Maes Manor, Blackwood

Can you get it in the summer holiday on the week days?

Hi,

I havent personally been to a wedding at this venue, however I have heard good reports about it from couples so would be worth going to speak with them about it I think.

Anna

We did think of this yesterday but we've got our savings plan geared towards October as that's when we'd originally planned for the first venue so it would be a MASSIVE squeeze to try and bring it forward 2 months i think.

October half term?x

Again thought of that but our issue is that OH's mum is a teacher in Wales, OH's SIL and my sister are teachers in England and the half terms tend to be at different times - thoroughly unhelpful if you ask me!

Since posting earlier though i've looked at the budget/ savings plan again and i think we might be able to bring it forward to August after all..... this probably means i've added something up wrong and my excitement will come crashing down in a few days but for now, Woop!

Have emailed them to see if they have any dates available for August - this might all be completely fruitless if they're fully booked!

Hope it works out for you!

Anna

Thank you Anna!

They have dates available ? Now just got to decided whether i'm patient enough to wait until the end of April to go and see it or to go this weekend (we live in Kent!)

Go! Go and see it!!

Patience is not my forte so would probably go this weekend! Plus if it means moving the date you probably want to decide asap but obviously I dont know how difficult it would be for you to come this weekend!

If you are moving the date to school summer holidays though it would be good to get the date set so you can tell people not to book their holidays then.

Look forward to hearing what you think.

Anna

I really want to go this weekend but i'm just having a bit of a money stress - they need quite a big deposit and although we've got the money there to cover it my car needs it's MOT on 27th March so i don't want to wipe out the account in case it needs a lot of work doing.... i was hoping i would be able to get the £500 that my dad has said he'll contribute (this is the only contribution we're having, paying for the rest of it ourselves) to help with this but he's told me we can't have it yet so now i don't know what to do, OH thinks we should ask his mum to pay the deposit for us and then we'll pay her back once i know how much my car will be but i don't like asking people for money so i don't know whether to just suck it up and do that or go and book it and hope my car doesn't cost more than is left in the account ? What do you think?

I understand your dilemma, but could you not just go and view it this weekend without booking it there and then? Or do they need you to book if you view it? You might find that it's not for you after all (although it does sound like you love it!) and then the money may not even be an issue.

If you do like it, most venues will give you a quote on a date and at least a week to decide, maybe if you asked nicely they might give you a bit longer?

Your concerns sound totally understandable. Could you maybe go see it this weekend and then if you do want to go ahead, book it when e of those you know the cost re the car? You may not want to book it afterall and even if you do then at least as soon as you know if you have the money then you can go ahead straight away. As you say otherwise it will be the end of April till you can go, then in the month from the car date the wedding date that you want may go.

It's one of those difficult ones though because if you go on the weekend and love it, how hard would it be not to book it!

In their brochure i think it says you can save the date for 14 days before having to pay the deposit, i might have to see if they could keep it for an extra 3 or 4 days for us... i'm just a bit worried because of it being August but i guess because they have a few dates available and we don't want a specific date even if the one we originally want to go for gets booked we could use one of the others.

I think we posted at exactly the same time then Anna, didn't see your reply until after mine had posted....

I think we probably will go this weekend, if nothing else it's an excuse to go and see family which we don't get to do very often....

Another thing is I've already said that when we go to see it MIL2B can come with us and she's the kind of person who if we really like it but say we need to wait she might offer to pay it anyway.....

Sounds like a plan! Look forward to hearing how it goes.

If you want any info on any other South Wales suppliers feel free to email me on ****@******************.**.** or check out my facebook page as I have liked lots of local suppliers. I know a lot of my clients who dont live where they are getting married can find it difficult to find the suppliers that suit their needs.

Anna

Quick update - Went to see the Maes Manor on Saturday and it was lovely ?

There was a wedding there when we were looking round so the room was in the process of being set up which really helped us see what it would look like on the day - i'm really not good at looking at an empty room and imagining what it will look like all dressed up! The only problem with there being a wedding there was that we couldn't look at any of the bedrooms or the bridal suite as they had all been checked into by the wedding guests but as OH said, as long as they've got a bed in them they'll do!

The man who showed us round was very nice and didn't even bat an eyelid when having asked if i had any questions i said "yes actually" and pulled out a notebook page full of them! I then thought of a load more questions Sunday morning and sent an email to which i got a fairly unhelpful reply last night but it was from somebody else not the man we saw so i'm going to overlook that!

We weren't able to book it there and then because of needing to juggle some money around first and wait for my MOT on my car just in case but the date we want is still available so hopefully it will be all systems go!

OH's mum came with us to see it and also said it was lovely which is a bonus as i'm always really worried what she's going to think as she is a lot posher than i am! Saying that she did then text yesterday to say she had emailed the woman in charge of weddings at the venue OH's brother got married in 2010 and if they could do a good deal would we consider having it there instead. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing OH spoke to her and asked her to email the woman back saying not to bother as we're happy with the Maes Manor and going to go with that, i was quite proud of him for that as he doesn't normally stand up to her.

So all in all the visit was a success and as long as my car behaves it will be all booked by the end of the month ?

Exciting times! Glad this is coming together for you.

Thank you! ?

Hi peppr Potts,

I've photographed a number of weddings at the Maes Manor, during the Summer & Winter. It's a lovely venue, the grounds are great & it has an 'air' of seclusion (so that you & your guests appear to have the whole place to yourselves) even though it's easy to get to.

The staff were very friendly & helpful on the occasions I have been there, I should also add the the food was excellent too.

If you would like to see some pictures of the rooms set up for a wedding then please get in touch & I can show you some that are in our client galleries on our website - AR Jenkins Photography.

Andrew

That would be brilliant Andrew thanks ?