Affordable wedding venues in the Cambridgeshire / Suffolk area

Bump - any help would be appreciated :-) x

Depends what your idea of affordable is!

How many guests approx are you having, and do you have a budget?

Are you wanting to get married in church or a civil ceremony?

Hi,

I'm getting married in Cambridgeshire- over in Peterborough.

I found Best Western had some fab package deals- I'm getting married at Orton Hall Hotel Peterborough, which has a stunning ceremony room and does an all inclusive package for different amounts of guests:

Here's a link to their website with packages.- I know they have one in Cambridge as well.

http://www.abacushotels.co.uk/pdfs/orton-hall-hotel-and-spa/wedding-packages-2012.pdf

Huntingdon and Cambridge have some beautiful venues- lots of the university buildings are available for weddings. If we could have afforded it we would have gone to South Farm in Royston:

http://www.south-farm.co.uk/

We also liked Hinchingbrooke House Huntingdon:;

http://www.hhpac.co.uk/default.htm

Hope it helps

R xxx

Wow your venue is amazing

Is north Essex too far?

My SIl got married here a few years ago. It was a large marquee set on beautiful grounds in a small villlage. At that time, they had the option of using their own caterers & decorating the place as they wished. Huge dance floor & there is a kitchen already attached to the marquee. I have no idea of the costs now though.

http://springfieldweddingvenue.co.uk/

ANother place nearby is at Clacton-on-sea. I have never been there but heard good reviews from friends in the area about the food at this place. They also have weddings & when I enquired a few years back, their fees were very reasonable:

https://www.thekingscliffhotel.com/weddings

I've seen this place come up a few times with other hitchers. Its in Colchester:

/weddings/

I came across this place whilst searching. Very reasonable but small capacity

http://www.riverstourtrust.org/our-buildings/the-granary/private-hire/weddings

Like KB said, it really depends what sort of thing you're looking for

Hello all,

Thank you all for your replies - they have been very helpful!

Neither of us are religious so we feel that getting married in a church isn't quite right for us, so we decided to get married in a venue where we can have both the wedding & reception at the same place.

We're looking at doing the whole wedding on a £6,000 budget (excluding the honeymoon).

As we've been looking we've noticed that the cost gets bumped up due to the cost of caterers. We'd ideally like to find somewhere, like the Granary (which we both really love!) that has a blank canvas so that we could bring our own caterers in (we have contacts who can do this at a reduced price).

The only thing about the Granary which has been mentioned is the size, we both have a fairly large family & group of friends but we both understand to keep the cost down we'd have to cut the numbers & be sensible about it.

I've just emailed the Granary to arrange to go & view the venue, so I shall keep you guys updated!

If you come across any other venues that you think suits what we're looking for it'd be great to check those out too!!

Hope you're all having a good weekend!

Katie

We're from Suffolk so had a look around for similar places to bring in our own catering etc.

We're getting married at Otley Hall (www.otleyhall.co.uk) which is about 15minutes off the A14 if you turn off at the Diss/Norwich/Needham Market junction.

We also looked at Haughley Park Barn (http://www.haughleyparkbarn.co.uk/) (just off the A14 junction to Stowmarket).

I did see The Garden Barn (www.thegardenbarn.co.uk) in Badley which looked nice too, but it was the wrong side of the A140 for us, as a lot of family are from Norfolk, so we didnt go visit but it would have been a high priority one to see if it had been closer!

There is also the Barrandov Opera (https://www.barrandov.co.uk/) at Needham Market. I didnt look into pricing for this one as we'd fallen in love with Otley by then, but it was still lovely when we went to a wedding fair there. Their website doesnt do the place justice!

Wow thank you very much for those links - I have just sent an email enquiry to them all. They all look like the kind of place we're looking for :-).

Otley Hall looks amazing - when are you getting married & how are your plans coming along?

Wow thank you very much for those links - I have just sent an email enquiry to them all. They all look like the kind of place we're looking for :-).

Otley Hall looks amazing - when are you getting married & how are your plans coming along?

Yep, its is gorgeous. I think its mainly that I have a thing for tudor buildings since we did Tudors in primary school! We're getting married this March, and its going really well. Currently I'm just making a list of everyone/thing we need to pay over the next couple of months and working out what I need to buy (and if we have enough money saved - thats the worst bit!). Everythings all booked, everyones had fittings apart from me as mine is the 23rd Jan; day invites are already out and RSVP deadline is just over a week away now, and evening invites should go out next weekend too. Its getting pretty exciting now ?

Also, just to add, if you want to start looking at photographers too, we're using Pail Bailey (https://www.baileyphoto.co.uk/simplyphotos.htm). He's from Bury St Edmunds and he's lovely. He does loads of different packages from just photos on disc, to albums as well, so you might find something within your budget too!

This is our venue so I'm ever so slightly biased but the website really doesn't do it justice.

They don't charge corkage but do ask that you buy any wine through them but their prices are very reasonable, certainly less than a hotel would charge.

They have a list of preferred caterers who have worked with them before. The owner said other caterers could be used but to run it passed him because I think he's had issues in the past. We are using Jam Tartz at Sudbury - amazing food.

We are paying £2,500 + VAT for a Wednesday wedding next August so was at a discount for a weekday. I can't remember what the Saturday price was but it does include the use of 3 double bedrooms on the night of the wedding.

A weekday wedding is a good way of reducing (some) of the costs - is that something you could consider?

Hi,

We are getting married at Madingley Hall, just outside Cambridge, and we felt it was really good value compared to some other places we looked at. I think Quy Mill Hotel (a Best Western) just outside Cambridge is good value and seems to have a lot of packages. Huntingdon Bridge Hotel is also reasonably priced I think. I also think Newmarket Racecourse and Tattersalls offer good value, but not sure if they'd come in within budget, and don't know if a racecourse would be to everyone's taste (it wasn't to OH's!).

I went to a wedding at The Maltings at Ely recently, which is quite a blank canvas, did really nice food. The prices seemed quite reasonable when I looked into it, but that was some time ago.

This is very good advice. There are some fantastic reductions available IF you can get married away from the Fri-Sun part of the week.

Peter

Hello! My fiancé and I are getting married at Sheene Mill in Melbourn near Royston

I started a thread for Cambs brides and we discussed venues on it:

https://www.hitched.co.uk/chat/forums/t/343787.aspx

I recommend checking out Slepe Hall Hotel, which someone else ended up booking. You could also look at Abington Hall. Both are reasonably priced.

Lots of people recommended South Farm, but it's expensive, even off peak.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on!

Emma

I don't pop on here often any more, but wanted to say I live in the town The Granary is in. It's fabulous, and the website does not do it justice. It is a small venue, but a friend of mine was married there last year, and had her evening reception at the local football club (where we had ours too!)

http://www.afcsudbury.com/

Again, the pictures don't do it justice. It looks gorgeous with fewer guests, but there's plenty of space for the 200 or so we had!

Hi,

My daughter got married at South farm, Royston, Cambs, and we would thoroughly recommend it. The venue was beautiful, food fantastic, and the service was great. we had a pre wedding food tasting and visited a few times beforehand to look at the various rooms etc. Photos are lovely as setting so pretty.

Well worth a visit to see what you think

Lynne

Hi,

My daughter got married at South farm, Royston, Cambs, and we would thoroughly recommend it. The venue was beautiful, food fantastic, and the service was great. we had a pre wedding food tasting and visited a few times beforehand to look at the various rooms etc. Photos are lovely as setting so pretty.

Well worth a visit to see what you think

Lynne