Marble Hall
The Marble Hall is the hall of the Schloss for gala dinners, with a floor of around 172 square metres and a ceiling ten and a half metres high. The ceiling shows the four corners of the earth in eighteenth-century stucco, with a painting of the Marriage of Atalanta by Franz Anton Ebner at its centre, and two balconies run along the upper walls with views towards the lake on one side and the Hohensalzburg Fortress on the other. The venue uses the hall for breakfast in the morning and for gala dinners in the evening.
The planner from A Very Beloved Wedding designed the dinner as a U-shaped table for the whole party, with an island of flowers in the middle of the U. The linen was a toile de Jouy in green and white, the chairs coral velvet, the candles orange. The arrangements were kept low along the whole length of the tables: white hydrangea, orange celosia and red anthurium. The cake, a white tiered cake with a crown of apricots and grapes, was placed on the table in front of the marble fireplace, and the speeches were given at the same table. The stone staircase of the Great Hall was dressed with white pillar candles and arrangements of apricot roses on the steps.
Your own dinner in the Marble Hall could be orange and coral like this one, or just as easily white and green.
The Great Hall and the Venetian Salon
The Great Hall is on the ground floor of the Schloss, with the marble staircase rising out of it and doors straight out onto the terrace and the gardens. The venue uses it for receptions and celebrations.
The dancing took place in the Great Hall. Ryan and his mother opened it with the guests in a half circle around them, and Marisa and her father followed.
For a smaller wedding the venue offers the Venetian Salon together with the White Salon next to it, for dinners of up to thirty guests. The walls of the Venetian Salon are gilded wooden panels and mirrors brought from an Italian palazzo in 1930, painted with scenes from the Commedia dell'arte, and the room is the model for the ballroom of the von Trapp house in The Sound of Music. A dinner for thirty there and a dinner for the whole party in the Marble Hall are the two forms a wedding dinner at Leopoldskron takes.
The Park, the Suites and the Weekend
Once through the gates, the Schloss is a world of its own: seven hectares of park, the lake on one side and the Old Town two kilometres away on the other. From the terrace and from the windows of the suites the lake or the Untersberg is in view, and the rooms inside belong to that world as much as the park does. The palace has twelve suites, among them Max Reinhardt's former private apartment, and the Meierhof across the courtyard has fifty-five rooms. Breakfast for house guests is served in the Marble Hall.
Marisa and Ryan's wedding was photographed from the morning in the suite to the dancing in the Great Hall without leaving the palace and its park. The venue describes a wedding that fills the Schloss for a whole weekend as one of the forms it offers, alongside a ceremony on its own.
You can also take the whole Schloss for a weekend, from the first morning to the last breakfast. The other palace venues of the country are on the Vienna palace wedding venues overview, the destination wedding guide covers what a wedding in Austria involves for a couple travelling in, and more venues are collected on the blog.
Common Questions
Where can the ceremony take place at Schloss Leopoldskron?
The venue offers two ceremony settings: the terrace by the lake, with the Untersberg as the backdrop, and the Max Reinhardt Library inside the palace, which it lists for up to fifty guests. The palace also has a chapel, consecrated in 1744, which the venue does not list among its ceremony rooms. Ceremonies on the terrace are held on the gravel in front of the balustrade.
How many guests does the Marble Hall hold?
The venue publishes the size of the Marble Hall, around 172 square metres with a ceiling of ten and a half metres, but no guest number for weddings. The Venetian Salon together with the White Salon is listed for dinners of up to thirty guests, and the Max Reinhardt Library for up to fifty. For a seated number in the Marble Hall, the events team quotes each wedding individually.
Can wedding guests stay at Schloss Leopoldskron?
Yes. The palace has twelve suites, including the Max Reinhardt Suite, and the Meierhof across the courtyard has fifty-five rooms. Breakfast is served in the Marble Hall for all house guests. The suites in the palace have no air conditioning because of the building's heritage status; the Meierhof rooms do. During the Salzburg Festival a minimum stay of two nights applies.
Is catering at Schloss Leopoldskron in-house or external?
Both. The venue offers a wedding with in-house catering and a wedding with external catering as separate packages, alongside a ceremony-only booking. There is no à la carte restaurant on the estate; the Meierhof Bar serves drinks and small dishes from ten in the morning until ten at night. Enquiries go to the events team at the Schloss.
How far is Schloss Leopoldskron from Salzburg?
About two kilometres from the Old Town. The drive from Salzburg Airport takes around sixteen minutes and from the main station around seventeen, and bus line 11 stops directly at the palace gates. The property is privately owned by Salzburg Global, and the grounds are open only to house guests, event guests and participants of guided tours.
What is the history of Schloss Leopoldskron?
The palace was built between 1736 and 1740 for Prince-Archbishop Leopold Anton von Firmian. Max Reinhardt bought it in 1918, added the library, the Green Salon and the Venetian Salon, and planned the first Salzburg Festival in its Red Salon. Since 1947 it has been the home of Salzburg Global. In 1964 the exterior scenes of The Sound of Music were filmed on the grounds, and the lake terrace in the film is the terrace where ceremonies are held today.
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Schloss Leopoldskron, Salzburg
Location Schloss Leopoldskron @schlossleopoldskron · Wedding planning and design @averybelovedwedding · Florals @hanaholdener · Cake @dulcesserie · @elicardich · @weddingbusinessclub.official
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Astrid Neumann, wedding photographer in Vienna