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  1.  
    • bride2b90
      CommentAuthorbride2b90
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    So me & H2B, have been looking and organising visits at venues, so far we have visited two venues and more to come, however, I feel we have set our bar extremely high from the first one we have looked at. It was a Manor with two Marquees, however one of the Marquees was amazing it was absolutely gorgeous, we both fell in love, the price is extremely high just for the venue (7,500 for a Sunday) and that does not include a room for the B&G on the night of the wedding or anything, purely just for the venue all catering and additions come out of our own pocket. Everything else we have been looking at has been a meh, its lovely but our hearts are just not in it as much as it was for the first. I thought it was just me being snobby "I only want the best for our day" but its not H2B said earlier he felt the same.

    Although the first is gorgeous, its so lovely, and has the ultimate WOW factor, I don't believe you get value for money, 7,500 covers the cost of the power usage and the venue. Catering (which we have to pick one of their recommended 4), DJ everything else is all extra costs.

    Any suggestions??

    Members signature icon
    I met my soul mate in school, after chasing him for 18months
    We got together 15th September 06,
    We celebrated our son Jacob 29th October 10,
    He proposed 15th June 14, We marry 09th July 16
  2.  
    • Flossie
      CommentAuthorFlossie
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    That sounds very pricey but if you can afford it and it's what you want then money should be no object. I do believe though that YOU and everything you organise (all the tiny details) will make your day though, it's not the venue that does that.

    Exclusive use of our venue on a Saturday in June is £1000. A 3 course wedding breakfast for 50 people, evening buffet for 90 people. welcome drinks, toast drinks & drinks for the tables, a dance floor and 50 chair covers will come in at just over £5000. We have booked their recommended DJ which is costing us about £420ish (might add a few add-ons).

    There are 23 rooms are £130 per night but we are asking our guests to pay for their own rooms if they would like to stay.

    Members signature icon
    Happily married
    18th June 2016
    xx
  3.  
    • barbie86
      CommentAuthorbarbie86
      Is poweruserJust marriedBadgeBadge
      edited
     
    My advice would be to keep looking; £7.5k just for the venue is extortionate, esp given that most couples find catering ends up being their biggest cost. As a guide, our wedding (excluding the rings and honeymoon)is costing £25k. Of that, just £1200 is venue hire fees, with £600 of that being for our separate ceremony venue. Food and drink (and we only have 62 guests for the day and 90 for the evening) is costing about £9k.

    So, I would look at more venues. I looked at loads online (literally dozens) and contacted about 30 or so for further information. The reason I did this was so that we knew if a venue was within budget or not; some were instantly crossed off the list due to cost. I think it's important to do that, as it saves disappointment and means you aren't wasting time, and risking setting your heart on, venues that are too expensive. We then viewed 14 venues, and scored them on different areas eg flow of space, decor, and so on, and then drew up a rough estimate of costs for each venue, and what that included.

    Unless you have a very big budget, I would be very cautious about booking a venue that costs £7.5k in hire fees alone. Yes, it probably is gorgeous; but so are many venues. If they're over-budget, it's kind of irrelevant.
  4.  
    • bride2b90
      CommentAuthorbride2b90
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    That is where it gets costly, with the Marquees you can only hire the cottages, and each cottage costs a minimum of £350 per night. as Gorgeous and secluded as they are its costly. I said to H2B I would hate that we picked somewhere for convinence rather than somewhere we loved after all it is the reason why we have chosen to marry in two years time, to help us save up and pay for it all.

    Members signature icon
    I met my soul mate in school, after chasing him for 18months
    We got together 15th September 06,
    We celebrated our son Jacob 29th October 10,
    He proposed 15th June 14, We marry 09th July 16
  5.  
    • VictoriaL46
      CommentAuthorVictoriaL46
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    My OH and I went with what we could afford not necessarily what was the cheapest. The first venue we looked at also kind of set the bar pretty high for us but in the end we didn't go for it because another venue won our hearts.

    Members signature icon
    Met in Nov 2005
    Engaged 13th June 2013
    Becomes Mrs Stewart on 10th Aug 2015 Honeymoon in Florida!
    My Diary Thread: My Alice in Wonderland Wedding Diary
  6.  
    • bride2b90
      CommentAuthorbride2b90
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    yerrr wer still looking around for another that could maybe win our hearts, we dont want to go too far out for that though. I think we really need to make ourselves a budget tbh, we still event done that x

    Members signature icon
    I met my soul mate in school, after chasing him for 18months
    We got together 15th September 06,
    We celebrated our son Jacob 29th October 10,
    He proposed 15th June 14, We marry 09th July 16
  7.  
    • Flossie
      CommentAuthorFlossie
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    We haven't made ourselves a budget as such. We sat down and thought about how much we could realistically save in 2 years and knew that we would be able to afford our venue (we are also very lucky and getting help from parents which takes a lot of worry off our shoulders). If you can afford it though and you do really, really love it then just do it - you don't want to have regrets on your wedding day.

    But definitely keep looking around first and try to look round with an open mind!! xx

    Members signature icon
    Happily married
    18th June 2016
    xx
  8.  
    • VictoriaL46
      CommentAuthorVictoriaL46
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    I would seriously think about getting yourself up an idea of what your budget is before you go ahead with everything. Like MrsP my OH and I sat down and worked out how much we could save on the 2yrs and 2 months run up to the wedding and if we can make over payments into the wedding account then all the better. We're paying for everything ourselves. Last pay day we actually reached our forecast budget so anything we save now is a bonus and we now know that we CAN afford what we need and now we can look at what little things we want :)

    Members signature icon
    Met in Nov 2005
    Engaged 13th June 2013
    Becomes Mrs Stewart on 10th Aug 2015 Honeymoon in Florida!
    My Diary Thread: My Alice in Wonderland Wedding Diary
  9.  
    • lala "mod" bunni
      CommentAuthorlala "mod" bunni
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    7.5k just for the venue .........

  10.  
    • lala "mod" bunni
      CommentAuthorlala "mod" bunni
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    I arranged two ceremony's one in USA and one here ...to included everything apart from rings and honeymoon for 7k

  11.  
    • LauraY27
      CommentAuthorLauraY27
      Is poweruserJust marriedBadgeBadge
     
    That is extortionate! We booked somewhere amazing despite not being what we really wanted, we ended up booking it with a sit down meal for just over 5k. When we first started planning we said that we wanted a relaxed day with a hog roast. We ended up with opposite, so we cancelled and booked a village hall and capri marquee and I'm once again in love with the idea of being relaxed and informal. Go for what you really want, we're spending a max of £4k xx
  12.  
    • *KelBel*
      CommentAuthor*KelBel*
      Is poweruserJust marriedBadgeBadge
      edited
     
    We thought ours was high .... We've paid £5200 for our venue but it does include the dj, a wedding planner, all the decorating. Our food has cost around £3100 on top of this

    Think ours has ended up pretty good overall considering the price of the venue, our total spend has just been a little over £15k but that includes the honeymoon to jamaica x

    Members signature icon
    Velcro...my wedding day twinny! The Two Kel's!
    Got engaged 14/10/12 in Central Park NYC!
    Became Mrs Macdonald 13th September 2014
    Mummy to 4 girlies and baby blue boy Due 10/05/2016
  13.  
    • InDreamland
      CommentAuthorInDreamland
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    What time of year are you looking at? Could you be flexible on the date and maybe get it cheaper for off peak season and mid week?

    Some venues unfortunately you do pay a premium. Our venue was £14k for a Saturday in May, we got exclusive use but the package included room for us on the wedding night, welcome drinks and canapés, 3 course wedding breakfast and drinks including half bottle of wine per head, water, toasting bubbly, coffee, tea and petite fours, plus the evening buffet which was a hog roast and we had over 100 guests. That's what I can remember was in the package.

    The grounds are incredible and the marquee linked to the manor house was gorgeous.

    If we'd had an out of season mid week wedding it'd have cost us much less.

    Members signature icon
    Married the love of my life on Saturday 11th May 2013 xxx
    Had our dream perfect honeymoon in Hawaii!

  14.  
    • *KelBel*
      CommentAuthor*KelBel*
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    I think if you really love it and you have a while and definitely think you can afford it then go for it x

    Members signature icon
    Velcro...my wedding day twinny! The Two Kel's!
    Got engaged 14/10/12 in Central Park NYC!
    Became Mrs Macdonald 13th September 2014
    Mummy to 4 girlies and baby blue boy Due 10/05/2016
  15.  
    • Elinor Claire
      CommentAuthorElinor Claire
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    It really depends on whether you feel that you can be happy with an alternative venue. If being somewhere else is going to take the shine off the day, then look at your budget and see if you can do it. If you feel that you cannot possibly be satisfied with anywhere else then the money is perhaps justified. It might be worth looking at whether there are ways that you can cut some of the other costs. Would you have the option of a buffet or hog roast instead of a sit down meal? Would they allow guests to bring a bottle? Can you decorate it yourself? Is there somewhere nearby where you can get a nice room for the night for you and H2B more cheaply rather than staying there? Are there any favours you can call in or friends with skills, such as DJ or photographer? Could you get the marquee without any catering included at all and do a bring and share buffet? It's worth trying to haggle with the venue a bit, if you show that you're really interested in the venue and would definitely take it if just a few things were added to the package or the cost was a bit lower. For a Sunday that is very expensive.

    Members signature icon
    30th August 2014 was the best birthday ever.
    It was the day that I became Mrs. Dixon.

  16.  
    • CharlieBe-Cool
      CommentAuthorCharlieBe-Cool
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    That is a lot of money JUST for the venue. Ours is costing £5000 but that cost includes 3 course wedding breakfast for 65 people (with choice of 2), evening buffet for 80 people, welcome drinks, canapes, toast drinks & 4 bottles of wine for the tables, chair covers and sashes included free and resident DJ. Also includes night in honeymoon suite for B&G and registrar fees.

    We could have had exclusive use for an extra £1000 fee and if we could guarantee the 38 rooms on site would be booked. I dont think we would get anywhere near having them all booked out so didnt bother.

    But id also be concerned with booking somewhere who use external caterers, which generally end up costing more per person than 'in house' costs.

    Having said that, if you can afford to hold your wedding there without saving for it impacting on your day to day life, and you dont find anywhere that comes close, then go for it!

    Members signature icon
    Met my prince charming - May 2002
    Finally tying the knot - July 2015
    Where there is love there is life - Muhatma Ghandi
  17.  
    • WelshBrideBethan2015
      CommentAuthorWelshBrideBethan2015
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    Go for it if you love it and can afford it :)

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    Somehow always connected , finally became friends .
    Friends became soul mates :)
    Engaged 6th July 2013
    <3 <3 Married my best friend 11/7/2015 <3 <3
  18.  
    • leasa
      CommentAuthorleasa
      Just marriedBadgeBadge
      edited
     
    It doesn't hurt to keep looking, but if you really have to have it, work out a budget that saves elsewhere so you can have it.

    The place we were hoping for was just too costly, worked out to be over £15000 for the venue and food, and there were stupid restrictions like "no dancing aloud" and everyone out by 21:00 and onto a nearby bar. (The Deck on London's southbank if you were wondering). It was absolutely stunning with breathtaking views, but not worth it.

    We kept looking and ended finding a more beautiful venue with a reasonable (for London) package.

    It worked out to be £73 pp (just under £9000 for 80 people including an under occupancy charge as they can fit 120 and charge a fee for under numbers).

    This includes arrival drink, 3 course meal, center pieces and table decoration, chair covers and sashes in our choice of colour. Champagne for the toast, water on tables, tea coffee, 2 course evening buffet, bridal suite with champagne in the room, guestbook, table planner, menus and place cards, toastmaster, waiting staff, and an anniversary dinner for the B&G a year later.

    We bespoked the package (was £85 pp with DJ and table wine) as we want to supply our own wine (Too snobby to accept hotel wine, I want something decent), and DJ, and the £73pp included corkage.

    All of this for a Camden lock venue with views over the canal.

    Glasshouse-Wedding-1000x665.jpg
    Glasshouse-Wedding-1000x665.jpg
    holiday-inn-london-camden.jpg
    holiday-inn-london-camden.jpg


    Members signature icon
    Met 30th May 2005
    Proposed in Monte Carlo August 25th 2013
    Became Mrs K on 30th May 2015
    Married my Gorgeous Greek God
  19.  
    • bride2b90
      CommentAuthorbride2b90
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    Thanks girls for all the tips, we have kept looking around and looking around we have found something that might be just as good for 4k cheaper but it is further out into chester meaning we would probably have to arrange some sort of transport from Liverpool to chester for the guests who don't drive. Tbh id rather not have anywhere else but we went through our budget yesterday which made my eyes water... its doable, but means that life is going to be uncomfortable over the next two years and I don't want to have to do that. So I have accepted finding somewhere cheaper but just as nice is essential at this point, unless me and the partner find better paid jobs.

    Members signature icon
    I met my soul mate in school, after chasing him for 18months
    We got together 15th September 06,
    We celebrated our son Jacob 29th October 10,
    He proposed 15th June 14, We marry 09th July 16
  20.  
    • Flossie
      CommentAuthorFlossie
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    Good luck with the plans Nicola, hope you find what you are looking for. It's not worth making your life any more stressful than it already is and potentially getting yourselves into financial difficulty xx

    Members signature icon
    Happily married
    18th June 2016
    xx
 

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