I’ll do these in order of choice from last to first, as I want to end on the one we chose! Also I’ve decided not to tell all about our wedding on here, as I want to keep some things private or a surprise before the day. So I’m not actually going to tell you the names and locations of these places, although if you want more info for your own wedding or event on any of the venues or suppliers I talk about here please contact me.
We viewed this venue second, after viewing another nearby venue in the morning we went there after lunch. On arrival I think my words were something like ‘Wow, it’s big’, it was a pretty impressive looking old gothic style hotel, it almost looked like a castle from the car park! Tom had been here before on a course with work and this was his favourite, the one he had suggested we go and see. The reception was huge and the massive stairwell wound up through about 4-5 floors, all in all it was pretty big and pretty impressive. We looked at the orangery first, the bit I was most excited to see as on the website it looked lovely. It looked like a massive conservatory out in the grounds, which was self contained with its own toilets, bar etc so you could have your whole day there and not intermingle with other guests or weddings. It would also be the best of both worlds between inside and outside, on the website it looked like the orangery was in a garden so you could all be outside if it was nice or inside if not and at night it would look great all lit up.
We got there and the orangery bordered the car park. As soon as I saw it all my notions of a romantic, small, secluded and pretty orangery went out the window. It did have some bushes and trees around it which in the pictures gave the illusion of a garden but it was paved all around. The inside wasn’t as nice as I’d thought it would be either, the website actually didn’t have any photos but I’d hoped for tiled or wooden floors and nice lighting etc. It was red patterned ‘hotel’ carpet, red velvet conference chairs and painted inside in a yellowy cream colour. We moved on pretty quickly as the events co-ordinator must have seen our disappointment. This really shows the benefit of looking around places in person!
We continued the tour through some beautiful gardens with stunning views, and on round to the marquee and large function room. While both were very nice they really didn’t have anything a function room in a Holiday Inn wouldn’t have (nothing wrong with a Holiday Inn of course, but it would be a hell of a lot cheaper!). The one plus point of the function room was it had a soundproof wall at one end that folded back, so the DJ or band could be setting up behind it while you ate to minimise changeover time from eating to dancing.
The rest of the inside of the hotel was nice, with wood beams and cosy seating areas mixed in with glass walls and modern touches. It also had a pool and a spa which would be lovely the day after or the day before the wedding.
We carried on the tour round to the atrium, an area recently licensed for ceremonies, currently being used as a café/bar it was a room about 3 stories high with a glass ceiling and stone walls. It was stunning. They really should start the tour there instead of end it as the orangery being such a disappointment really let it down right at the start. It would be a lovely room for the ceremony, it was oblong shaped so a long aisle with 5-6 chairs either side could be made, the bar would be screened off and then once the ceremony was over opened for guests to have a drink before the meal. We kind of looked at each other like ‘there might be hope for this place yet’ but after going through all of the packages and options with the events co-ordinator and looking around the grounds a bit more we just weren’t feeling it.
So, what was right?
· Stunning gardens and a beautiful view over countryside
· Impressive hotel and architecture
· Plenty of room for people to stay over, the place has hundreds of rooms
· The Atrium was lovely and we could visualise the ceremony being held there
· Experienced wedding and events team, this hotel has hundreds of events and weddings per year
· Multiple options of rooms for the ceremony/reception.
· Flexible catering, the kitchens can cater for any diet and have loads to choose from
· Size – The hotel itself is huge so no way we would feel cramped, it also meant plenty of space for parking, extra guests and plus ones, space for the wedding party to spread out into the bar etc if needed.
What wasn’t right?
· It was almost too big, it felt quite impersonal and like our smallish wedding would get a bit lost in this massive hotel, and there may have been 2 or 3 weddings there that day if they were at full capacity. I really didn’t like the idea of this.
· The décor was not as good as the other 2 places, not bad but pretty generic. The gothic style reception, atrium and entrance were grand and impressive but also some areas were quite dark, due to the style of the building and the period it was built in but dark carpets and furnishings didn’t help. The outside and gardens were beautiful, but other places we had seen also had good gardens and as I said in the last post because we can’t rely on the weather we didn’t want to book somewhere just because of the outside.
· Really we just didn’t like it as much as the place we had viewed that morning, and after seeing the 3rd one the next day it was completely out of the running. It just didn’t feel right, neither of us were very excited about it and while the atrium was lovely and we kind of considered that for a few minutes the rest of the hotel really didn’t match up to it for the evening and the meal.
· We never saw the bedrooms but looking on the website and in the brochure the rooms look pretty standard (It is a chain hotel) and we noted that they do not have a bridal suite, the other places did and one even had the bridal suite complimentary on the wedding night.
All in all we felt we should like it but it just wasn’t us, we wanted somewhere nice but personal and more fitting to our style. The next few posts will be on the venues we were really torn between, and how we managed to choose in the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment