Has anyone had their reception in a village/ church hall?

Hello!

When we got married in 2011 we hired a local hall over a manor house. We did everything ourselves and it worked out more expensive then exclusive use of said manor house which included food! To be fair I think it was down to lack of research. We just found what we were looking for and paid the price.

There are a lot of outside caterers around, where are you getting married? perhaps we can help source some for you?

Gemma x

We had our ceremony on the stage of a local village hall, and the reception followed on. I had a 16th birthday disco at said hall some 21 years prior lol.

I/we basically wanted something that was akin to my annual summer barbecue that I used to have before we moved, loads of friends, kids, bouncy castle. Relaxed, informal, simple. In fact, it was the biggest compliment to me when one of my oldest friends (4 kids) said she had never been able to relax like that out with the kids for the day before, and that it was just like the loveliest family garden party. Bingo!

I hired a lady to set up the hall, and then we turned that in to her staying all day and evening and organising- why I hadn't done that from the beginning I do not know! The day wouldn't have happened the way it did without someone on top of all the little stuff. We had 70 guests in all, about 50 adults and 20 kids. We had balloons, homemade and bought bunting hanging, undecorated jars of simple fresh flowers and bay trees. The favours looked cute: homemade jams and chutneys, and jars of sweets, biscuits and popcorn for the kids.

We hired a bar, that cost us nothing. They served drinks from straight after the ceremony. They poured our reception drink that we provided. We had wine on the tables and we could provide as much wine as we liked up to 7pm when it was all cleared away and drinks came from the bar. They were great, quietly popping corks behind closed doors whilst we were busy getting married on the stage

We had a hog roast which was ideal, beautiful day so it was just outside under awning and starting with our table we all went up and helped ourselves to pork, rolls, salads, potatoes, rolls and apple sauce. The suppliers were a dream. Once we'd decided what we wanted we barely spoke again! They set up quietly and cleared up and packed away quietly and were lovely. We decided to have disposable plates etc, because we were happy with it feeling very bbq-y, but not everyone likes that for a wedding!

We then had a cheese tower with crackers and chutneys etc, we bought that online and it was popular, looked great and tasted amazing.

After that we had the speeches, and just as they finished the ice cream van arrived and we all drifted outside for ice cream dessert in the sunshine. Whilst we were outside the DJ arrived, the room was turned round for the evening and by 7pm we were ready for the evening guests.

In the evening we had a fish and chip van (huge portions, and tasted amazing, I'm told) which was very popular indeed. Then the cheeses and biscuits went back out along with a table of cakes. All homemade, all made by us or family members, so a coffee and carrot cake, chocolate sponge, fruit cake, victoria sponge etc etc. They looked lovely and people enjoyed those too. We cut them up small so people could have 2 or 3 or 4 (or more!) pieces of cake.

We found a lot of the older folk (40s+) really loved the style of the day, how relaxed it was. And one couple who've been together 12 years and never bothered getting married said they were reconsidering and might actually do it now, as they'd never imagined a wedding could be so relaxed. That made me smile, I wasn't relaxed at all for about the first 7 hours lol!

There's a few of us who've had similar, so feel free to ask away ?

We're having our reception in a British Legion hall as our initial venue was so expensive for food and drinks, whereas we don't have to pay corkage etc, the drinks are so much cheaper for our guests, we are getting hog roasts which work out at around £600 to feed 150 people as well as providing our own buffet, cake and desserts. It's saving us around £5000 on food alone, never mind the actual venue costs... We can decorate how we like and have no restrictions on how we run the day or decorate etc

We paid (I think) £575 for the hog roast for 70, and leftovers went out in the evening. £200 for cheese tower and biscuits. £645 for fish & chips for 110, (variety of options including vegeburger) plus mushy peas and curry sauce. The hall was £200. Wedding cake, cupcakes and cake table cost nothing except a few ingredients, family were happy to make cakes for free.

It makes me wonder how the hell I spent so much when the bare bones of the day came to so little, relatively speaking!! ?

Thank you all so much for your responses- they are so helpful!

I agree, Kentish Gal, that the bare bones of the day do seem a lot more cost effective, but is it then the decor and the tables/ chairs etc that end up adding to the costs, do you think?

Gemma, what were the costs that you incurred that made it more expensive? Did you have a sit-down meal?

And to both of you, did you actually get married in a church or did you have a civil ceremony? We're having a civil ceremony so it's thinking about how to ensure that the two flow together well.

H x

We had a humanist ceremony on the stage, so no registrar and no church.

The costs of decorating the venue were much, much lower than the premium had we used a traditional venue. Without a doubt. I did splurge, what the heck - I admit I wasted money, but the whole day was about 9k and the equivalent, at a hotel we'd have been prepared to use, started at 6k for the absolute minimum with what was (to us) an uninspiring menu and very formulaic. We moved house this year too, and are having a baby and so the wedding didn't seem worth any more money, to us.

Main thing for us was, the day was extremely personal and much more relaxed than if we'd been on someone else's 'turf' if you see what I mean. For the parents, kids could go anywhere on site and do anything they liked. And that meant a lot to me. As a mum I've been through those days and I didn't want anyone to worry. Lots of people don't invite children so that doesn't even feature on their radar.