Have you got married at Preston Court, Canterbury?

Hi Duracellgirl my FBIL (if thats the right abbreviation for future brother in law) and his wife got married there on the island bit in May this year. I thought the venue was lovely and they really had a good time and things went smoothly. The only thing which couldn't be helped was the wind which made everytime the barn door open where dinner was a few tables got very cold. But it was an uncharacteristicly cold day for may and they did have some blankets for peoples knees if needed. The photos were stunning.

Hi OldJess,

Thanks for your reply, great to hear from someone who has been to a wedding there - and liked it ;-) How did you find the evening with the bar and the dance area being separate? That's our main concern, but are hoping our friends will hit the dance floor regardless!

Hi

Love the username - dare I ask why you chose it??

Ha - all perfectly innocent! Picked it up as a nickname when I was 17 on holiday as I kept partying all night!

Hi

We found it was fine there were a lot of people on the dance floor and at the bar and just kept going between the two, it gave people a place to talk and dance x

Good stuff - just what I wanted to hear.

We have gone ahead and booked it now...can't wait!

Hi I see you are getting married at Preston court this year. I was looking on the website it looks amazing but there is no price guide could you tell me approx what we should expect? we live in sandwich this venue would be perfect.

Hi

I feel in love with it from the website too - if and when you do visit it's just the same in the flesh.

Cost wise it's not cheap, but broadly in line with a lot of other barn venues we looked at (and we looked at a lot). Prices range depending on the day and time of year between £3k to £5495 - this includes a drinks package too. The carousel is an extra if you want that. The nice thing is you have flexibility on which caterer you use, which other places didn't have (and so you might be forced on a more expensive caterer). If it's in your price range then drop them a line, Anna who runs things is lovely and really helpful.

Any other questions let me know! We're not from the area but it had enough of a pull for us - lucky you being local!

Hi,

like everyone else on this thread, i am in love with the venue, but am finding the venue hire (just the hire alone) cost to be more than what i have expected.

Also because I am having to consider accommodation for family coming from overseas, decor costs, pitching a small tent for additional outside seating and candy buffet table etc etc

Alternative venues I am considering are Wasing Park in Berkshire and Hyde Barn in Cotswold.

Has anyone tried negotiating on the hire rates (waive of VAT or corkage etc etc)?

Cheers

Christine

Hi Christine!

This notification for this was a little blast from the past for me, as I got married at Preston Court in September!

The hire costs are high compared to other barn places, and from what I hear these have gone up even more since we booked over a year ago. We managed to negotiate on the carousel, but that was it. I get the impression they won't budge much on the hire fees, they are getting more and more successful and well known, so they know they don't have to (unfortunately for us!).

I would say that we had an amazing day there, but if it is stretching your budget too far and meaning you can't do other things important to you, then maybe it's not right. Depends how much you love it ;-)

If you have any other questions about it then just yell - happy to help! One thing I would flag is the noise limiter in the barn. We weren't fully aware of the implications of this when we booked, and didn't realise it works on the room noise, not the DJ noise - so if everyone cheers or sings along the DJ has to adjust the music levels to avoid the power cutting out. We only had it cut out once (on the second song!), so it wasn't too bad - but did mean the music was set as a lower than average level (compared to my experience anyway) to avoid any issues.

Hi Duracellgirl.

Thanks for your reply! Glad to hear you had an amazing wedding there!

I only managed to get £100 off, even though I suggested in return, I'll put 50% down as deposit upon booking. They are not willing to budge on anything else. Do you mind me asking how much did you manage to negotiate on the carousel? I still have another week before the holding period is up, so this weekend will be off to check out other barn venues.

Thanks for the tip regarding the noise limit level, that's very useful to know!

Which caterer did you use for your wedding by the way for Preston Court?

Hi

It was great!

That doesn’t surprise me, didn’t think they would budge much. We got the carousel for £650 in the end, but only booked it two days before in the hope of getting it cheaper.

We used Relish for our catering and they were fantastic, couldn’t recommend them enough. They were helpful from our first email, worked with us to put together an indian style menu (even replicating parts from family recipes) – on the day the food was great and we got so much good feedback from our guests.

Good luck this weekend! Exciting times :-)

This is my first ever forum post so sorry if this appears in the wrong place or something! I'm just about to book Preston Court and was a little horrified to find that VAT had to be added to the brochure price. Plus extra for the carosel etc etc. I have tried negotiating to no avail and I'm really glad to hear I'm not the only one who has tried to reduce the price or get a little extra thrown in. I was worried about appearing tight! I love the venue and my only concern (apart from the price!) is squashing everyone into the little bar barn for the drinks reception if it rains. Does anyone have any experience / thoughts on this? I am reluctant to pay even more for a marquee to shelter from the rain!

Hi mjwools!

Ah yes, the VAT is a killer. We were ok on the venue, but that caught us out a few times with other suppliers, why can’t they just include this in their quotes, it will make the whole thing much more straightforward?! I thought the carousel prices were crazy steep, and given it’s a real selling point of the place (and is on the website) I’d have thought this would have been included – I do think they are really missing a trick by not doing that (but we still had it and it was a hit!). Oh – and never worry about seeming tight, if you don’t try you can’t get!

I know what you mean on the smaller barn. How many guests are you planning? We had 100 for the day, and got married there end of Sept. We were lucky in that for the drinks reception it was sunny so we had that out on the lawn. However, it rained during the meal, so when we were done most people went inside the little barn while they set up for the evening – I must say it was a tight-ish squeeze – if we’d have had the canapés then I’m not too sure how they would have got round. The weather is such a pain, makes it a gamble!

Hey ladies,

In the end I have decided not to go ahead with the venue anymore. Hope am not putting a damper! Still love this venue but after much detailed comparison and costing, my partner and I just found it to be too costly in comparison, with the VAT to be added and the hire of the carousel.

We also found the drinks package to be less favourable as most other places provide half a bottle of wine per person.

Like everyone else, my main concern is the weather and initially planned to have a small marquee and lounge furniture hire to provide another area for guests to hang out. But this would mean adding on to the venue costs overall, so in the end we are choosing to go with other venues that will have other areas for guests to mingle after the ceremony and before the reception. Am now narrowing it down to Hyde Barn and Kingscote Barn.

also it was really wet when we went to view and my partner had found the place to have a very damp smell. So may be worth thinking about contingency for weather considerations!

Good luck!

Those are good points you raise christinesoo. My view is that if it is a sunny day, Preston Court is worth every penny but if it rains, not so much. I was thinking (exactly like you) of having a small marquee attached the bar barn but with the carosel this takes it into the realms of crazy money. I'm in such a quandary! Decisions! Preston Court is already booked for many of the Saturdays in summer 2014 so I feel under some time pressure to make a decision!

Knowlton Court in Kent seems a good venue if you wanted some accommodation for friends and family included by the way!

Thanks for your comments guys

Hey mjwoolls,

No worries! hope you found my thoughts helpful. i totally hear you about the time pressure as my provisional booking for Kingscote Barn is up tomorrow and I am still not 100% sure! I really only have the month of June 2014 to have a wedding as my family is coming over from overseas and that's the only month of school hols for my nieces! And I have been busy surfing the net (at home and work - i know terrible!) to see if there are other viable options!

At the end of the day, I think if you weigh up what's most important to you and if those things stack up, then i say go for it. if you are worried about weather, you might be better off not having the carousel for now (until much closer to the wedding and chance for a discount rate) and spend it on a marquee/tent etc. that way if the weather does look bad, at least you would have put the money to good use. the carousel might be pointless if the weather conditions are not favorable and you would have wasted the money!

fingers crossed for you! i'm sure you will make the right choice for you!

Christine

Hey,

you are the ones who are getting married and you should be extra happy with anything you decide. If your heart is not fully on something don't do it. thus, I fell you did well to your decision. Take your time and decide what's best for you..What kind of venue would be your dream venue?

Maria

Hi all, came across this thread after a recent experience at the venue. I would highly recommend anyone considering this venue to read this review as far as the entertainment is concerned http://www.choicedj.co.uk/?p=4109

Regards

Phil

Hi,

Just to let everyone know the sound limiter at Preston Court now works very well and there was a glowing report just this month from the same DJ - DJ Choice, which totally over turned what his earlier fears about the limiter....please read is very positive report:

http://www.choicedj.co.uk/preston-court/

Thanks

Hi there

congratulations, sounds like you had a wonderful day. i am very keen on this location too, and have started to enquire about it. please can you advise on the below as you've been there, done that!

- to get hitched outside it seems as though your quests are sitting over the bridge away from the bride and groom? is this the case, and if so isn't this is a little odd seeing as they should be seated near the bride and groom?

- did you get hitched in the barn or outside?

- there is no accommodation on site, which is a bit of a downer for us as i'd like my drunk guests just to be able to fall into bed rather than worrying about a taxi. where did your guests stay?

thank you if you're able to answer any of the above!

Lauren x