Venue hunting Essex- the one??

Essex has quite a good amount of outdoorsy venues, I think Pavone on here will have some good recs!

Our ideas were similiar - we also looked at Smeetham Hall Barn, Marks Farm Estate, Maidens Barn, Doves Barn and Crondon Park so maybe check those out too

We went for Vaulty in the end - we both had 'the one' moments while we were there. It was only later we saw some questionable reviews and I was unsure if we had made a mistake. I remember asking advice on here at the time. I've decided to hope for the best, the caterer is amazing and I trust her fully on the running of the day and she raves bout working at the venue- there are also plenty of good reviews as well.

The accommodation option sold it for us!!

And Crabb's barn x

I do get what you mean as we struggled to drive off when we visited them on their open day and my fiancé wanted to book it (and still does). My friends are marrying there in May as they have held many parties there before, and we are going back there tomorrow so I will ask them about the reviews. We have looked at Crondon Park and Maidens Barn already and are looking at Smeetham Hall Barn tomorrow

The recent one I saw seemed to be a very confusing matter - where lots of comments were removed by tripadvisor but it seems the couple hired the barn dry hire then slated things like the catering, something completely out of house!!

Truly my one big concern is things being ready on the morning, I will be getting ready in the bridal suite but not before I have laid the table names out and centrepieces, there is no 'planner' as such although i'm not sure if i would prefer that to be fair so i know i am happy with how it all looks!! I have 4 hours in the suite too, only with my mum and one bm so should be plenty of time to get the venue and ourselves all ready (we have a hair & mua too so dont need to do that ourselves)

And everything needs to be removed at the end of the wedding, which i will put someone else in charge of around 10pm!!

Our wedding is may too xxx

Been to weddings at Blake Hall and Crabbs Barn, both beautiful venues. One was an outdoor wedding (Blake hall) and gorgeous, but would have been just as lovely inside the barn.

Thanks for the mention Marianne ?

I'm not sure on most venues firework policy, but often the outdoorsy type venues don't allow it

Aside from the ones you've mentioned;

Outdoor wedding with a marquee, I can definitely recommend Newland hall- it's a beautiful venue and around the back theres a rusticy old barn door and a lovely open field which is great for photos. No on site accommodation but the Ivy Hill is just up the road, reasonably priced and is ideal.

Maidens barn- Is a barn (and a super pretty one!) which also allows outdoor weddings. AND it has a marquee! Again, no on site accommodation but I hear there's some on the way, so depending on when you're getting married this may be an option. If you're interested in seeing more from Maidens barn, there is a link to a full gallery from there in my signature below

Parklands & Fennes both have a marquee and on site accommodation and you can also have an outdoor ceremony at both. They're lovely but not barny at all. Fennes allow fireworks judging by photos i've seen, but I doubt Parklands will due to the resident deer.

Great Hallingbury manor has a barny look from the outside and they've not long had a gazebo put in outside on the lake, so i'm not sure if they are planning to start offering outdoor ceremonies. Might be worth getting in touch to find out if it appeals They also have on site accommodation.

I'll have a think and see where else springs to mind.

Couldn't see if you tried Gaynes Park? They have a beautiful converted barn and an outdoor barn style area as well as lads of ground to have a marquee. I fell in love with it but my h2b didn't so ended up going elsewhere but i thought it was stunning!

Maiden's barn is meant to be really nice. Crabbs Barn but I suspect from what you've said it may be too small for you (and I'm not sure if you can have an outside ceremony) it does have a couple of rooms on site though and I know you can have fireworks if you arrange it through a particular venue. Can't think of any else that haven't been mentioned!

Oh and we definitely got that 'the one' feeling with our venue and I think it's helped that even when we have venue wobbles, I think back to that moment when we just knew it was where we wanted to be married. Don't compromise or rush it - there's lots of venues out there and you'll find one to suit you, you don't want to book something because you're panicking about not having somewhere then regret it.

Oh and Newland Hall is a beautiful venue too - no accommodation on site and not a barn but you can get married outside and they have a marquee. I'm not sure about fireworks.

We also looked at venues in Essex. the two we loved were Blake Hall and Gaynes Park. We chose Gaynes Park in the end as if it rains, Blake hall didn't really have anywhere nice to have an indoor ceremony. They have to do it in the barn where the reception would be, we wern't keen on that idea at all. Blake Hall is SO lovely though, if we could have gaurenteed nice weather I think we would have picked it. Look into Crabbes hall?

I want to look at Newland Hall but when I first enquired someone said they only do Saturday appointments, so we are struggling to find the time to view there but I will give them a ring. We have already viewed Fennes, Great Hallingbury and Maiden Barn but didn't short list them. I like the look of Gaynes so I will contact them too today. Thanks for the feedback xx