Ideas/advice on budget - Surrey ish area

I'm not in Surry but not too far away (in kent)- from the sounds of it venue prices are simular. We haven't decided on a final guest list so far it ranges between 90-120 in the day and then about 150 in the evening. I hated the budget part in the end we agreed on 15k (however we arn't paying for cars, tog and 'people flowers' i.e. bouquet button holes etc).

the first venues we looked at were very varied in price however they were just for the hire of the venue and catering etc was on top of that. In the end it came down to practicalities- both me an OH have pretty demanding full time jobs and as much as i do enjoy wedding planning we decided the lazyer we could be yet still get the day we wanted the better. In the end we went with a venue that has a wedding co-ordinator and offered a wedding package Dj and drinks- the venue is going to cost between £8000-£9500 (depending on the number of guests we settle on)- we did save a bit by having an 'out of season' winter wedding- it's still on a Saturday but about £2000 cheaper by having it in January than spring/summer.

I honestly think that most venues can be turned into what you want them to be but one of the most important things to decide is realistically how much time do you have and how much do you want to do yourself- sometimes DIY may be cheaper but there are some great packages out there which help to keep the stress levels down!

hope that helps!!

Thanks very much for your reply, it's nice just to know about people in similar situations. Your guestlist numbers sound similar to ours, we could include so many more people as my fiance has a very large family, but then we'd never be able to say more than a hello to anyone I think.

I also hated having to decide on a a budget but as we are likely paying for everything ourselves it did make me feel better to have a firm idea of what is realistic - it just seems to easy to spend double it! I like the idea of a winter wedding but don't feel I can go for that as my family have to travel from the Shetland islands to attend - unpredictable weather conditions disrupting travel isn't something I want to have to worry about.

You make a very good point about cutting stress by going for packages... Something else to think about, I have the best of intentions and lots of half formed ideas about DIYing stuff, but how realistic that is I'm not sure...

Hi ?

Congrats and welcome to hitched ?

Have you had a look at football clubs/golf clubs/cricket or rugby clubs? Some have great facilities which might be suitable? If you need any help etc please feel free to give me a shout!

Claire x

Edited to add link for Surrey cricket club that do weddings: https://britoval.com/conferences-0/weddings-brit-insurance-oval

We had the same problem as you - my b2b lives in Surrey and I'm in South London, and we looked at a number of venues that were just way out of our reach - one place I think was charging about £200 per head for an all day package!!!

Unfortunately, our solution was to simply go elsewhere - my family are, and I grew up in, Somerset so we settled on a venue in the New Forest that we both know quite well as it's about half way between the two so more or less everyone has to travel, about the same distance really. That probably wouldn't work for you - but it's unfortunate that the "feeding and watering guests" is almost always the most expensive part of a wedding and somehow that just seems wrong to me.

Hi Taz

Welcome to Hitched.

I have planned many weddings & dressed venues all over the Country from Village Halls, scout huts to huge venues over the years so am used to working with all budgets. You can have a fab day with everything you want and still do it DIY. A village hall can be made to look fab with just a little imagination and a small budgrt. Don't fret there are ways!

AJ - Getting married in the New Forest sounds wonderful, did you find that planning things was more difficult due to distance? Of course I suppose you don't have anything to compare it with, but was there anything that you thought was made more problematic because the venue wasn't just down the road?

Thanks everyone else for the support :-) We aren't keen on golf clubs, perhaps unfairly - my (absolutely lovely) FIL2B is a keen golfer and when we look at golf clubs all we can imagine is him joking (repeatedly, with different guests as the afternoon goes on) about popping off to play a few holes after the ceremony!!

It's perhaps a little more complicated but as so much can be done via the internet it's not been that bad. Of course it's not as easy as a venue round the corner but as we're both natural organisers we felt that we should be able to cope with it. We talked it over with both sets of parents, looked at our guest list and came to the conclusion that we most of our guestlist fell into two distinct groups - those that would come whether we chose Aberdeen or Penzance, and those that wouldn't come (because of age or just plain stubbornnesss) if it was 5 miles away and we laid on door to door personalised transport, so on balance we felt the inconvenience of travel far outweighed the benefits - and we know of at least 5 couples coming who are going to make it a short break and have a couple of days holiday around it.

My b2b's family have a caravan at Selsey so we are often down there, and it's only an hour along the A27/M27 from there to our venue - or two hours if we're coming from home, so we just have to plan it properly and maximise the day when we're needed to be there.

We met our photographer and the dress shop she's going to use at a wedding fair in the area, found flowers from a wedding fair our venue's other hotel was running, we have to go back in March to pay a second £500 deposit, we have to go back in June to pay some more and are meeting our photographer at the venue to discuss options, then in late August (which happens to be my birthday so we'll be down that way anyway) we'll go through the final details with our photographer.

So far, no big "OMG why did we do this" moments

As you showed interest, there are 4 hotels in the group around the New Forest - https://www.newforesthotels.co.uk/ - we're using the Beaulieu Hotel.

Very interesting to get that viewpoint, thanks! I will take a look at the hotels now :-)

As I said, it wouldn't suit everyone's situation but it might be something worth considering, and if not there, somewhere else nice - perhaps there's another place in the country that has a significance to either of you?

One of the venues (we discounted it because although the grounds were lovely the function room was the wrong shape for us) is literally 2 minutes from the end of the M27/A31 junction.

Somewhat annoyingly, the place with significance that immediately springs to mind would be the Shetland Islands as I grew up there and that's where we got engaged! - I should think it would be cheaper but I think it might prune a lot of people off the guestlist! You're absolutely right that it's something to consider though.

An alternative, of course, is just to have a small and cozy wedding with just immediate family and a few close friends - in which case, the Shetlands might be practical - and then throw the big party closer to home a few weeks later (after your honeymoon). You could get the ceremony videoed and duplicated in time to give all your guests a copy as favours, or show on a 'big screen' before the speeches?

You may find that if you're not looking for a licensed wedding venue, you can find a much better deal - and get an evening only package without the expensive wedding breakfast?

Naturally you might get one or two narked friends that can't come along to the actual service, but if you were doing an overseas wedding they likely wouldn't come either so I wouldn't see it as a problem - and remember that nobody has an automatic right to an invitation to any part of your day either.

If there isn't one specific place you hold dear you could just pick somewhere and hire it for a long weekend/week (depending on needs), like a barn/cottages/farms (you'd need to check for licenses etc)- i was reading in a wedding magazine someone who had done this and kept it budget friendly as those guests staying paid for their own accomodation effectivly paying for the venue (or something towards it)- may also mean that some people who have far to travel maybe more keen if it's more of a mini-break rather than just overnight.

Ajdown, you will have a fab day at Beaulieu! they are great, and the hotel is stunning!

Taz, there are some great hotels in the forrest, and places like Rhinefield often have deals.

Good luck with it

Best wishes

Zoe x

We've stayed both at Bartley and Beaulieu, and I used Forest Lodge a few years ago for a work conference so I know we will have a good time - I think you're the first person I've found that has used Beaulieu

I am getting married in Surrey and totally know what you are going through!

We ended up choosing Burhill Golf Club on a Sunday as we didn't have to stick to the set price per person. A good friend of mine i getting married at Windsor Race Course may not be everyones thing but as they have a big greek family and 140 people attending I know that there food bill is under the 5k mark! Maybe worth a look!

Anyway good luck..

Ah you will have a brilliant time! I am doing a wedding at Bartley next month, brilliant group of hotels good choice x

The Talbot Inn in Ripley, which we've booked, appears to be majorly bargainous in comparison to most of the venues in and around the Woking/Guildford part of Surrey. We didn't specifically choose it for the price more the beauty and history of the place, but the cost is a bonus!