Small intimate civil partnership venue advice please...

Hi Mikey! There was a great article in Brides Magazine recently which had some fantastic ideas along your lines I think - there was a gorgeous cottage in Northumberland that had a barn you could get married on in the grounds and enough room for everyone to stay - but obviously Northumberland might not be ideal travel-wise!

I was looking a while ago and loved The Walled Garden at Cowdray - was stunning but too small for me, though might work for you? It's in Surrey though!

To be honest my best advice would be to nick a couple of back issues of Brides Magazine and see if you could find this article - it was a directory of unusual venues! With around 30 people you'll be able to find something really special, good luck! x

Hi,

I know very little about civil partnerships too so can't help on that sorry.

I googles the place you mentioned though and it made me think of a venue my Aunt was looking at for her wedding. They wanted very small an intimate. Not sure if it's a bit too far - it's in Somerset, but we are getting married in Gloucestershire which isn't local to any family or friends just because we fell in love with the venue. We figured we would travel to a wedding so people would do the same for us (well we hope so!!)

the website is

https://www.kilvercourt.com/weddings/the-gardens-for-weddings

Hi Mikey!

My civil partnership is in September and we have similar numbers to you. (Male couple)

I know what you mean about the whole corporate feel of many hotels but dont lose faith there are a few treasures to be found.

I have no specific recomendations for your area, but check out your local councils websites as they will have a list of all licenced premises to conduct CP's in your area.

Hi everyone and thanks for the very speedy replies. Bonnie100 we're in Nottinghamshire but would be willing to travel for the right venue. As DrBuffles said, we're thinking/hoping that guests will make the effort to be there, espcially as it's going to be such a small group. We'll take a look at the suggestions made so far, from what I can see they look beautiful! Any other suggestions are also welcome...the more the better! Thanks again

It doesn't have accommodation but what about Sherwood forest for your informal ceremony?

https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/enjoying/countryside/countryparks/sherwood/weddingsatsherwood

What about a hotel/pub style venue with a conservatory? Usually you'd have some kind of garden access with them.

These are a couple of smaller, informal venues I came across

http://theworldsend.org/default.html

http://www.mcmanuspub.co.uk/our-pubs/brampton-halt/brampton_main_menu/marquee.html

http://www.meetinns.co.uk/files/4213/1072/5329/6446-WEDDING.pdf

These are all in Northamptonshire but I'm sure there are plenty around the midlands to choose from.

Hello & welcome!

I'm in Glasgow so no help with venues sorry, you could hire a hotel though or some venues do surprisingly small numbers, we're getting married in a historic house but we were given a discount as we have such small numbers, wanted a very intimate day. Our place also does civil partnerships so i'm sure you'll find a similar type of venue, we also don't have a huge budget. Or I love the picnic idea, could get some gardens with marquees and have a bbq get together or something like that? Hope you find something perfect for you both, sometimes you just have to hunt plenty but sure you'll find somewhere xx

Hi Mikey!

Can I throw in a couple of really left field ones?

https://kinnettlescastle.com/weddings-kinnettles-castle/wedding-ceremonies-forfar/ This place does about 30 people, I really liked it but it is in Scotland.

Even more left field might be this place! https://threechimneys.co.uk/ It is one of the most beautiful settings I have ever seen, an old croft on the edge of a loch on the isle of skye. The interior is incredible. I do not know if they have a licence but I do know that it is much easier to get married outdoors etc in Scotland and I bet you could sort something out? It has accomodation.

Closer by, have you ever been to Oakham Castle in Oakham? It is the other side of Melton Mowbray from Nottingham. It is very unusual as it is lined with horseshoes! /my-services/leisure-and-culture/arts-and-heritage/oakham-castle/ you could then go on to have your reception in any number of places around there - for example Barnsdale Lodge does private dining in the restaurant, you don;t have to use their function room. pages/home

I know it is anything but informal but I really do love Belvoir Castle! https://www.belvoircastle.com/ It is stunning and not far from you!

If you have a good budget then Hambleton Hall is right on the banks of Rutland water - it is very expensive but the food is incredible and they could do your numbers? https://www.hambletonhall.com/

xxx

Im in nottinghamshire too. Have you looked at Clumber Park? They have max number of 40 so it wasnt big enough for us but it was lovely. As they are new to weddings they are offering a wedding for 30 people of £1000. Id be quick if i was you if you are interested.

this is the link http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1349108220637&ssbinary=true

Lovely terrace and lawn on the front. You carnt get married or eat outside but if your looking for a lovely place with outside space on a budget this offer is incredible. I even considered drastically cutting my guest list down for it lol

hope this helps

Niks xxx

Welcome to Hitched! This place may be too far for you (it's in Devon) but thought I'd post it just in case as it's a beautiful setting, the built 'cave' overlooks the sea on a cliff with beautiful views and they also have gorgeous cottages on site for people to stay in - we've stayed there before and it's a lovely setting. If we could have less people i'd definitely consider getting married there!

https://www.oceankave.co.uk/

Hi all, Thanks a million for all the replies, it looks like there's some really amazing ideas for us to go through. I love the look of some of the quirky ones! We don't want anything unusual for the sake of being different we just want something individual and fairly laid back. Neither of us are particularly keen on being the centre of attention which is why we're not not looking for anything too large. My perfect day would be a weekend or a few days away with friends and family where we just happen to get married (if I'm allowed to use that word!). Thanks again everyone, we're going to spend some time today going through the suggestions...but I've got a feeling we'll love all of them so it could be tricky! Any other ideas are obviously welcomed and thanks for being so welcoming x

No problems Mikey!

We do however love to see *flashes* of your outfits, shoes, invitations, decorations - absolutely anything! Please stick around and share with us how your plans unfold - and you are not the only same sex couple on here - there are really quite a few! We are just wedding obsessed - weddings of all kinds!! We just love 'em!

Get sharing!

xxx

We also are having a very small wedding. We have looked in vain for something to suit us. Most of the hotel type venues wouldn't touch us, especially for a weekend as our party is so small. In the end we have decided to use the councils 49quid cermemony on a Tuesday morning. This will be days before the "wedding". Then on the day, ( yep will already be legally married) we have decied to hire a person in to do a "fake wedding". Basically a humanist celebrant will come to our chosen venue ( a local park, where we are hiring a gazebo and BBQ for the day at 79 quid) and give us the ceremony that we want. It's not legally binding, but those legal bits we will have already sorted and our guests wont know the difference. We can have anything we want at the ceremony, no restrictions on vows or readings. Not for everyone I am sure, but it will work for us, we are not the average couple, and our friends are decidly quirky so this will suit us best - plus the whole thing will come in on under a 1000 quid for 30 people leaving us with the rest of our budget to take a kick ass holiday/honeymoon

We went to a gorgeous wedding at Polhawn fort in cornwall some years ago. I realise that it's a trek for you but it would be for the whole weekend, not just one night?

It does look expensive but sleeps 20 and you can self cater if you want.

Http://www.vicarageboutiquehotel.co.uk/page/Weddings

This place is lovely