Newbie help needed - venue with own catering as option

Welcome to Hitched and congrats on your proposal!!

Haha you've given us a challenge there! I would suggest not looking on the 'posh' websites which show you all the grand venues and maybe google search a location near you. We are getting married in our own village which has an old theshing barn which is hired out to weddings (I have a post further up this page with pics on it) which holds around 150 people with a marquee and we have free reign. (We are in the Lincolnshire PE10 area which sounds a bit too far for you). This may not be exactly what you are after, but if you maybe follow these sort of lines as opposed to a grand house or a hotel for example then you will have more flexibility.

Providing you don't necessarily want to get married at the venue you will have more flexibility.

I mainly shoot weddings in the Leicestershire area and know of some venues that allow you to use your own catering BUT they are all marque/tipi based venues.

Is there a particular reason that you want to use your own catering.

Hah you sound like me, I was already pinning my dream wedding just hours after we got engaged!

From the venues I looked at (this is in the south west) most of the venues that let you use your own catering were marquees/tipis. There were a couple of old barns (and one Napoleonic Fort - I still wish it had been in budget!). I did find smaller/more off beat venues were more likely to let you have your own caterers usually because they didn't have the kitchen/staff to do it themselves. Places like council buildings or village halls (or pubs/function rooms).

Then some bigger venues let you use outside caterers for a (normally large) fee.

Also marquees aren't how they used to be (drafty unpleasant affairs), modern ones it can be as good as room. My friends wedding they had a room and a marquee just off the room and the way it was decorated/linked I didn't even realize it was a marqee (I arrived in the evening so never saw it from the outside)

Congratulations, & happy planning (& enjoy the rest of your holiday!).

I'm bringing in outside caterers but am having a marquee reception - not in your area but I can't recall coming across many venues that did allow choice of caterers except for marquees / tipis unfortunately. The only other wedding I can recall going to that had their own caterers was at a big chain hotel - not much character but it depends what sort of venue you have in mind.

Is it because you have a specific style of catering in mind?

Hi, I'm from Nottingham so feel free to ask me for help. I got married last year so a lot of stuff still relatively fresh in my mind.

can I ask why you want a venue that allows your own catering? I noticed on another thread you were asking for recommendations for a caterer who can supply vintage afternoon tea. I'm sure lots of venues in house catering would be able to do this.

i got married at the council house in Nottingham city centre. The downside of the venue is no outdoor space but the grand staircase is amazing for photos. They have a list of approved caterers who you select from. Fortunately for us the caterer we wanted was one of them. I know they could do you the afternoon tea but you would probably have to hire vintage style crockery as they only have plain white (I think, you could check).

we were originally having our reception in a village hall (this was changed for reasons not to do with the hall). The hall we found had a fantastic team with a bar, stage, kitchen. They are very well set up to help you on the day. You use your own choice of caterer. It's in a village called rainworth, off the a614 near white post farm. It's downside is very little outside space and no local accommodation.

let me know if you want any more details or if I can help with anything else.

good luck.

Hi all thanks so much for your suggestions. I'm really sorry I haven't replied sooner but I didn't get any notifications that I'd had a reply. These are really helpful ideas and will definitely look into some of these. I think if we can't find what we want then we might look at Marquees, we've just been to a couple of weddings where there was bad weather and then we felt like they were quite noisy when it rains.

We have spoken to some venues that do offer afternoon tea but we felt like we were getting really overcharged and couldn't pick exactly what we wanted, we also want to hire a specific Pizza supplier (Rustic Crust) for the evening so that was the reasons we wanted a venue where we could have our own catering.

I'll keep you guys posted on how I get on.

Thanks

veronica

Have you looked at Thoresby riding hall it's to the north of the county but allows you to do your own catering.