Anyone ever had a wedding in a village hall?

My wedding wasn't in a village hall but husband's cousin's was. I can honestly say it was one of the best weddings I have been too. Yes, it was a lot of effort for them to set up the village hall but family helped and they managed to get in the day before rather than being a rush to do it the morning of the wedding. They did a buffet themselves and family were asked to provide a dish or too. Some local ladies were roped in to provide teas and coffees and assist in the clearing up, which was a godsend.

I'm having my reception in our villagehall - obviously not done it yet but the pros for us are the low cost - we're hiring for 400 from midday on Friday until midday on Sunday and our wedding is on the Saturday. Hopefully having time to sort out without stresses! The price includes all tables and chairs etc, cutlery, plates, glasses, use of kitchen, pa machine and bar (sales go back into the hall) - works out ridiculously good value and being 5 mins walk down the road is the icing on the cake for us, plus we get to put our own stamp on it.

Wow, thanks guys, helensomerset that sounds amazing! If I can find a village hall with tables, chairs, cutlery etc that would be brilliant I've heard good things about weddings in village halls

Iamabusybee... do you mind disclosing how much the two day hire is costing you, with all the tables, chairs etc? I know every village hall is different but good to see what others are paying. Also, if there is a bar, who serves? Does the village hall have it's own staff? Cheers

Of course - it's £400 all in which we are so pleased with! Our village is a proper community and I think the parish council has involvement with the hall - but yes they have their own staff that do the bar and turn up early to make sure heating lighting etc all working which is important for our January wedding!

We had our reception in a village hall in 2006. We hired Friday afternoon to Sunday. I decorated the hall on the Friday afternoon with family and friends. We had enough chairs but had to hire a couple of extra tables. We covered the tables with good quality banqueting roll, kind of a glorified paper table cloth which looks more like fabric. We hired in crockery, glasses and cutlery. This was not very expensive although we did have to rinse them off. We hired a caterer, and had a served buffet amazing. Under £15 a head. We also hired a hire however he "forgot" to get a licence and wanted us to have a free bar. We decided to buy in loads of alcohol. We had already bought a lot of wine and asti spumente for the toast. We put a few bottles of wine and water on each table. The rest of the alcohol and soft drinks were placed in the bar area and people helped there selves we ended up with some left over. Family and friends helped clear up at the end of the night and also the following day. We have friends play after the meal, also H played with his band, we had a disco and fireworks. It was everything we wanted at a very reasonable price.

We've booked a lovely village hall in the middle of nowhere in the New Forest. A lot we looked at that were easier to get to either looked like school sports halls or public toilet blocks! OH found a gorgeous place with a lovely garden, willow trees and a little stream running though. Looks for the photos is very important to me. We spent ages typing in village hall/community hall etc into google maps and seeing what it came up with, then zoomed in to street view to see what it looked like. If we liked it we looked for a website and then checked how many it would seat/hold as we didn't want an aircraft hanger and loads of empty space, but equally, a couple were quite small.

Costing us £450 for the hall from 1pm Friday to 12pm Sunday, allowing us plenty of time Friday afternoon to decorate the place (good - it's a blank canvas we can do what we want with. Not so good - it's a blank canvas and will need a fair bit of work to decorate lol), and Saturday morning before the wedding to take & organise our own munchies for when we get back after the ceremoney late afternoon. Space in the patio for a hog roast in the evening, and a smaller room we'll put the food in and it can be used as a quiet room (second time round for us and a lot of relatives are getting on a bit and don't like loud music). We get full use of the kitchen, all tables Iindoors and outdoors), chairs, corckery, cutlery and glasswear, and additional parking on the sports field over the road. Just need to find tablecloths really.

The place comes with it's own bar - in a side room with hatch to the main hall and properly stocked like a pub ? - that's an extra £50. Hotel 2 minutes stagger away (though we can't work out how to use this for our wedding night thanks to nightmare logistics and me wanting my family about while I get ready).

Hopefully we will be up in time to get back on Sunday to clear up before we have to hand it back lol

My OH and I live in probs one of the most expensive counties to get married; being West Sussex so finding any venues remotely close were going to be a bit of a mission. We looked and looked and looked and nothing until we stumbled across a pretty barn/village hall right next to the beach. Even that cost us £1000 but we can also get married there which means don' have to faff about making our guests travel.

The pros: It's the little things, I LOVE it's a blank canvas. It can create the relaxed fun atmosphere we desire. We are planning on a hog roast and bouncy castle outback for the kids, and our wedding is really personal as my mum is doing the flowers and sweetie table, we have friends doing the cake, my nans doing the evening buffet, my stepdad is making numerous things for us like a giant LOVE sign, and my OH's nan is making us ring cushion. Just things that would make my day 100000% better.

The cons: It may cost a bomb to decorate to get it all done up like wall drapings, ceiling drapings, starlight backdrops etc we got quoted £1675!!!! from a local company. It is tricky working out the drinks situation, with the pop up bars. And some village halls close up early. Ours luckily we have to be out by midnight but one we looked at you had to be out by 10.30pm!

It depends on what sort of day you want, we are going for the relaxed boho festival vibe, with our friends and family. Another bonus is we are having 67 guests in the day time and 150 in the evening which are numbers we could of NEVER of had if we had gone for a hotel as our budget couldn't even cover a sit down meal for 50 and 80 in the evening.

Also just to add: I'm at that age now where we get invited to A LOT of weddings and I must say, the best ones that stick in my mind are ones of village halls so I think thats what swayed me to picking our venue.

Best of Luck!

We're having a village hall wedding. It is costing £500 from 8.30am Sat to 1am Sunday. They will store our stuff until the Sunday/Monday - for us to collect. I think we are very lucky, the hall comes with a fantastic team of staff and volunteers. They supply and set up the tables, chairs, tablecloths etc. We are supplying our own crockery and cutlery because I don't like theirs, but using their glasses. They have a purpose built pay bar in one corner and a coffee bar in the opposite corner - this will serve our create your own ice-cream sundaes as well as tea and coffee. They put all the crockery and cutlery through the dishwasher and pack it back in its boxes. I am supplying detailed instructions on how I want the decorations and tables set up, including the table centres we're supplying and the lead organiser is going to send me photos on the day to check I'm happy and change anything I want. We can supply our own wine for the meal paying a £3 corkage charge, I think this is fair as we are getting a lot for our money.

This level of service is unusual in a village hall but if you shop around you can find little gems. Good luck.

Hiya, no offence but more I'm looking for wedding venues more I get put off for the prices, so I started look for a village hall, wish me luck because is a bit hard to find as well