London Wedding Venues - Help! No venue after 10 month search

Wow, 10 months. I think I remember you... I recommended my venue but it wasn't quite what you were after.

In your case, as you must be getting desperate, I think what I would do is start with the top 5 boroughs you'd be interested in. (You say 'central', so I guess start with Westminster etc.) Have a look on the council websites for the lists of licensed venues. (I'm making the assumption here that you want the ceremony included; if not, then disregard this post!) Then put them all on an Excel spreadsheet and go through them. Make notes on each one and grey out the ones which are unsuitable.

If after doing the whole lot, you haven't found one... you might have to rethink either your budget, your guestlist or your accommodation requirements. (Seriously, in London, there WILL be some form of accommodation nearby even if it is a short taxi ride away.)

Hi Mrs J,

Thanks for your kind reply. I didn't think a budget of more than £100 per head was asking a lot, but it's just impossible! I'm not even sure what budget to go to to accomodate what I need!

Ideally I'd like somewhere with outdoor space, but this isn't a must.

I did look at your venue but it was just too far out for some of my guests who are coming down from Yorkshire, which is why I need something central. I do need somewhere near central London registry offices or that can hold a ceremony also as I'm not religious and so not getting married in church. This has also restricted me as there are some nice venues further out but with nowhere to hold the civil ceremony.

Any help/ideas appreciated!

I wonder if maybe you're looking at this wrong?

Perhaps you need to decide what your budget is first, ie in totallity for the wedding, not per head, and then work around that.

As has been said, it might be that you need to rethink what you will and won't compromise on.

If the central London wedding is a must, then you will need to fit your budget, and therefore your numbers around that. If the guest list is vital then you may have to ditch the fabulous city wedding idea top fit your budget. With the amount of looking you've done, and you've still not come up trumps, to me it would seem that perhaps you're not going to able to find somewhere that ticks all the boxes (within your price bracket - and there's no point in bankrupting yourself for one day).

We had guests coming from Malaysia, let alone Yorkshire?

If you want the ceremony included then I'd reiterate my suggestion about checking the council websites for lists of licensed venues. Those lists are whole lists, no other venue in that area will be licensed to carry out weddings, so it's a pretty safe place to look. And perhaps have a serious rethink, as PompeyEm says, about how far out of London you can go. My venue is 35 minutes on the train from central London... it's not far. North London might be even closer if people are driving from Yorkshire than central London. Central is EXPENSIVE. Very expensive. I have serious doubts that you could do a wedding for your size in your budget in central London. I hope I don't sound harsh but you have been looking for longer than it took me to plan my whole wedding. It should be clear to you that you (or your guests?) will need to compromise somewhere

Hi,

Gosh 10 months of searching for the ideal venue, you must feel so frustrated.

Everyone in the beginning of the wedding planning always starts off with a wish list or tick list at the start of the planning process, but then start to quickly realise there has to be some flexibility and compromise some where.

To be honest and realistic, you have chosen a very expensive part of the country to get married in, although very nice.

If you have found that ideal venue in central London, but it’s too expensive, if this is exactly what you both wanted, you have to make that decision either to increase your budget once you have found out the cost of that venue or venues. Or reduce guest’s numbers in the day, to make this more affordable.

Another thing that you may or may not have taken into account is the cost of the accommodation for your guests staying in London, how ever you could lay on transport for your guest just outside of London for them to stay which is more reasonably priced, and there is a very good train and tube service for your guests.

The other option is to find a venue on the outskirts of London; you will get more for your money then, how ever depending on what type of venue you are looking for you still may have to increase your budget slightly.

Good luck I hope you find some where very soon, the hardest thing is finding the venue, I know I do this for a living, once that’s done every thing will fall into place.

Good luck again ?

Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwich. It is easy to get to from the north because you have the Blackwall tunnel not to far away, it has the London vibe because you've got the O2 down the river, Canary Wharf the other way and the Thames just outside the window. Accomodation also cheaper than central London and you can go past 12.

Also have you thought about having the wedding slightly further out then hiring a Routemaster to take your guests on a tour of London for the drinks reception bit - gets the London thing but not the whole wedding in Central London (where prices are fantastically overpriced). On a similar vein what about having London touches e.g. ariving in a London taxi (there are some fab white ones available for hire as well as traditional black), serving fish and chips or having London style favours (biscuits in teh shape of Big Ben etc)

Good luck

OP, are you in/near London? I'm just thinking that you aren't, because if you were you'd know London is massively overpriced for everything, let alone before adding wedding markup.

We looked at a venue not far from London and their basic package was £120 a head - almost exactly the same as the venue we picked in the New Forest is offering at £45 a head.

Have you thought about a river based celebration? No idea of prices and no recommendations but https://www.thamesriverweddingboats.com/ and //www.thamesleisure.co.uk/weddings are the first two Google results that come up. You may need to organise a ceremony separately - you could perhaps have the actual ceremony local to you with just a few close friends and family, then have the big party in London? Often if you don't go for an 'everything in one location' package you can save money.

I know you said in your first post that "the London wedding" was a dream, but as others have said, you may well be struggling to find something within your budget in London if you want it to be special. I personally think the "going out a bit" and bringing in London via the decor, food, coming in a taxi/bus trip, tables named after landmarks etc will probably be much more achieveable on a reasonable budget (we're getting similar to what you're looking for with those sort of numbers, but in the New Forest once we'd discounted anywhere nice in other areas for being out of our price range. What is it about getting married in London that is your 'ideal location' anyway?

If people are travelling some distance, then I'd guess another half hour or so won't make much difference to them, particularly if it's somewhere that can be got to easily by public transport with a change or two?

Have you consider private members clubs and/or bars in London that are usual closed at the weekend?

We toyed with having a city wedding and would have had it at Home House. Not sure if you could do it on your budget but worth a look.

Also, try places like the Corney & Barrow near St Paul's. It doesn't sound very glam (simply as it's a pub) but the building is beautiful, your views are excellent, and they'll only open at weekends for a function. Something like that would make it possible.

This is what we did, shifted more towards the suburbs. We had the ceremony at a register office in Wandsworth and then a Routemaster to take our guests back out for the reception. (People loved it, even those who had to travel from Leeds or Exeter already!) We had these placenames too, and tables named after tube stops:

Thanks Ladies, I really appreciate your responses.

Whilst I will compromise on some things, the London venue is something that I won't compromise on! I think I'd rather wait another year than get married elsewhere.

Thanks for the Corney and Barrow suggestion, I'm going to email them. It's places like this that I just haven't considered and do seem to be in budget.

I'm going to increase my budget to £12,500 for the venue and hopefully this will improve the situation also!

No problem - there are plenty C&B's and equivalent type places in the city. I just happen to know that one has a really nice location. The Browns bar chain have some great venues too so have a look at them too. Good luck!

Ooh, my first ever forum post!

I'm just out of the depths of venue hunting, so I feel your pain! I'd recommend looking at The Lansdowne Club - it's in a superb area, and I think very reasonable. We went to view it and the staff were wonderful. & I'm sure you'll love the Ballroom!

Best of luck xx

Hi Linzi,

Thanks for your fab suggestion. I've just taken a look and it appears to be in budget!

Not sure how I missed it before. It even has all the pricing on the website.

Are you getting married in London?

What about these?

Number 11 Cavendish Square (Oxford Circus) http://www.11cavendishsq.com/packages/3

One Great George Street (Westminster) http://www.onegreatgeorgestreet.com/weddings_roomsandrates.asp

Hope it helps - keep us updated with where you eventually choose! Nope, I'm not actually getting married in London - we considered it as we both work and met there (I work opposite St Paul's, so I know that Corney & Barrow that was mentioned well!)

My parents live in Kent, so we've decided to get married there.

Is all very exciting though - I love it (despite the stressful moments which undoubtedly pop up now & again!) xx

Have you tried The Carlton Club, SW1V

www.carltonclub.co.uk

Its the "home" to the Conservative party but the inside of the building is beautiful, painted ceilings, a ballroom on the ground floor and a very cosy atmosphere. There is an amazing grand staircase for your entrance too. The venue has rooms which is hires out for staying guests and as the club is closed to members over the weekend, when you book your wedding, its all yours, private!

I went to have a look and it was very reasonable price and the event manager, Selina, was very open to corkage and other ideas you have for your wedding. A truly stunning venue.

Political stances to one side, go and have a look

Thanks again everyone.

keep the suggestions coming :-)

I'm going to visit the Landsdowne Club this week so will report back!

Did you get your venue sorted in the end? Where've you chosen? (I'm sure the hunting & stressing now all feels worth it)

Hi Linzi,

Almost, we're 95% sure we're going to book London Zoo!

It's been a longggg process, but we have a provisional reservation, just need to pay the deposit :-)

I went to a fabulous wedding at vinopolis, it was a few years ago now but still worth a look I would have thought?

Ahh hun - I feel for you! What's holding you back? xx

We just need to go and visit the venue again, as we love it, but it's a little small and so we need to make sure we can fit all our guests in!

:-)

I was going to suggest london zoo, it was on bridezillas recently! How about the grange at st pauls? the rates are reasonable at weekends and ive seen a couple of wedding parties when we ve stayed there. Its truly a lovely hotel!

Saisi what was the venue you recommended?

Hi,

Not sure if you have booked your venue yet, but i was going to suggest London Zoo, it was one of the places in London that i liked, the others i considered was Kensington Roof Gardens or my favourite by far was the crypt at Bleeding hart,(King henry held his 3 day wedding feast there as well lol) its not advertised anywhere but i fell in love with it when i saw it, its in central London, and the prices were brilliant when i was looking.

good luck

The Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington - https://www.landmarkartscentre.org/venue-hire/weddings/

The Landmark hotel - Andaz hotel - the gherkin?

Hope you find somewhere