200 + guests - HELP?? ESSEX

Essex is a big county: are you having a church or registry office ceremony we need to be within a certain distance of?

It's much cheaper to have a hotel wedding than book a marquee. Have a look at the Holiday Inn and Brittannia hotels websites near you as they usually do good value packages.

What about Kesgrave Hall? It holds upto 300 and is really pretty

Look for halls with a field so you can put up a marquee for additional space (eg Margaretting) or with a huge main hall anyway (eg Wickham Bishops)

https://www.essexrcc.org.uk/community-buildings/find-a-village-hall

It is cheaper to have a hall and line it with a marquee li=ning than it is to have a marquee and you can have the same vibe. Someone on here actually did that and lined their hall and it looked amazing: I can't remeber who so you may need to trawl through the wedding reports for that.

Or go for a more formal venue that still allows your own caterers: http://www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/gb/en/basildon/senes/hoteldetail/weddings/packages-and-offers/special-offer.html

Good hunting!

Thanks for the advice everyone, really appreciate it.

Hiring a village hall would be a good idea, and dressing it inside - I presume you can hire the drapes or whatever you call them to dress it?! I'll definitely have to search through to find the wedding you've mentioned that did this. Thanks for the tip!

We're based in Southend - sorry that would have helped!!!

Thanks

We've gone the land hire and marquee route and the price really does add up. I think an all in one venue package would probably be the more cost effective way to go.

It may be worth looking at the Prince regent Hotel in Chigwell. It's a popular venue for large weddings and events locally although i'm not sure what their pricing is like.

Hi,

im an Essex bride and viewed 16venues before finding the one. For your numbers it limits some venues. Unless you want to do last minute to save on costs i would def suggest hire out a venue/hall/land for marquee. Even with a blank canvas you can add decorations to increase the wow factor, and there are some local businesses that do that sort of thing for you, but then again that would cost more

I found that when I was trying to find a budget friendly venue that I had to really think outside the box. I also find that if you leave the word WEDDING out, and call it a function, then prices can be dramatically reduced.

There was a hotel close to us that had a night club, initially I had thought about hiring it out, having it all dressed for a wedding and because I called it a function and was just having buffet style catering, it was very affordable.

I didnt go for that as I decided that I did want a sit down meal, but I managed to find a local restaurant/function room that was offering midweek weddings for 100 guests for a crazy £495!!! Now, obvioulsy on top of that I had to add a starter and dessert, evening buffet, tea and coffee and pay to have the room dressed, but that isnt a bad price to start from. Fortunately, from the time we booked it until when our wedding is (december this year) the place has had a major revamp and their prices have gone up a little, so it now looks amazing and we still got a bargain.

Is there anywhere close to you that you could imagine having a party or a gathering, forgetting that it is a wedding. If so, think about it, any room can be made to look beautiful with the right dressing and if you can save money on the venue, you can spend some on the dressing.

Have you looked at Red Brick Barn in Rochford? It is pretty much everything you are looking for. It has a barn and land. I know you are welcome to BYOB and Catering too.
I photographed a wedding there last month and loved it.
On another note I am photographing a festival themed wedding at Mayland's Golf Club in Romford next year - maybe you could look at places like that if a festival theme is what you are looking for?