Alfreton Hall - Bad Reviews??

Hi! I'm afraid I can't comment on the venue itself but for me, I would give it a big swerve. For people to write a review whether it be good or bad, they have something they want to say. They obviously didn't have a good day. Also the fact it has no reviews since 2012 speaks volumes to me as to how quiet they probably are on the wedding front. We have a legally binding contract but they have said that should we wish to alter things in regards to quantities that is fine. The menu won't be decided until nearer the time anyway. They sound unhelpful and unprofessional.

There was a venue local to us which was beautiful but it had some awful reviews mixed in with some good ones. As similar to u nothing for 2013. I rang to cancel an appointment I made as I didn't want to risk going and falling in love with it. Thinking that my wedding would be different and all would be fine. U can't get ur day back! For me it's not worth the risk xxx

I cant comment on the venue, as don't even know which county its in.

If the reviews are on trip adviser/yelp etc, you can contact the person that wrote the review & they might be willing to give you more information about their experience. This can be via emails between yourselves, that don't get shown on the actual review site to everyone else. I too would be cautious, because a good venue should have reviews for 2013!

Some venues that specialise in weddings and conferences do not generate that many reviews similarly for buildings that double up as wedding venues in addition to their main activity (golf clubs, museums, castles etc) my hubby is a wedding and event manager at a credible London wedding venue but I know it is not even on tripadvisor.

Regarding contracts you are indeed signing up to a legally binding document so when you sign you are agreeing to a minimum spend. Therefore if the reviewer for example had signed up to have a buffet (which costs £20 per head) but later decided they wanted a hog roast (which coasts £10 per head) that would be changing the terms and spend of the contract which I feel most venues would object to. (However venues don't usually object if the changes result in a larger spend)

If on the other hand the reviewer claims the venue would not accommodate simple menu changes (with suitable notice) i.e we don't like mushrooms so we asked if the beef and ale pie could be made without mushrooms but the venue would not accommodate us. That would ring alarm bells.

I tend to disagree with the above comment.

We are getting married at a hotel that do weddings but is also a large golf course. And there are hundreds of reviews. Also if this place doesn't do many weddings hence why there maybe aren't many reviews then that in itself would put me off as you have to question whether they are capable of making your big day run just as you want. If you are still totally in love with it then I would ask the man in charge if you can speak to one of there previous clients. Also ask the man in charge about the bad reviews and see how he deals with it.

When I cancelled my appointment with the gorgeous venue that has bad reviews I told her that I had read some bad comments. Her response was 'can we not intice you in to have a look round and a chat to see that these are just people's poor opinion of us' firstly if they were a good venue then she would have been shocked and upset to know they had bad reviews, secondly if they know about the bad reviews they should have made the customer happy before they wrote them. And thirdly when she used the word 'people's opinions' in plural I just knew it wasn't it right. When there is more than 1 opinion, those opinions start to become fact!

Good luck chuck! X

That is because your venue is different to what I was describing above. A hotel with a golf course is different from a 'golf club' that is primarily a members club that has function room(s) that it also lets out for functions such as weddings.

So I would also agree with you if a venue has a hotel attached I would expect to see more reviews.

I just think that anywhere that does weddings should have reviews even if it is just a few for each year. The fact there are none for 2013 speaks volumes I think.

Our local golf club that my parents used to run and that my H2B is a member of has great reviews for their weddings. So if there's bad reviews take note and if there aren't any reviews for 2013 then I would ask to see them definitely x

I looked at this venue when we first got engaged in 2012 (before deciding on a wedding abroad)- we went to look at it in summer when it was warm and you need to bear in mind that if you want a summer wedding (and your guests will be in and out of the garden) the horse riding trail for Alfreton Park goes quite close to it and we could really smell wee (hoping it was horse wee) however my friends sister had her wedding reception there a couple of days before xmas the same year and it was lovely - no one had a bad word to say about it, the rooms looked great, the food was good, staff polite etc. I know that over the last year or so they have started doing afternoon teas there - so you could for an off the record recce (think groupon were doing an offer) I know in 2012 they were doing a bit of work on the rooms and the stairs as it was in progress when we went to view so that might indicate a change of management and that might be why the reviews you saw were pretty bad.

Hope this helps

Pen

I read it as bad reviews, not reviews in general "bad reviews from 2012 and I can't find anything more recent"

Thank you for all your help and advice. There were no reviews at all, good or bad, since early 2012 but the venue doesn't do anything else except weddings and conferences which makes it very difficult to find reviews because they don't have a restaurant/golf club etc which would feature on trip adviser or other review sites. The reviews I did find were on another wedding forum site. I found the tea room on Trip Adviser so thank you for that tip and it has three good reviews from March 2014 so I think we will go for afternoon tea then if we like it we'll book to see the wedding planner.

They aren't very good at advertising, both sides of the family live within 10 miles of the venue and had never heard of it. It's set back from the main road down a little dead end lane with no sign on the main road so you would never know it was there. We only found it by printing off a list of every venue in Derbyshire licensed with the council for civil ceremonies.

Glad I found one person who has been to a wedding there!! RE the smell of horse wee and the bridle path, we own a lot of horses in the family and my mother-in-law keeps her horses 10 mins away so it's actually a plus point for us! I can leave my dog and horse there for the weekend and bring them up to the venue to be in the wedding photos. Always wanted a fairytail wedding so arriving on my beautiful white horse would be perfect (providing I can get on him in a fishtail wedding dress!!) and my OH can be the knight in shining armor arriving on his horse although I have a feeling he'd rather arrive in a sports car!

I found three other couples who have been married there recently from lots of google searching. I eventually stumbled on their wedding photos on different photographers websites. I never leave reviews on any of the places I visit and if someone has done a good job I would send them a thank you card but it would never occur to me to leave a review so maybe the same is true for these brides.

I don't have my heart set on it and we have a long list of places to visit so I'll play it by ear and see what I think. I'm no shrinking violet so would make sure everything is crystal clear before we sign any kind of contract. There is an option to just hire the venue and do everything else ourselves so if I do love it but don't feel confident in the staff then that's always an option.

Hi Barbie

Alfreton Hall is actually very close to where I live. Back when I was planning my own wedding it was briefly considered by us. I can't comment on the service since I've never been to a wedding there nor have I photographed one. However I haven't heard anything bad either about the place from anyone.

Just a couple of things I wanted to add though. Firstly we discounted it because once you add up the cost. To be blunt we could get better value from other venues. The place itself as you've already pointed out isn't easy to find. Even living locally it's not obvious it's there. The building itself is nice enough and we've had family day's out in the nearby park but again. The problem is that there are so many stunning locations locally that it just didn't stand out to us.

In fact because we weren't bothered about our wedding being on a Saturday we ended up getting a better deal at the Breadsall Priory which is about 20 mins away and the two places are like night & day.

If you want any more advice on local venues, let me know.

Thanks Martin, that's good to know. I'd discounted Breadsall Priory because of a lot of awful photos on trip adviser of dirty rooms but I think I'll go and have a look now. My family are based in Chesterfield and we wanted to be as near to there as possible so if you can think of anywhere else in between Derby & Chesterfield or the surrounding countryside then suggestions would be welcomed! I used to work at Chatsworth so that's a definite no, it would feel too much like I was going back to work and it's also massively overpriced. We went to a couple of parties at Ringwood Hall which weren't great so that's also a no but other than that I haven't ruled any out.

I've stayed at the Breadsall a couple of times and of course even had my own wedding there. The team were absolutely fantastic to us. Friendly, efficient and polite. I mean everyone. Even the receptionist. The rooms were fine from what I could see and none of our guests complained. Food was amazing.

When some of our guests took the wrong food meaning they had run out of steak by the end, they gave the entire table a free round of drinks even though it's not their fault which I thought was nice.

The thing I'd say is not to rely too much on TripAdvisor reviews. Go make your own minds up.

Swancar Farm is a very popular location, as is Goosedale conference centre. The only problem with Goosedale is there's no hotel onsite meaning guests can't stumble into their room and have to get taxi's at the end of the day.

Woodborough Hall is also very popular and often does Groupon deals at some unbelievable prices. I've got my first wedding there in a couple of months. Every other local photographer seems to have been there but me! I've visited there with my customer and it looks fantastic. The ceremony room is beautiful and light. The gardens are gorgeous and would make great photos.

If you don't mind Nottingham then Wollaton Hall or Newstead Abbey? Again no hotel but they are both stunning and I could shoot there all day if the couple would let me lol

Hope that gives you some more ideas.

Hi barby- I have just seen on facebook that there us a wedding fair at alfreton hall on the 6th of April .. if that's any help to you x

This is probably too late a review for yourselves to go on but I do hope that other potential bride and grooms do read this...

we had our wedding here in August 2014 and I have to say the venue is fantastic. We needed a venue which could hold up to 200 guests and this venue could do this. The hall has a certain charm about it and the moment we arrived we were impressed. We particularly liked that you had use of four rooms (separate bar with small lounge, large lounge, ballroom and a room upstairs if you need it for casino etc ) so we knew our guests would have plenty of space to do what they wished be it dancing or chatting and without feeling over crowded. The hall has gardens for guests to enjoy and of course, stunning photos and has access to the parkland for even more stunning photo opportunities. One of the more important things for us was that we would be the only wedding that day at the venue and Alfreton Hall is exclusive to you that day, unlike Ringwood Hall, Sitwell Arms, Breadsall Priory, Derbyshire Hotel which can have anything from two to five other weddings happening at the same time at the same venue. We wanted our day to be ours, not bumping into other wedding parties and be held to regimental timetable as to when guests can leave rooms etc ( honestly, we were told this by one of the above venues that there would be a timetable as to when our guests could enjoy the grounds, leave rooms etc as not to disturb the other wedding that could be happening on the same day)

The staff are great, sometimes I would have liked a little more frequent communication between us and the event manager but they really do pull out all the stops to make your day perfect, nothing is too much trouble. The food is fantastic too, very well catered. We changed our mind regarding the menu a couple of times with only a few weeks to go and they changed it without fuss to accommodate what we wanted.

i went the day before to take all my table decorations and had the opportunity to discuss and demonstrate how I wanted things to look and on the day it was set out exactly as wanted

i agree with other comments, the hall is not so obvious to find, it is actually down a lane which services the leisure centre but it isn't so difficult to find that your guests won't get there! All our guest arrived without issue.

We looked at many venues and to be honest you get a lot more for your money at Alfreton Hall when compared to let's say the Derbyshire Hotel, Ringwood Hall, Breadsall, Chatsworth, Makeney Hall, Mosborough Hall... But it all depends what YOU want.

We looked at Breadsall Priory and discounted it, while the priory itself is stunning to look at, the layout and logistics for a larger wedding are not great. Inside the priory itself you are limited to smaller weddings in a smallish room, for larger weddings such as ours was, we would have to book the golf lodge which is behind the priory and is basically an out of character with setting function room. I guess what I am saying, by all means read people's recommendations but you really do need to see venues for yourself to know which is the perfect one for you as everyone has a different opinion, agenda and wish list when choosing wedding venues.

We really do recommend Alfreton Hall as a venue, please do go have a look round for yourselves and form your own opinion

Good Luck

xx

I Haven't had chance to read the whole thread but a friend looked there recently and wasn't impressed. May I suggest my venue Woodborough hall I know it's a bit of a distance from alfreton but if u manage to get a Groupon which they do very regular it becomes am extreme attractive option. Google it but we basically got everything for 2500 venue wise if u can marry off season

Hi, we're having our wedding at Alfreton Hall. We booked at Christmas and having our wedding there in July 2016. Luke and Josh are the guys to own/run it now and their brilliant, lovely guys. Their both so down to earth and will do anything to make us happy.

All the staff there are brilliant, they have a maintenance guy there who organises decorating the hall for weddings and he's lovely, can't remember his name though. They've done the whole place up so nice and it's just such a great space.

The food is great, you should pop over to have afternoon tea sometime, it's so nice.

They have an in house business called Our Wedding Dreams run by a girl called Jordan. She's the most loveliest person I have ever met and she's so helpful. I seriously would be lost without her. She basically books your photographer, flowers, favours, cake and loads of other extra's you may need. Anything I ask of her she's on it straight away.

I would defernetly recommend this venue to you, just give Josh a call and arrange an appointment with him so he can show you around. Josh very quickly becomes your new best friend.

We're very excited to have our wedding here on July 2016.

Which of those have up to 5 weddings at once? I know Breadsall can only do two. I thought Ringwood Hall had three at maximum (which too be fair is too many in my book) and I can't imagine Sitwell & Derbyshire being big enough to have two let alone five.

Have you looked at Morley Hayes as a venue?

I've just confirmed my wedding there and it's a beautiful venue.

good luck with your planning.x

Derbyshire Hotel do two weddings and so do Sitwell Arms (unless these venues have changed their policy on this within the last few months)

Ringwood Hall had the capacity for four when we enquired about our own wedding and I asked directly how many others would or could be happening at the same time... (Friends daughter works there and had pre warned of multi weddings, up to five depending on wedding party size) However, recently attended a wedding there and there were not only Three weddings happening but also a school prom in a marquee which during the summer was also available for wedding hire. Now, maybe their policy is three and maybe one of the other wedding was a very small affair so they allowed use of one of the smaller conference rooms upstairs, I do not know.

Im am merely stating that brides and grooms need to look at venues for themselves to form their own opinion not just go by someone else's review be it good or bad because if we had not visited venues based on few negative reviews we would still be looking now.

At the end of the day, it's your budget and only you will know which is the one for you by visiting these places. Everyone has different wish lists as every wedding is unique...