18 replies to this topic

[poppleminster]

So I thought I had it sorted. Ceremony venue and reception venue idyllic so what's my issue now? The timings. I'm happy to have the reception in the day and then the ceremony at 4 ish but then what?

I went to print out my ordern of the day type thing for the invite inserts yesterday and panicked. It s just naff to not have the cake until after everyone leaves but then equally naff to have it before actually being married. I could just not have a cake but then that's naff too. The village hall in the evening would be naff and dark and a bit noisy for the locals.

So.. i've found some possible big houses with posh gardens to hire for the weekend or week and they cost on average about £1000 in total based on a week. Typically most of the ones I like are Sat changeover days so wont work. On all of them i'd also have to put up a tent (luckily we have two) and hire in tables or beg to borrow some from a hall somewhere, oh and chairs. I also have the small task of convincing the owners of these places that they really do want to let me bring 45 odd people to their lovely house that sleeps 12. Althought they would not be in the house, they would be on site for the Sat lunch and again after the ceremony.

The plus side:
People have places to get ready between lunch and ceremony
Friday set up
Kitchen far better than village hall
Can be on site Fri so no travelling Sat
Easier to look after the baby and kids
Socialising and relaxed after the ceremony
Cleanup can be done at leisure
Might be able to let off a few fireworks

The down side:
Would have to hope people paid for the rooms - approx 4 rooms on each site free to charge for
Owners might object or charge a lot more like the first place we tried last year
Expense of hiring in stuff
Expense in general

So, the places I am considering begging are:

http://www.helpfulho...=A120&year=2012
http://www.helpfulho...=A147&year=2012
http://www.helpfulho...=A143&year=2012
http://www.colehayes...day-cottage.htm
http://www.higherwed...ges/prices.html
http://www.merrifiel...co.uk/index.php
http://www.holidayco...n/the-old-house
http://www.holidayco...von/heath-hills
http://www.holidayco...on/fowley-house
http://www.holidayco...rayer-park-farm
http://www.holidayco...rsdon-farmhouse
http://www.helpfulho...f=L35&year=2012
http://www.helpfulho...=A550&year=2012



Soooo opinions please? I quite like the idea of the Colehayes Park option. Weddings at the house are over four grand but if you hire the cottage at the back then it's £1000 ish and you get use of the grounds anyway

Other idea would be to hire out a whole b&b for the night and use their grounds if they'd let me? Oh poo, i'm rubbish at this. So, if anyone has more energy than me and fancies a trawl of the net looking for houses with nice grounds to potentialy use, my wedding venue is at Haldon Belvedere so on a google map, I don't want to be more than about 30 odd miles max away.

Any ideas most welcome.

[poppleminster]

http://www.escape-to...perty.php?id=53

Above is £570 including marquee for 25/26 May 2012. Not exactly luxury though by any stretch of the imagination but the surroundings are nice.

[Becky]

Hmmm I'm going to have to put my thinking cap on!

[babyruth]

I would seriously consider hiring out a b and b for the weekend/night! Just for pure ease and stress levels! Good luck though i can't imagine going through venue hunting again it waas the most stressful part of wedding planning so far!! xx

[MrsMay2011]

Ooh good, a task, will have a trawl.

Remind me again, is the ceremony at 4pm because of the availabilty of the registrar? (Sorry I'm being lazy I know it's on here somewhere?)

[poppleminster]

Yeah. I can't change it. So annoying but all saturdays are booked for months. Ugh. Can't do a weekday as a lot of the guests are teachers or teaching assistants. Thank you xxx

[MrsBrown]

I have had a long day.. but will look at your venues tomorrow.. but one thought that sprung to mind regarding the cake.. could you take it to the venue? do you have it for 3 hours? could you cut it and serve there??

[poppleminster]

I'm not allowed any of my own catering, including for the cake unless I use their supplier.

[MrsBrown]

OH well! WIll look at the options when I dont need match sticks tomorrow!
How you feeling now too??

[poppleminster]

Probably as tired as you sound. Other than being huge with water retention i'm not too bad. Managed to stay out of hospital so far this week so potentially might make it to my new section date of 5 oct. Day before my birthday! Would be an awesome present. The morphine would be fun too lol. Xxx

[MrsBoucher2B2012]

i will have a look around once the coffee kicks in

[poppleminster]

YAWN. Couldn't sleep last night over this. How daft am I, I am due in under 2 weeks and i'm stressing not about having a major operation and sleepless nights but about wedding venues!? I'm oddly calm about having Alfie. Ah well, life would be boring without something to worry about!

I can't help feeling like i'm being a brat. My little hall is perfect for the day, the Belvedere is wonderful for the ceremony so it's just afterwards. I love the idea of socialising but relaxed and doing stuff like the cake and maybe a small speech thingy (Ben hates that part so probably not), with friends and family. Toys being thrown out of the pram. It would make sense, with a baby, to have the venue the day before also and double up so we don't use the hall and a house, I absolutely cannot justify both. Houses are just so expensive. If only I was wonder woman, I could have the energy to do it all and look after the kids and catering and probably turn up in my wedding dress and a pinny!

There must be a solution out there, lurking in the depths of the net (or possibly Dartmoor), will be the perfect house to rent with a gorgeous garden and an owner willing to let me use it and not charge the earth. I'm going to keep searching today then chill out over it. I love my little hall anyway, just upset that I can't do anything afterwards as nobody has anywhere big enough to accommodate round here locally.

Thanks for putting up with my self-pitying pregnant rants! I'm sure it's hormones, I am never normally this neurotic. Neurotic but not this bad. Poor Ben came home with cakes and hugs yesterday which was awesome. Whatever happens, I get to be Mrs Willis at the end of it. I've been really upset that Alfie will have my surname on the birth certificate, so much so that we considered a tiny wedding early but that would be totally wrong. I'm marrying him for far better reasons than getting his name on a certificate.

YAWN again. Is it too early to put on REM loudly and eat tomato soup with cheesy croutons? I am so craving odd stuff right now! xxxx

[Becky]

Before ruling out the village hall, I had a few thoughts. Will it be available for set up the previous day? If so, this does help matters. You could have a buffet lunch before the ceremony, and then head back afterwards for afternoon tea and cakes. The fact that it is bigger than a house is a major advantage, and they are also likely to have all the tables / chairs etc you need. In terms of noise, from memory it looked like quite an old stone building (is that right?) so you might not disturb the neighbours as much as you think.

Did you mention before that you could stay over at the Heldon Belvedere the night before the wedding / the whole wedding weekend? Would that be a good alternative?

In terms of running order, I think this would work well:

- Buffet lunch
- Ceremony
- Cake and drinks
- Party

Might be worth asking the caterers at HB how much it would be to provide cake at the venue if they really won't let you bring your own. It seems a shame not to make the most of the time you have got there. And if the drinks were alcohol free, it might not be too expensive for them to provide those too.

I think you are right in saying that the owners of the cottages might try to hike the cost if they know there will be a wedding party there. Definitely worth asking though, as you never know!

I would imagine that people will just wear one outfit for the whole day unless you tell them otherwise - so they will probably not need somewhere to change.

Why do you think the village hall would be naff in the evening?

Sorry, this has largely been my random thoughts put down in no particular order!!

Sounds like you need to recruit some help on the day - like you say, you can't do everything! Is there anyone you can delegate tasks to?

[MrsBrown]

One thing I learnt from my wedding was I had stop worrying about other people, where they will get changed etc! As becky says they will prob turn up dressed to go, after all if you were getting married at 1, then having a traditonal wedding recpetion they wouldnt be worrying about getting changed!

Are your guests travelling far? will they be staying at local hotels?

I do like the idea of hiring a big house, but remember last time when you found that place then she hiked up the price as soon as she found out it was a wedding! You also have the rain factor.... what are you going to do if it chucks it down ad you have 40 odd people in a house designed for 12!
At least with the village hall you can decorate a big room as you like, (i see bunting hanging) and have a space for games etc!

Why not cut the cake in the evening party and stay at your wedding venue for as long as you can to fill the time and make the most of that gorgeous castle???

[poppleminster]

You're all right. I should probably stick with the hall but really can't go back there afterwards. The Haldon want £2.50 per glass to serve drinks and £3 per head to cugt my own cake. It's crazy. For approx 45 people it would be £300 which is a third of the cost of a house... Hmm. If I wasn't such a control freak and want to do so much myself, my teasets etc then I would just hire out a tearoom!