What to bring to your graduation ceremony

Packing for a UAL ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall: the bag size the auditorium allows, a cash-free venue, a sleeve for your certificate, and what your guests need from you.

A UAL graduation happens under one roof: the Royal Festival Hall, a short walk from Waterloo on the South Bank. You'll sit through a ceremony of one to two hours, cross the stage, then head upstairs to a reception with your guests. None of that needs much luggage, and the venue's rules reward packing light. Below: the short packing list, the things to skip, and the bits your guests will want sorted.

Part one

The essentials

Begin with the obvious one: your gown, hood and cap. Hiring from us, you'll have picked the set up the night before or on the morning itself, so you arrive at the Royal Festival Hall already dressed and nothing needs carrying. Bachelor's and master's graduates wear a mortarboard; doctors wear a velvet bonnet.

Next, a way to pay. The Royal Festival Hall doesn't take cash anywhere in the building, so a bank card or your phone does every job, from a coffee before the ceremony to the graduation souvenirs on sale on the day at the Arts SU stand and a pop-up UAL arts shop.

Before you lock the door
  • Gown, hood and capWorn there, so your hands stay free.
  • Your phone, chargedMessages, photographs and the stream link for home.
  • A card or phone paymentThe venue is cash-free.
  • Your guests' ticketsAnyone over three needs one for the auditorium.

Make sure the tickets are sorted before the day. Guest tickets go on sale during registration, and they're what gets your party into the auditorium; anyone over three needs their own. Friends without one can still come into the building, which is public, and wait for you while the ceremony runs.

Size your bag to the auditorium. The Southbank Centre runs random bag checks across its site, and anything larger than 40 × 25 × 25 cm isn't allowed into its auditoriums. A small cross-body bag or a tote you can fold flat is plenty for a day like this.

Your phone carries most of the day: the messages to your guests, the photographs, and the live stream link for family who can't be there. Charge it fully, and if you bring a power bank, choose one that fits in that small bag.

The day, in numbers
200mfrom Waterloo to the door
1–2hthe ceremony itself
40cmlongest bag side allowed in
4Blue Badge spaces, first come

"Wherever possible, don't bring large bags with you, as these are likely to be searched."

— Southbank Centre
Part two

On stage and in the photos

Start with hair grips. A mortarboard balances on your head rather than gripping it, and a couple of grips where it meets your hair keep it level through the procession, the walk across the stage and every photograph afterwards.

Think about your hands, too. At the summer ceremonies UAL gives you your certificate after you cross the stage, and you'll carry it for the rest of the day. A card-backed sleeve or a flat document wallet in your bag keeps it crisp through the reception and the journey home.

The small things
  • Hair gripsTwo or three, to keep the mortarboard level.
  • A certificate sleeveFlat and stiff, to keep it crisp all day.
  • FlatsFolded into your bag if you cross in heels.
  • A layerFor the 5th floor terrace at the reception.

Pick shoes for the stage before you pick them for the pictures, and break them in first. If your stage pair are heels, a soft pair of flats fits easily in a small bag; change as the procession leaves and you head up to the reception in the 4th floor bar and on the 5th floor terrace. That terrace is outside, so look at the forecast the evening before and bring a layer you don't mind being photographed in.

Your guests can take photographs during the ceremony on hand-held cameras, but private filming isn't allowed in the auditorium, and everyone stays in their seat until the end. If you'd like the professional version, Ede & Ravenscroft photographs the ceremonies and takes bookings directly, and recordings of the ceremony can be bought from First Sight Media.

The last ceremony of the day

Your reception comes first.

In UAL's summer programme, the last ceremony of each day has its reception before the ceremony instead of after it. If that's yours, have everything ready a little earlier: you'll be up on the terrace with your guests before you've crossed the stage.

Part three

Getting there, and your guests

Plan the journey around public transport. There's no parking at the venue, and the Southbank Centre describes parking in the area as very restricted. Waterloo, for the Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines and the main line, is 200 metres away; Embankment is 600 metres away across Hungerford Bridge, and plenty of buses stop on Waterloo Bridge. A guest with a Blue Badge can try the four free spaces on the Queen Elizabeth Hall slip road, which go first come, first served.

For your guests
  • Their ticketsBought during registration; late extras aren't seated with your group.
  • A place to waitFor anyone without a ticket: the building is public.
  • The live streamShared with everyone watching from home.
  • The routeWaterloo station, and no parking at the venue.

Give anyone without a ticket somewhere comfortable to be. The Royal Festival Hall has a bar on Level 2 that opens onto the Riverside Terrace, and a café, so they can settle in while you're in the auditorium and meet you afterwards. The rest of the family can watch from home: UAL streams its ceremonies live, with the link on its graduation page and social channels.

After the ceremony, graduates and guests go up to the reception together. If you're short on time, that's the moment for photographs; the South Bank outside makes a good backdrop, too.

What to leave at home

Anything bigger than a small bag, from a holdall to a suitcase, since it can't go into the auditorium. Cash, because the venue doesn't take it. A bottle for celebrating: the Southbank Centre doesn't allow personal alcohol inside. Confetti cannons and other party pyrotechnics, which it lists among its banned items. And a car, unless a guest has a Blue Badge; there's no parking at the venue.

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