Surrey wedding anyone?

Hello ?

I got married at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park in October, it was fabulous! 22Tango is getting married there too next year... whereabouts are you/where in Surrey are you looking? Let us know if we can be of any help with suppliers etc etc

Thank you! I am just looking at various venues on the internet at the moment, trying to pull a list together of where I want to go and visit. We are going to be paying for the wedding pretty much ourselves so I'm hopeing to be able to get a good deal somewhere.

There are so many lovely venues, its so hard to choose! I guess my budget will make the decsion for me!!

Did you have ceremoeny and reception there?

Hi there!

as sprouty said, I'm a PL bride as well. having ceremony and reception there. they have been great so far and we have out tasting sometime in Jan. I found it really hard to find somewhere but PL was the first place we visited on our short list and I knew I wanted it straight away. Their hire fees are very reasonable but watch out for food and drinks costs - that will be the more substantial cost.

I would definitely recommend to go and have a look. whereabouts in surrey are you?

Yep, we had the ceremony and reception there too, and paid for it ourselves too so know what you mean about saving! The do have a "peak" room hires so we opted for the first Saturday in the off peak season (not that it actually made too much difference in the end in the bigger scheme of things)... I wanted to get married in the April but we went for October in the end and really glad we did as it gave us extra time to save so it meant we could have everything we wanted... we booked it in the July 08 for Oct 09 and it seemed like a long wait but I promise you it whizzes by!!!

I live in the Woking area, but am looking at venues all around Surrey really. I think we will definitely have to look at off peak times of year. We are looking at late 2011, giving us just under 2 years to save. We already have enough for a deposit so I want to get the venue organised asap. I know this sounds silly, but the colour scheme of the venue will need to match my colour scheme so I can't plan anything til i know what the venue looks like!!

The biggest cost is definitely going to be the sit down meal - we did a list of people, and its gone from 100, to 90, down to 70 now with no children! I hope I don't have to make that list even smaller!!

I will have to look at PL website, i guess it will tell me on there how much per head etc?

It'll tell you the room hire charges and then theres examples of menus/ drinks so you just have to work out the price per head based on reception drinks/starters/mains/dessert (or have your cake for dessert to bring this down a bit)/wine/toasts (we went with the house stuff which was fine!)/evening buffet (or have the ceremony later in the day so you only feed the guests once)... if you've got 70 guest coming you could use the Russell Suite, the hire charges are lower than the Belvedere Suite, and you have your own disco room - which sold it to me!

What's your colour scheme?

I live in Kew so I knew i wanted to get married in Surrey - we've booked Kew Gardens (which is looovely!) but did tonnes of research. some others we considered were Parkstead House, Pembroke Lodge, Hampton Court, Ham House, Frensham Heights in Farnham, Great Fosters... most of them were too small (we're having 200 at the sit-down!) but were very pretty.

try www.wedding-venues.co.uk - was so so helpful

Also National Trust properties have quite a few good places in Surrey. and if you want more of a hotel affair, then the De Veres group have some good hotels in the area.

good luck xx

I havent decided on a colour scheme yet?! Maybe creams and browns, but that is just an initial thought at this stage! I think we will have our wedding in December - but the normal wintery colours like red don't really suit me or my bridesmaids.

PL sounds really nice, I will have to look into it...we viewed our first venue today, Gatton Manor in Dorking - was OK, wasn't overly impressed though - it came to over £9k for ceremoney, sit down and reception - that was based on 80 for the day and an extra 50 for evening. I think I could get a nicer venue somewhere for that money though......

My friend just brought me round a years worth of cosmopolitan bride magazines so im having fun going through those!!

Thanks aliaisp! Wow 200 for sit down meal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have a DeVere hotel up the road, Gorse Hill, havent looked there yet but might have a look. Not sure its the nicest of the DeVere hotels but I dont know. We have contacted Horsley Towers for a look. Going to have a look at Pembroke Lodge on the internet and possibley set up a viewing and there is a nice National Trust venue called Clandon Park which looks nice and reasonably priced too. The problem being I am so indecisive!!! Thanks for your help!!! I will look at Kew Gardens!xx

Clandon Park was on my list too - v pretty and i absolutely love National Trust venues. I remember some of the pics inside are stunning. Good luck - this was my toughest decision for sure - but as you can guess, 200 ppl helped narrow it down a LOT...

also if you like PL, Parkstead House is also in Richmond Park so if u like both then it might be worth arranging viewings on the same day.

x

I think Clandon park looks lovely but my other half likes the idea of having a hotel venue so everyone can stay after but I think he needs to open his options a little bit!! I'm just looking forward to deciding on a venue so I can start planning the more interesting things!! All this venue research is getting a bit dull now and I've only viewed one place!!

I'm going to draw up a list of places to see, and hope to have reached a decision in the next couple of months (hopefully sooner!) thanks for your help!!x

Hello!

I am getting married at Horsley Towers - its A-mazing!!! well i think so,anyway!

You must let me know what you think when you go and visit.

We originally thought it might be out of budget when i looked online but my OH was excellent at negotiating and we got alot of the price of the hire AND the meals per head!

good luck with your search.

ps - we didnt like Great Fosters when we went to see it!!

Shoegal that is VERY interesting to know!!!! My OH got a quote for Horsley via email for around 90 people, more in evening for 28th dec 2011 (weekday!!!) and quote we got was 13k! My OH replied to say this is out of our budget and we are waiting to hear bk about what they can do for us. We have reduced our numbers since then slightly so will bring it down, but would be very good to hear if you have any tips on negotiation!!

I think Great Fosters looks good, but probs out my budget, not that I even know what my budget is yet - but I'm trying to be sensible whether we an afford more or not!!

well i can tell you now that ours is NOWHERE near the amount they have quoted you.

We are having 80 people at £40 per head for the sit down meal when we were originally quoted £60 per head and we are getting married in October on a sunday and the cost for exclusive use of the venue was WELL under £3,000 and i think we were quoted about £7,000

Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate!

I think what swung it for the negotiations is that we told them we have quite 'boozy' family and friends and they would be making ALOT of money on the bar with the booze, also most of our guests will be staying in the towers so they will be making money from that.

Also when we booked they were having a 'promotion' day where it was really busy and easy to negotiate for a out of season sunday wedding.

hope all that helps - any questions shout but please dont go paying anywhere near what you have been quoted.

I can't help - just want to say hi & welcome to hitched ?

And Gillys this is why you won the most pleasant hitcher award! bless you

Dont worry I won't!!! Thanks for the advice!!

They will make a fortune with the bar at our wedding too and I expect lots of the rooms will be taken at our wedding too. Ok Im determined to get them down to £40 per head now, so glad to know this, thank you so much!! Right so Im basically looking at half of what they originally quoted!!!!! Im happy to go for an out of season sunday wedding if it means a massive discount, it seems silly to pay so much more for the same day, just a month later doesnt it? I'll have to keep u updated whether we go for Horsley or not.

Whens your wedding shoegal? xx

thanks shoegal ? I try my best

yeah i think half of what they quoted you sounds more realistic.

Maybe because your date was so close to xmas it was more expensive - maybe think about having it a little further away from xmas??

Were getting married October 2010 - just under 10 months away!! eek!!

make sure you let us know how you get on with the search.

Ahh how lovely - thanks Gillsy!! Yep Im a newbie, only got engaged 16th Dec - my OH couldnt wait til Xmas! Thanks for the introduction ?

Maybe it was because its nearer xmas?! Im not so bothered about it being near xmas that much anymore but my OH still wants it!! I just want a good deal!!

10 months, thats going to fly by!!! Thanks very much for your help!!

your just have to persuade him that having it in Oct/Nov means that you save a sh!t load of money and will be able to go on a super duper honeymoon....that might sway him!

Happy to help

x