Catholic Church near Wedding Reception Venue

Hello ?

Hi

We are getting married at Hengrave Hall which is in Suffolk. Not sure if this is too far for you though as it's about 1hr30 from London. It sounds ideal for what you want though - it has a beautiful Catholic church in the grounds along with a lovely river.

Hope that helps

Thank you! Wow. I am looking at it now on net - looks beautiful! At moment no where is too far.... thankyou again. Hope your planning is going well.

It is sooo beautiful. It was by far the top end of our budget but I think its worth it as its so hard to find somewhere with a catholic church in the grounds.

Good luck

Are you having your own priest if you don't mind me asking or their priest? Thanks again.

How many guests are you having?

There isn't an official priest for the church so we have to get our local priest to carry out the service. I was told that couples book the venue throughout the country and I guess they either bring a preferred priest with them or have a local priest?

Rachael

Around 100-120 with possibly more in the evening depending on if it's close enough to london for people to travel.

Thanks - that's the first nit of good wedding possibility venue news for a while. Have been going in circles for weeks. Much appreciated.

Https://rcdow.org.uk/hertford/

There are plently of reception venues in the Hertford area.....

Thanks Peter. Is it The Immaculate Conception and St Joseph, Hertford? Weird because we were looking at venues in Herts yesterday - Teweinbury which is down the road. Have you been there?

Hi there,

I live in Richmond, and the Catholic church for Richmond is St Elizabeth's, which is both very pretty (https://icin.org.uk/pages/St_Elizabeth_Church.html) and right around the corner from several lovely venues (about 10 minutes walk from the Richmond Hill and Richmond Gate hotels) which overlook the river.

Father Philip Matthias is the parish priest for St Elizabeth's so I think you would need to contact him to see if it is okay for your family priest to conduct the ceremony.

Hope that helps!

Indeed, Tewinbury and I go back a long long way and I have photographed many weddings there. Try also looking at Fanhams Hall near Ware and a relatively new venue 3 lakes also near to Ware. The shot below wasn't at a wedding, although shows the view.

Indeed, Tewinbury and I go back a long long way and I have photographed many weddings there. Try also looking at Fanhams Hall near Ware and a relatively new venue 3 lakes also near to Ware. The shot below wasn't at a wedding, although shows the view.

Thanks, we will look into other two. Which is your favourite place of the three having seen them all in their full glory?

Lucy

All 3 are good places. Photographically though, Fanhams offers a far greater range of locations and variants.

Peter

Doesn't the church have to be your usual place of worship if it's not your local catholic church?

No - it seems to be down to the individual churches. We have only looked at a couple outside our parish and both are open to us getting married there although they do ask for some kind of connection, reason as to why you would choose them plus we need a letter from our local priest to say he is happy for us to get married outside the parish.

One question Lucy, how important is exclusivity to you?

Do you want to be the only bride at the venue? Or isn't this a major issue?

Fanhams can do two at a time and Tewinbury up to 4. Although the venues do keep couple apart, you would be aware of other "goings on".

Peter

Not that fussed about exclusivity but bigger problem at Tewinbury seems to be that you can't have exclusivity on hotel rooms so if there are three weddings going on the rooms get split accordingly which means you only get ten rooms.

Thanks for the heads up.

Fanhams woouldn't be short on rooms as it was originally a training centre(Sainsburys) before becoming a hotel. Sadly you no longer get Nectar points?

As another thought, and within a 10 minute drive of that church is Theobalds Park, another very decent venue.

Hi Peter,

Thank you so much for all your advice, we are going next week to have a look round some of the places. Can I exploit your Hertfordshire knowledge with a further question - have you come across any other pretty catholic churches in the Hertfordshire area apart from St Joseph s?

Best,

Lucy

It depends on how you determine "pretty". To me all churches are, although I accept some are more pretty than others. Personally, I like ones with grounds around the church itself.

One thought does spring to mind....albeit a long shot.....there is a Catholic boarding school close to Puckeridge, just off the A10. Excellent grounds and cloisters. They do weddings for school alumni although I have heard that they occasionally will do other weddings for suitable donations.

The school chapel is very pretty and the cloister area is very photogenic.

Check out St Edmunds...the oldest Catholic school in the UK. They don't do receptions, although are near to other reception venues like 3 Lakes, Hanbury Manor, Fanhams, Bluntswood etc......

Let me know if you need any more advice.....

Peter

There is also an OK church in Waltham Cross/Cheshunt. No grounds although very close to Cedars park which is a "must used" location for any Catholic Italian wedding within a 10 mile area.

All reception venues previously mentioned are still within reasonable distance.