Just engaged....venue help?

Hello & welcome to hitched!

I'm sure there will be plenty of people to help you out around here, the only place I know in your area is Cooling Castle which looks lovely from my friends wedding piccies

Hello and welcome!!

That should be a realistic figure (ive been looking for country veues in sussex and it varied between £4k-£15k!!)

where have you looked at so far??

where are you from (im assuming kent or sussex, lol)

Any more info you'd like to share?? we are a nosey bunch here!!

I'm actually from London but we should be moving that way at some stage. Plus its easy for most people to get to as most are in London.

So far have emailed Acacia Hall, The Ravenswood, Bickley Manor, Eastwell Manor and Penhurst place. Not sure what they are actually like though as there is a limit to what they show you. Would be interested in hearing if anyone knows?

Very excited to be at this stage though...I'm loving being engaged!!

We got married at Addington Palace, it was absolutely fantastic, can't recommend it enough.

Bickley Manor is nice but you don't necessarily get exclusive use of the venue esp during popular times of the year, although that doesn't bother everyone.

Try and get round to see as many of them as you can, we knew exactly when we'd found the right one as it just felt right to us.

Good luck!

Hi congrats on getting engaged, welcome to the club ;-)

Taadah mentioned Cooling Castle in Rochester, this is where I am getting married in June, very nice venue easily does the numbers you are looking at and the budget, although for a Sat you have to take the eve buffet at an extra £1900 - watch out for that. I know they were filling up for Summer weddings in 2010, because we looked at the calendars. We also looked at Hall Place (near Sidcup, Kent - Georgian Building - long Harry Potter style hall) in Sussex my friend got married at Stanmer House, which was beautiful - long tree lined avenue leading up to building.

Happy searching

Hi and welcome ?

i'm getting married in kent and found the website www.akentishwedding.com very helpful - it gives you a (massive!) list of all the licensed venues in kent.

we looked at: cooling castle barn (though i doubt you'd get a date there now... probably booked til 2012!) sundridge park, brands hatch place hotel, hever & leeds castles (both gorgeous, both out of our price range), fort amherst and loads of others.

there are a good few of us from that area, so am sure you will find lots of help on other topics if you need it.

HI!!

I also got engaged recently and have just this weekend booked July 17th 2010 at Powdermills hotel in sussex. We were looking for exactly the same thing as you and in same areas.

A few places we've looked at and are fantastic;

Buxted Park

Newick Park

Pelham House

Leeds Castle

Chilsten park Hotel

Barnsgate Manor

Penshurst place is lovely, one of my best friends is getting married there this May.

Have fun choosing!!!

This is also where I am getting married! Next July, it is a beautiful venue but books up so early we couldn't get the date we wanted even though we went about 26 months in advance! You may be able to get a weekday though which are also a lot cheaper.

I have also been to both Bickley Manor and Bromley Court Hotel and both are lovely, not sure of prices though. I've also heard good things about the London Golf Club which is near Brand's Hatch if I remember rightly - but have never been so can't personally comment.

There is also Rowhill Grange which is in Wilmington near Dartford, that's really gorgeous too.

Hope this helps a bit and happy planning! (oh and congrats on your engagement of course!)

Thank you all so much!

Just booked in to see Ravenswood manor, it looks lovely from the photos online but there aren't many of the inside. I have my fingers crossed that its a winner though. Appreciate the lists of places, will check them all out! There seems to be so much to think about and consider, I have a huge spreadsheet now trying to compare costs and whats important to us.

Also seeing two venues up north too as my fiances parents are from there - Thornton manor and Ruthin castle so at least will be able to get a good comparison.

Will keep you all posted and really appreciate all the help!

Welome to Hitched

Come and get your name on the 2010 list

Will do it now - thanks!

Hi

I looked at Eastwell Manor and it was fantastic, gorgeous gorgeous place but it was mega expensive. With 100 guests you would probably have to hire a marquee, which in turn means you would have to hire all the bedrooms in the manor house, so before you knew it the figure was well into double figures. I bought lot's of lottery tickets on the Saturday we visited there praying we would win so we could have the wedding there !!!

Also looked at Chilston Park, which was very nice they did some all inclusive packages there including photography/flowers/dj/cake and bedrooms.

Hempstead House was lovely but just too far away from me, but easy to get too from London.

Good Luck with the hunt ?