what do i need to book?

Hi joanne, just wanted to say welcome to hitched. Can't be any use to you about booking things, we've still not booked anything yet! Have fun on the forums!

Hiya and welcome to hitched! ?

congratulations too.

think the venues are the main thing, doesnt matter which you book first as long as you check they both can fit you in on the same day!

x

Hi thanks

not even sure what kind of venue i want yet

Hi and welcome to hitched.

the very first thing you need to do before looking at venues is work out your budget. otherwise you will visit a fairytale castle, fall in love with it and spend the next 10 yrs paying for it. which is fine, if you have worked out your budget that way!

whereabouts are you getting married? do you know if you are having a church wedding for definite?

Welcome to Hitched! I got engaged on the same day! We are getting married on 02.10.10 - we were ideally looking for summer 2010 but the venue we fell in love with was booked up until October 2010 - so the sooner the better I say!

Just check that the ceremony and reception venues are both available on the same day before you confirm anything - I am guessing you should have a fair choice of dates for 2011.

So far we have booked our venue (ceremony and reception in one place) and now looking at photographers and catering.

I have no idea of budgets i was thinking around 10,000 hopefully as me and h2b are paying for it ourselves. Does that sound okish?

we live in wigan so want somewhere around here

yeh really want a church wedding

I would sort the Church first, because some people on here have had some vicars being funny about when and if they will let you marry in a particular church, whereas there's loads of venue options.

No personal experience though - we're having a civll wedding

Hi and welcome to hitched. You should be ok with the church if it is in the area where you live. 10k is the budget we are working to.

Also want to add that the time will fly! We started planning this time last yr for summer 2010 and the time has flown by. So dont be put off by people saying you have ages (you will get it!!)

Hello! ?

Hi thanks for your replys everyone.

The church is the closest one to use only about 10 mins away so hopefully should be ok you can only go round on a tuesday evening between 6.30 and 7.30 to enquire about wedding so we will be going on tuesday.

Has anyone had any problems getting married in church if h2b has been married before?

Hi and welcome to hitched - we got engaged last Valentines day (which seems so long ago now!)

I think you have to have a rough idea of how many people you will have at the wedding before you can decide what you want to do with the £10k budget. Its definately doable but if you want to feed 120 in the day then your options will be more limited than if you want a intimate wedding for 30 iyswim.

Perhaps if you have an idea of what you want to spend on all the big things that can add up (dress, photographer/viedographer, bridesmaids and H2b/Best man/usher outfits/rings/honeymoon/flowers) then you can see what you have left to use for the food/drink/entertainment and how much per person you have to play with.

Where abouts are you planning to get married?

HTH...

Hi! Welcome to Hitched!!?

We provisionally booked our venue first, then checked about the church. We were able to have the provisional booking for up to two weeks before we had to say yes or no for definate - I think a lot of places do this. Luckily our minister didn't have a problem doing the ceremony.

We are currently looking for photographers & bands. Then once that's sorted it'll be cars & florists. We need to get a move on as things get booked up so fast!! As someone else said, don't pay any attention to people saying you have plenty of time - do it at the speed you want! You will get alot of folks donating an unwantred opinion here & there but let it wash over you!

HTH!

Am think about 50ish in the day and about 100 a night as dont want to many people in the day.

We are looking at a couple of venues sat then a couple monday then to the chuch tuesday

Just wanted to say welcome and echo what others have said about booking things early, but it sounds as though you're already doing that so you'll be fine!

Hi Joanne

Welcome to a fellow wigan bride !!! There aren't many of us around

I have been to see a lot of venues in the area, whereabouts are you looking ?

I have been to see the thistle, kilhey court, holiday inn, JJB (DW) stadium, bellingham, wrightington.

Let me know if you want any further info about any of these

hiya

oooo am excited now theres another wiganer haha

Were hoping to get married at st mathews church at highfield.

we going to look at kilhey court, britiana hotel, the owls, haigh hall, the mount and holland hall

Going to a wedding fair at thisle on sunday

Whats the bellingham like?

Never thought about jjbs what did you think about it?

Hey I'm in MAncheter, not too far away. Big day a week on saturday. My numbers are similar to yours, and we're oming in at about £10k, so it's definitely doable, you just have to figure out what you want. We're paying for two venues - one for the ceremony and meal, and one for the evening do, because we wanted different things for each, so that's costing us quite a bit extra. But we're saving elsewhere, no cars as eveything in walking distance, not having traditionalwedding dress (so not me!) etc.

Anyway, went to a wedding at Haigh Hall a couple of years ago, the grounds are stunning. Don't know the other venues though.

Aw good luck r u excited? What type of place are you getting married in?

Am just going to have a church then meal n evening do in same place i the same place i think.

It well stunning isnt it haigh hall but i bet its really expensive aswell am trying not want it there in case its just going to blow the budget but i bet i love it when we go looking

Well i'm not a true wiganer, actually from Warrington but marrying a wiganer.

I wasn't that impressed by the bellingham but only went for an xmas party and we actually got chucked out for being too rowdy !!!

I loved Kilhey court but they couldn't cater for our numbers. If you go there, I would recommend the restaurant and nightclub as they are in the main building which has some lovely decorations.

I have also been to two xmas parties at the Britannia but wasn't really that impressed by them.

We also looked at Haigh hall and was really surprised by the cost. It was really reasonable. The reason it was ruled out for us was no on site accomodation.

I have been to a wedding last year at Holland Hall and it was lovely. A little too expensive for us as we have 100+ for day and 150 for night and also having a civil ceremony at the venue.

I used to work at the stadium so that was out for me. We did go and see the holiday Inn in Haydock and that was amazing value for money so maybe have a look there as well.

As for the other 2, don't know much about them.

We're nearly 100% sure that we are going for the Thistle and I'm also going to the wedding fayre there on sun. The problem with the thistle is that you have to have min numbers 100 for day and 150 for night.

Yeah, getting really excited now. Our ceremony and meal is in the town hall in albert square, which is really ornate and gothic, and the evening do is at the art gallery, so they're really different!

Good luck with the venue search, let us know what you decide

I looked at bellingham on internet but it looks really old fashioned inside were goin looking on tuesday thou

I love kilhey court but its a bit to expensive for our budget there all inclusive package is 6000

Is it not that expensive then haigh hall i love it but thought it would be around same price as kilhey court

It is lovley holland hall isnt it the thing that did it for us thou was you couldnt take your cake home if they cut it up

Am goin with my maid of hounor on sunday shes more excited than me haha it looks goegous the thisle when i looked on internet

We are going looking at houghwood golf course tomorrow aswell i had never heard of it but h2b sed hes been playing golf and its nice there and then callin mount to have a look there on way back

Well good luck never thought about having it sumwhere like that how did you think of having it in a art gallery?

Hello,

I had a good look round on the internet and requested loads of brochures from different sites. I then set up a spreadsheet and costed out everything, some places may appear reasonable until you look at their minimum numbers! We ended up going for a really beautiful venue in Tunbridge Wells where as long as we use their menus(which are quite extensive and well priced) we don't have to pay to hire the room(s). We booked our photographer on Wednesday and our wedding is in April 2010.

What we found with Kilhey court was that we could get a cheaper price if we didn't do the all inclusive package. We did find that the wedding coordinator was really helpful and enthusiastic.

Have a look at Haigh hall on the website and you can also check dates. I sent them an email and they forwarded me the brochure.

Is the mount in orrell ? I think I drove past it last week on my way back from placement.

If I think of anymore, I will let you know. You will have to let me know what you think of the thistle as it looks like its gonna be my choice for ours next year.

We didn't really, we were looking online for different venues, we knew we wanted something a bit different, and we just found it on a list of manchester venues. We went to see it, and looked at a few other places, but nothing compared.

Yeh its in orrell just as you come off m6 its quite close to our church so wont be to much trouble to get there i think i am goin to go with there unless haigh hall really amazes me.

Did you go to the wedding fair?

Aw it is so lovley the thisle i really like it its just a bit out of the way for us.