All venues great and small

The first thing me and Pete decided pretty much first off was the venue. However this wasn’t without trial. We have family spread literally all over the land. I’m from London originally and Pete is from Greater Manchester. We have family in Norfolk, the Midlands, Manchester and Newcastle. As we live in Cardiff we set about looking here but were greeted with nervous texts and calls from family members about the distances they were being asked to travel. We therefore set about trying to find a compromise.  I know a lot of people told me “It’s your day you should do what you want!!” but there are nice wedding venues all over the land,and it meant more for my family to be to be there.

I always wanted to hold my reception in a marquee, I think is screams vintage English fete and I do have a soft spot for a bit of bunting. However none we looked at really made my heart miss a beat and make me want to part with muchos pennies. The plastic sides and cold cavernous feel turned me right off and I was shocked that I had changed my mind so early on.

Although some people do get Marquee chic right, on a warm day with a glass of Pimms you can’t get better than this.

So with an inside venue needed I turned to a family friend Dawn who runs wedding Fayre's in Nottingham and Derbyshire and is also a wedding planner (http://www.edwardlewisweddings.com/). Luckily her sister Helen is the wedding coordinator of The Dovecliff Hall just outside Derby. Talk about keeping it in the family! She suggested we come and have a look at her venue to see what we thought. The moment we drove up the drive we knew. Inside the chintzy wallpaper was well up my street and the old manor house feel fitted in so well with the vintage vibe it hurt. We signed up straight away!

However in wanting to marry out of area we did have to sacrifice getting married in church, and opted for a civil ceremony in the venues conservatory. As I'm not religious this didn’t matter to me, but with Pete being Roman Catholic he sorted out a blessing in his local church. This was right up my street as I now needed a Wedding and a 2^nd blessing dress haha!

I did learn in all this that venues do charge the earth (understatement of the century) but many will waive certain things like venue hire charges, or reduce exclusivity or prices per head if pushed. In having to have a civil ceremony some venues charged us twice for venue hire which I questioned and got removed in quotes. In this recession venues want your custom, remember you are the customer and try and get more for your money! They are the ones that will lose out if someone offers you a better deal, when presented with other cheaper or better quotes this did make many a wedding coordinator reach for the manager. Be cheeky!

So we are all set 7^TH Of September 2013.