Gaynes Park vs Blake Hall - help to finalise our venue search please...

Helloooo!

I have viewed both of these venues (although I didn't book at either), my thoughts:

Blake Hall

-very good value

-beautiful bridal cottage

-huge barn, very impressive (difficult to 'fill' though)

-not much choice, you're in the barn or you're stood outside so a lot depends on weather

-guests aren't allowed anywhere near the actual 'hall' except for one or two photos

Gaynes Park

-loved it - MUCH more expensive

-stunning civil ceremony room (a huge conservatory overlooking gardens, the aisle is a path through the flowers)

-dance floor slightly separate from main room

-very expensive food, although it looks top quality

-the 'chill out' zone is a sort of balcony overlooking the main room, which I can't help but think would be a wasted space

-there is the option of having your evening BBQ/buffet served outside under the canopy

(can you tell this was my fave out of the two!! ?)

Hope this helps - be in touch if you need anything, I am based in Bishop's Stortford and getting married in Essex so I have viewed lots of places over the last few months!

Good luck xx

PS - both are generally lovely venues, though, and I would have been perfectly content getting married in either - I am just a picky old bint!

Hi, I'm not getting married at either but have viewed both of them twice.

I think Katie142's post pretty much sums it up. I love Gaynes and would have absolutely loved to have had my wedding there but it's just way out of our budget and also they only had mon-thurs left available around the time that we wanted to get married

One thing that put us off Gaynes a litle bit was that they were unwilling to negotiate at all on price, so due to that and them being out of our budget initially anyway and lack of availability at weekends, we decided to go with another.

If you have the budget and can get the date then I'd say Gaynes over Blake Hall! The lady we spoke to was so helpful and lovely, and they have an entire team to look after the weddings, whereas Blake Hall only has one man.

Thank you for your messages. You've highlighted my concerns about the two.

I love Gaynes Park, but it is expensive - we would probably be looking at a Thursday there. I really like Blake Hall, but you're right - you are a bit reliant on weather there.

Have either of you looked at The Reid Rooms or Maidens Barn? I haven't been to those venues yet and don't have pricing for them yet, have messaged the venues this morning.

I got married in the area and both of these venues were on our list. We were only looking for the wedding breakfast and evening do as we got married in a local church.

Gaynes Park was my favourite looks wise, but it was too expensive, you had to be cleared out by 11.30pm and there was no accomodation. Went to a wedding there in 2009 and it was lovely, bit disjointed with the separate dance floor area.

Blake Hall was lovely, much better price wise but too far away from our church. Another friend got married here though and loved it.

We went with the Ridings Barn at Theobalds Park (DeVere Venues) in the end, not too badly priced, looked good and the accomodation was around the courtyard.

Good luck with your search!

Yes, I've viewed the Reid Rooms and Maidens Barns too

Maidens Barns:

Good points:

- Beautiful archway you can get married under outside

- Barn is gorgeous, beams are lovely

- Separate dance area that can double up as ceremony room if weather is not good

- Upstairs seating area, similar to at Gaynes

- Lovely, little private garden

Bad points:

- It doesn't have instantaneous wow factor, when you arrive it looks like a proper farm yard with a metal barn, you have to go past this to get to the wedding area

- Barn felt small

- Barn floor was orange tile, which wasn't to our taste, but then again others might like it

- Dance area/indoor ceremony room doesn't have the barn feel

- Garden is quite plain

Price wise I think it worked out around the same as Blake Hall, we ruled it out though as h2b didn't like it at all and because it was quite hard to get to from where we live.

The Reid Rooms:

Good points:

- Beautiful ceremony room

- On site accommodation in the form of a farm house, could house 10 I think it was

- Separate Dance/Bar area

- Separate chill out room and another room that could be used for kids room

- Think they would let us bring our own alcohol in

Bad points:

- Dance floor is long and quite separate from wedding breakfast area, may mean segregation of guests, plus extra rooms further away that can be used

- Ceremony room is very small, quite dark and can only be accessed by going outside, not great if it rains

- If you're looking for a very barn type venue, it's got the beams but doesn't really feel like a barn like Gaynes and Blake Hall does

Once again price wise, I think it worked out again roughly similar to Blake Hall, maybe a tiny bit cheaper.

Both venues are definitely cheaper than Gaynes and probably more likely to negotiate on prices.

Good luck with the venue search

We've booked Crondon Park for our wedding, it might be somewhere you would consider as your venue search so far has been very similar to what ours was!