Venues!?

Ooohhh there are a few really fab venues in essex

fennes is nice

Smeetham hall barn is a bit further out but nice

there are loads in the venues tabs all with ratings so have a peek in there

Welcome to the fab world of hitched

xxxx

Hi and welcome!!

I was in your position not too long ago - got engaged in Feb and just booked our venue last week. I am originally from Essex and now live in Kent so we viewed a few venues in both places. Altogether we saw 5 venues. I spent weeks requesting brochures and ended up with about 40!! Then I was able to rule some out for being too expensive etc and that left me with a short list of 5.

As you are in the same area I'll tell you what we saw in Essex

Fennes, which is in the Braintree area. This place is gorgeous but in my opinion really overpriced. They have won a few awards for best wedding venue in the country or something so maybe they've hiked their prices up a bit? It was also on Four Weddings on Monday night!! However they do really good deals on small weddings or 'last minute' weddings.

Mulberry House, which is in High Ongar. I loved this place. Less formal and grand (which is what I prefer), and really good value for money, especially if you get married mid-week. They even charge them same price for a Bank Holiday monday or friday as a normal monday or friday.

Prested House, near Colchester. Again I loved this place and slightly preferred it to Mulberry House. I initally wrote it off as too expensive but at the moment they have a special package deal for any weekday weddings in 2011 - which saves a lot of money compared to their standard prices. We would have booked this one if we hadn't gone with our final choice.

The places we saw on Kent were 'Tudor Park Hotel' (didn't like it) and 'Cooling Castle Barn' (absolutely fell head over heels and booked it on the spot!!)

Good luck with the planning!

x

Hi Sara,

Welcome to Hitched. A friend of a friend got married at Mulberry House - I didn't go, but the pictures looked stunning. My friend got married at Gaynes Park Barn, in Epping, and I thought it was beautiful, but I hear they have quite a high hire charge. We looked at Maiden's Barn in Colchester, and liked that, but it gets pretty booked up, so it depends how quickly you want to get married. The advantage of Maidens is that it has no corkage, and that can be a big saver.

I went on wedding venue sites and searched the areas I wanted - for me Essex, London and Surrey, and noted down the ones I thought looked all right, summarising their pro and anti points - e.g. hire charge, min/max numbers. Then I just kept drilling the list down. OH and I went to look at 3.

Hello and welcome We are getting married in Scotland so I can't help with actual venues but I spent ages looking on websites to find out min numbers and costs and made a spreadsheet with all the info on. We have only been to see one venue and have booked it as it was perfect Good luck with the search Jx

Hello and welcome to Hitched ?

We looked at about 12 venues online, emailed them for details on price etc. We then shortlisted 4 to visit. Only went to see 3 in the end as we booked one! I had in my mind what I wanted and the wedding co-ordinator just sold it for us. She knew her stuff and is quick to reply to emails etc. She makes me feel calm which is important for your suppliers.

Good luck!

We viewed one and booked it there and then. In fact, OH didn't think we needed to go to view it - he was ready to sign on the dotted line.

There's no right or wrong way - as long as you feel happy with the location and price, if it's the first or the 51st, go with the one you want.

Hi, Im also an Essex Bride!!!

We looked at 5 venues. Our chosen venue was number 3, but decided to have a look at the others just in case.

Where abouts in Essex are your from?

Welcome to hitched! i also did the spreadsheets thing - made a list of places with the prices, min/max numbers, perks, location etc. looked at loads of venues online but only viewed one. loved it, booked it. BUT i wish i had seen more because tbh my venue has proven to be very impractical as they only give me the rooms, and everything else has to be organised externally by me (this includes furniture, catering, entertainment, lighting etc) so has worked out a lot more expensive than i expected. so i would say please remember to factor in all hidden costs!xxx

very good point....Essex is a pretty large county and knowing your location would help with suggestions.....

btw, welcome to the madhouse...

Thanks to everyone that has responded - lots of good advice and ideas....

Havent heard of Mulberry House, so Im going to give that a Google! Since posting this last night, I have looked into a few more places and requested some brochures - I have decided that its all part of the fun to keep an open mind and keep looking!

Have heard of Cooling Castle Barn - isn't this owned by Jools Holland who comes and plays for you if you are lucky enough he is home?!

I live in Stanford (8 miles from Lakeside!) but I am willing to travel to my chosen venue as I think we will have a civil ceremony at the same place...So its not as though the venue needs to be near my local church for guests to travel between.

We are seeing a couple of places on Sat and Sun and making a nice weekend of it - will also be able to see the venues in all weathers, seeing as its going to rain!

Thanks again

Sara x

Your memory is bloody good Claire! ?

Yeah - we had, so kinda helped. Mixed with D's love of Brunel, there was no other option in his mind ?

I heard he part-owned the place but wasn't sure if it was true!!!

Good luck with your search and enjoy it!

Well, we are all booked up! Venue has been decided and our special day is on the 18th June 2011 - wooooohoo! xxx

Where did you go for in the end ?

yay! we are nearly date twins - i get married 4 days after you

where did you go for in the end or is it a secret?

Hi,

Looked at a few venues info online but actually only went to visit one venue, loved it so much and didnt feel we needed to look elsewhere so booked it up straight away. I dont regret booking the only venue I saw one bit, its like everything u know if its the one!

ooooo thats my date too!! ?