Hotel/formal venue vs a DIY hall or marquee

I personally like venues that let you also have your personal touch added to them. What area are you in and maybe people can suggest some?

Hello, congrats and welcome!

The DIY route is not always the cheapest option as in some cases you may have to factor into your budget things such as tables, chairs, cutlery, linen, loos etc

Generally hotels will have all these things already included. however you will generally pay more for food and wine but most venues offer food & drink packages.

DIY marquees and halls etc generally enable you to have a greater deal of flexibility although hotels etc can be flexible too like everything shop around.

The DIY route can be more stressful as lots more to co ordinate/organise yourself where as a hotel will generally have a on site coordinator to take some of the stress off you.

Ducky had an amazing DIY marquee reception you can read about it in her report: https://www.hitched.co.uk/chat/forums/p/334126/3045878.aspx

Lots of other non DIY brides reports here https://www.hitched.co.uk/chat/forums/t/350254.aspx

There are also venues like this https://www.taltonlodge.com/thesetup.html that offer the hotel side of things but allow the DIY route too (and it's just awesome!!)

Thanks for your advice. we are looking at getting married in Birmingham, but having the reception about a 30 mile radius from there. so if anyone has any ideas i would be greatly apprecated!!

Clare

My SIL looked into having a marquee in the garden, but the stress & cost of ALL the added bits just wasnt worth it. Hiring toilets, having enough parking, hiring every single thing inside, catering etc. Washing & cleaning things then delivering them back the next day in some cases. Paying for broken/missing glasses/plates etc. Similar is hiring a hall. The list went on & on.

Some golf, bowling & other types of clubs offer the flexibility of choosing your own touches, yet supplying you all the basics.

Admittedly, we got married in Sydney, but some venues offer similar things here. Our venue had different costing plans: buffet, 2 course sit down, 3 course sit down, added extras like table centres/floral displays etc.

To save costs, we chose the 2 course meal option as had the wedding cake as dessert. I also supplied my own table centres, which my mum & aunts arranged while we had photos taken outside. This worked out the best option for us, but obvioulsy depends if you have friends/family that can help if you go the full DIY option.