Any Chilham Brides?

Hi Jane,

Thanks so much for your feedback... It sounds like our wedding plans are quite similar to yours as we're aiming to use the main hall for the ceremony and then have a quick change around for the meal whilst photos etc are taking place outside (weather permitting!). I've been in touch with Blackbird Caterers and their menus look good so thanks for the tip!

Can I ask if your BBQ was served as a buffet or did you have table service? We would like to have 100+ people so were a bit concerned that if we squeeze the maximum number of tables possible into the hall there would be nowhere to have a buffet.

Any advice would really be appreciated!

Thanks,

Neil & Maerii

Good morning Neil & Maerii

We had the BBQ served as a buffet. The salad etc was on tables in the sheltered entrance to the main hall and the actual BBQ was just outside, it was a sunny day. The caterers called people up a table at a time. I had ordered a small marquee/big gazebo for some shelter for the BBQ if required. I hired this and our tables from Ambassador Furniture Hire, would recommend. We ended up using the gazebo for serving Pimms in the shade (which Blackbird Caterers served, we provided the Pimms).

Give yourself plenty of time for the turnaround from ceremony to meal, we didn't have our ceremony until 3 pm and food was supposed to be served at 4.30, was more like 4.45-5 when we actually got in there, but even that was a big rush and we didn't get as many photos as we would have liked. In hindsight we should definitely have had the ceremony earlier.

Jane x

Hello ladies,

I have my wedding booked for 13th Aug 2016 at Chilham Village Hall and I am so excited. How is everyone thinking of decorating the room? Has anyone found a bar that is best to use? Also how have previous brides dealt with the hall having to be cleaned by 10am next day?

Thanks

Hi all!

We are viewing Chilham Village Hall tomorrow with the hope of booking! It looks really lovely and hoping we can take time to decorate it and really make it our own! Would really appreciate anyones ideas or experiences of this venue when looking at:

• Number of people in small hall for ceremony - is 50 seated a squeeze?
• Caterers - i think we are going to go for Blackbird as we need a bit of extra help with drinks etc and from what i have read they seem great
• A band - anyone recommend what they have done for an evening reception? Is there a sound system there? We are looking at possibly doing our own playlist to save money but dont want it to be rubbish!!
• The 10am clean up and kick out - eek!!

Thank you all and good luck to thos getting married here in the future - hopefully we can share our ideas and experiences?! A bit nervous about doing our own thing!

I had my wedding there in October 2014 and it took a bit do work to get what I wanted but it did look ace. We had to do an honesty bar as all of their licenses were sold so if you want a pay bar you need to ask them for one of their 10 license per year Asap.

50 seated was fine for us but we rented chairs that I thought were prettier and they were slimmer in size than the chairs the hall offers so it all fitted in perfectly.

they don't have a sound system so our dj bought speakers and set everything up the day before for us. If you can rent speakers or have a friend that could sort you out then you can just plug in a playlist on the iPod and let it play

Hello Vyne 182,

I am getting married here on 13th of August this year. It is the only venue that we could find for a decent hire price where we can do everything ourselves.

Now it is getting closer I started to worry about the 10am time but luckily my mum and mother in law have offered to go in the morning to clear things up, we will be paying the their cleaners to ensure it is up to scratch but my family will be taking things down etc.

We are getting married in the main hall and have booked wedding co-ordinators from the Wedding Dolls to take over the day so they can do the change around etc.

We have got loads of decoration and cannot wait to put it up as I can picture exactly how I want it and we are going in on the Friday afternoon to sort it all out. Joanne our wedding co-ordinator will do the rest in the morning.

Our caterers are Urban Pantry who have worked with the wedding dolls before so they recommended them Urban pantry are providing our cutlery and glass hire and we have got staff in to help clear up afterwards

We have hired a bar from Jadore flowers in surrey but they cover kent too. They are doing out welcome drinks etc.

Hope this helps. Please do ask questions if you need to

Thanks

Annie

Hi

we are getting married at chilham village hall next july.

I have been there today looking at table layout etc.

I am having a bit a panic, i am worrying that we wont be able to make it look nice enough! I have a fair idea of what i want and what i need. However you never know until the day before.

Im also unsure of the morning of yhe wedding regarding suppliers.

The bar will supply wine and glasses when they arrive, but i worry if i have time to be there to oversee the last minute touched!

any future /past Chilham brides that have any advice, it would be very much appreciated

Julia x

Hi Juila,

Past Chilham groom here!

We got married at Chilham Village Hall last July so I hope I can offer some advice... Firstly, don't underestimate the amount of effort required to turn the 'blank canvas' of the hall into the room you want for your wedding. It's a lot of hard work, but, it's worth it!

We called upon friends and family the day before to help with all the decorations and setting up of things. We hired chair covers, bought buckets of flowers form the local flower meadow and were lucky enough to have a family friends with flower arranging experience who could arrange them for us... In terms of organising suppliers and overseeing things on the day, that was also our big worry and after careful consideration, we hired an 'on the day' coordinator who took on this responsibility meaning that both of us and our guests could enjoy the day and not have this stress to deal with.

I can honestly say, it was worth the money and the best decision we made. The woman we hired was amazing and was at the hall in the morning to meet all the suppliers and also decorated the pillars with ivy and fairy lights (at a reasonable extra cost) which looked amazing. She also helped with making sure everything ran to our schedule so everyone was in the right place at the right time... I wouldn't hesitate in recommending her so if you'd like more details, please drop me a message.

Best of luck with your planning and if you have any more questions or concerns, just shout!

Regards,

Neil

Hello,

We are booked for August this year (post below) and have booked wedding co-ordinators. She is going to change round the room for us as we are getting married in the main hall and can already see this will be the best bit of money we will have spent.

I am hoping I will have enough decor for the venue and from the thoughts in my head we definitely will! So excited for the day.

Neil I have seen pictures of your wedding and it looked beautiful!

I am just concerned about the clean up the morning after.

Thanks

Hi

the 10 am clean up is a bit worrying!

Who have you used for wedding co ordinators?

i have quite a good idea of what i want and how to do it, just hoping I accumulate enough stuff!

Id love to see pictures neil?

Julia x

Has anyone used the tressel tables already at chilham village hall??? Everybody/everything fit ok?

Julia x

We used the tressel tables in long rows 'banquet style' then purchased high quality disposable paper table tablecloth roll to cover the tables and make clearing up nice and easy as you just bin the lot after you've finished eating!

http://www.bluejigsaw.co.uk/product-category/17/66/duni-tablecovers/dunicel-banquet-roll.htm

We asked the venue if we could have an extension on the Sunday so we didn't have to have the clear up completed by 10am and they were happy to oblige (for a small extra fee). I think this would depend on if the hall is booked for an event on the Sunday but it's worth asking as they were really accommodating for us and lets face it, no-one wants to get up super early the morning after their wedding!... Another tip for the clear up is to just ask your guests to help! If you have plenty of people staying nearby ask them if they can pop in for half an hour to help and you'll have it done in no time.

Our on-the-day coordinator was Olivia from A White Hot Wedding - http://awhitehotwedding.co.uk/ . She'd based just down the road and knows the venue really well. We spoke to quite a few wedding planners and she came across as really experienced, professional, personable and very competitively priced so were happy to enlist her services (I'm not on commission, just happy to give credit where credit is due!) - If you decide to use her services, say Neil & Maerii say hi!!

And finally, here's a pic of the venue just prior to the meal (our photographer was - http://www.stevebarberphotography.com)

Hope that helps & good luck with your wedding planning!!

Hello Neil,

What size did you get for the trestle tables and how many rolls? Did you just cut these to size the day before?

Thanks

Annie

Hello to anyone still out there on this post! My fiancé and I just came across this hall and it looks stunning! We’re so excited we’re being impatient for a reply from them so wondered if anyone could answer our most important questions on here!

Thinking about guests who aren’t local (which is pretty much all of them!) it looks like there’s a few accommodation options around, did anyone struggle with this at all?

Does anyone know what the curfew is for music and for vacating?

we’re looking at 100 day guests, will the ceremony hall hold this?

Thanks so much!

Sarah