barmy reasons you've disregarded venues&/or suppliers....

We have looked at 15-20 venues now, people keep telling us thats too many, but whst choice do you have if you cant find anywhere!! We discarded somewhere because we didnt like their red light shades!!

I think in some ways it's too big a decision to make to we're scared to make a decision either way. We have seen some nice venues but they've all had their drawbacks. X

It was all about the carpets, curtains and chairs for me. I only looked at 3 venues because if I saw the wrong colour carpet online I wouldn't even visit!

As a photographer, my big thing is the carpets. There's a popular hotel in Leeds with red & green patterned carpets. Now, unless you're having a Christmas wedding chances are your colour scheme is not going to match with that carpet!

They wouldn't allow me to have a bouncy castle. Straight out of the running!

It had to allow dogs, have a country house intimate feel, but sleep all our guests. We only looked at two venues in person, booked the second one.

Ours was ceiling tiles; we saw a few venues set in lovely old buildings which had been updated or extended and had chosen horrible ceiling tiles and flourescent lights in either the ceremony or reception rooms, just didn't get it!! We've ended up with a gorgeous venue which has red walls, we're having purple so it doesn't technically go but have seen all sorts of colours used on their website and none of them look out of place.

I have a phobia of busy carpets. I disregarded lots of places which could've potentially been perfect because of it.... Oh and busy art work on walls...

icks me out...

X

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I don't have a phobia of busy carpets? but I have shot at some lovely looking venues until you get inside and see there is no colour coordination between the carpets and curtains,? some venues the carpets are so busy it makes you dizzy????

We ruled a lot of venues out for practical reasons, such as too far from church, had to pay for all hotel rooms, they had no hotel rooms. I personally wouldn't rule out a venue based on carpet, as once the tables are in there with all your decorations and guests, no one will see the carpet. But that's just my opinion. We ruled out a couple of suppliers because they've slagged off other suppliers, to me that's no way to get business!

We picked the first venue we looked at - I guess we're easy to please! But, seriously, it ticked every box - city centre, exclusive use, and bags of character. we wanted the feel of a country estate in the city centre, so it was our only choice really - it's a medieval stone building, with its own courtyard (and parking!) and a blank slate in terms of decor, as it is just stone and wood inside, no carpets, curtains or ceiling tiles. it basically looks like an abbey cloisters, and we have 3 rooms to play with. I am so excited about it! but we were very, very lucky to find it.

One place I loved had swirly red carpets & exactly the same curtains. I could have ignored the carpets but the curtains really bugged me mostly because I knew I couldn't afford Swagging to cover them plus it was a really lovely barn & who wants to cover gorgeous exposed beams.

Ceiling tiles that make a venue look like a conference could be held there the next day

Hotel rooms were £300 a night!!! Rip off x

Toilets. We made sure we visited every ladies and gents in every venue we looked at. If they were not spotless or were without loo roll on an open day we knew they would be in a right state with over 100 guests. It looks bonkers now I have typed it but we both thought the same so I seemed sane at the time. There also had to be baby changing facilities...we have an 18month old so thats practical rather than crazy I guess.

Our venue choice was very straightforward so no decisions were made or broken on the basis of carpet or curtains (both options had centuries-old great halls with wooden floor and stained glass windows)

When hunting for suppliers though, I did disregard anyone whose website contained any spelling or grammatical errors.

I have disregarded a venue due to ugly decor & I disregard venues & suppliers if there is no idea of the price of anything on their website. That just screams expensive to me.

Disregarded a wedding dress shop in town because it has paint peeling off the front and looks run down but stumbled across their website online and it has the best collection of dresses in my area so might have to re think that!

If I couldn't get in early (7am) on the wedding day to set up the reception then we didn't even go to view after a phone call to ask. For me that was paramount!

I did though turn down a venue because it was too grand! Not us at all, we wanted a relaxed vibe and this place seemed a little up it's own backside!

We were really lucky with the venue because we wanted a licensed venue for a specific date, with a specific feel and freedom to do pretty much anything we wanted. After lots and lots of googling we came up with only three venues within a 50 mile radius whcih suited. The first one we saw was the closest and the cheapest and ticked absolutley all our boxes. No brainer.

We disregarded one caterer who knew the venue well because he didn't listen to what we wanted, just told us what he thought we should have and when we should have it so it would be 'less complicated'. He turned up at our house in a sports car with a member of staff, whom he told to stay in the car while he came in for our meeting. We offered to let her come in to wait or to take her a coffee, but he was really dismissive of her and said 'she's getting paid, she can just wait' which seemed heartless. Further he said the words 'gala pie' nine times at our first meeting, in spite of the fact we'd said no after he mentioned it the first time. I have nothing against pork or eggs, but square processed pie is just odd IMO. 'Gala pie' has now become a family joke: we actually cackle if we spot one while out and about. It turns out that this caterer actually does offer all the things we wanted, but for some reason chose not to mention them at our meeting. I suspect he didn't want our business (perhaps double booked), so it worked out for the best all round.

We only went to see 2 venues in person, like others we rejected loads just by looking online (must've looked at every venue in Devon!) sometimes due to the photographs but many also due to the general feel of the website (my OH is a web designer!) for example if there were spelling mistakes we were really put off - attention to detail - nil!

We initially were not sold on the venue we went with just because of large colourful murals painted on the walls in the lounge but when we realised we could use another room (conservatory) for our wedding breakfast/reception they didn't matter anymore. We were actually put off the first venue we visited because it felt too cold and imposing and the coordinator made us feel like we were just another couple on the 'wedding treadmill'; visiting the our second and chosen venue made us realise this about the first venue.

Our chosen venue has red walls but we are willing to work with this and no one will probably care on the day anyway!

Forgot to add, one place we rejected immediately when viewing online because if you only chose their basic wedding package you only got a tablecloth for the top table, if you went with the intermediate package you got one for the cake table but you had to pay full £££ to get tablecloths for all tables! Ridiculous!

Mine was tatty chairs that need covering

We looked at around 25 venues. I think once you have found the right one for you then you will think its perfect, even if others would find fault with it. Almost all of the venues we looked at were lovely but as you can only pick one you will discount for all sorts of reasons. Reasons for us discounting included:

• Minimum 2 night stay in accommodation at 250 a night (stoke park);
• Housing estate across the road (lillibrooke barns);
• Wedding breakfast room being 3 rooms and car park looks out onto police station (Missended Abbey);
• Price too high for what is included (Hampden House, Hedsor House, Notley Abbey, Hartwell House, Mickelfield Hall);
• Green woodwork (Offley Place);
• Outside space amazing but if rained the inside is a bit dull (Waddesdon Dairy);
• Did not have our date (Cooling Castle Barns);
• Food choices limited (Gaynes Park);
• Venue itself beautiful but golfers annoying (Crondon Park);
• Reception room was effectively staff canteen (Putteridge Burry);
• Too many corridors (Latimer House)
• Too flashy (the grove)
• Friend getting married there (Hunton Park)
• Too conference centre ( Ironic as the venue we did pick is actually a conference centre - De Vere Denham Grove

As above all the venues were great and if you picked any of these I am not meaning to be offensive. They were obviously right for you. I am sure people woukd findmany faults with my venue (Ashridge House) that I am blind to because I love it.

Wow you remembered everything about every venue?

I sacked my old photographer because she wouldn't reply to me emails when I asked for a contract, I found her online and this sent warning lights flashing in my head! Thank god I said I'd send her a cheque when I send the contract back so I lost no money. I bet if I did go ahead with her the quality would be rubbish! It's not really a balmy reason to sack someone but defo put my mind at ease eradicating her from the situation.

I wrote off one venue when the lady showing us round said that they didn't accept credit cards for anything at all. I have an organised budget for my wedding and only went and saw venues which I could afford. She was basically saying that she didn't trust people who put things on a credit card. I am putting as much as I can on the credit card and paying it off straight away for two reasons 1. to collect points and 2. for the extra insurance it provides ( I do have wedding insurance as well).

It just really narked me that she thought everyone that uses credit cards is irresponsible and can't actually afford it!

Our wedding is in 2017, and September at that. Due to financial reasons we have to have it then in order to pay for it all ourselves.

I've been to a couple of wedding fayres and the vendors that either laughed at us/me or criticised us looking at stuff so early on were scrapped straight off the list. Might seem a bt sensitive I know but its one of the biggest day of my life and if I get shunned or criticised you are not having my business!

Politely advising that I am looking too far in advance (like a wedding dress shop did - and I admire them for their honesty!) is acceptable but laughing isn't.

That's horrible! How are you meant to know what you want if your being told not to look for it? And how can you know what them things cost if your unable to look at them? Therefore how can you budget your wedding? Sometimes I do think people selling a product/ service don't have a clue about customer service! There's no harm in informing yourself!

They laughed at you that is a horrible thing to do to any one.

We chose ours because it had wooden floors and floor to ceiling windows overlooking the River Thames with a gorgeous view of London. My BIG bug bear with wedding venues is horrible swirly carpets....especially bright red or blue, you can't put anything with it!

Well the thing is the people we have booked so far are the ones who acted professionally. Even one said that I/we had the right idea, otherwise how else are we to know our budget without finding out prices!