Lumley Castle - Co Durham possible wedding venue

debtfreein4years

Has anyone booked their wedding here? Im looking at it as its local to me and OH. It does seem a bit pricey, but only planning a very small wedding - 16 - 30 people so it doesnt seem to be to bad. My parents have said they would give 3K towards a wedding here or abroad so I think that would cover most everything.

What else do I need to plan????

I know me and oh need something to wear - planning £500 for that

Flowers - im not fussed to be honest, im not a flower person and couldnt see me carrying a bouqet of anything like that.

Food - that is covered in the package with the hotel - total budget for that 2K. package includes wedding, hotel room for me and oh, room for wedding ceromancy, and meal afterwards and wine for toasts.

Rings - OH is buying seperate out the wedding budget - not wanting a fancy engagement ring or anything so I will be more than happy with a plain platinum band - budget for my ring as he wont wear one £300.

Transport - i think it will be fine going in our own car or in our parents cars depending on what we decide. dont want to waste money on a car that we will be in for half an hour at most.

not having any bridesmaids or things like that

what have i missed?

gxx

debs2327

photographer = maybe get someone with a good quality camera to take pics
cake = you could get one from m&s
invites = as its a small guest list tesco have invites for £3 + ( i got mine from there and very good qualtiy

i used to live close to lumley castle although never been in its a gorgeous place hope ive been of help
when is your wedding ?

debtfreein4years

thanks for that.

photography as its so small, im thinking of just having family take pics with our cameras or is that to cheap and tacky?

cakes - will ask oh's gran to make a gorgeous fruit cake (she just made one for a 90th and it was stunning) if not m&s or costco cake.

invites - might beg mum to make them or will find some nice ones somewhere.

was lucky, just online looking at lumley castle and they have a wedding fair tomorrow so going to go to that.

Ive not set a date yet, as need to discuss it properly with OH. kind of told him last night that I want to get married and he told me to research it so from that im taking it that we are going to get married when i say so

anything else???
gxx

debs2327

i think getting family to take pics is a brill idea as its such a beautifull place they wont have to be brill at photography to get lovely pics ,
my mil is making our cake as she also does fruit cakes to die for , so were saving on that too , i was going to make our invites but when tesco has theres on sale it was cheaper to buy lol good luck at the wedding fair i loved going to them , dont go to any now like cos i have mostly everything sorted and i dont want things to make me change my mind lol x

DitaBombita

My best mates ,mate had a wedding there - it was lovely I am informed. My parents used to go to the Medevil banquets there too. If your near Lumley Castle Ive been told Durham Castle does cheaper rates on a weekday, might be worth a look?

twinklyrach

I went to Durham for university - went to Lumley Castle a fair few times for balls and stuff. Two of my friends got married there - it was lovely and the food was great. They do have different sized rooms depending on the size of your reception so I'm sure they could come to an arrangement for you. I do know they do good weekday rates.

sunshinejoclaire

the 400 the registrar costs to come out and do in a venue in Co Durham.

I'm getting wed in Peterlee so can confirm thats the current Co Durham price

Threebabes

Hi, in 1997, DH and I had a very small wedding there, only 10 of us.

We had a small room with one large table and had a lovely meal and DH and I stayed the night.

It was very small informal but they still made it special, we had menu's with our names & date and what we were having to eat on the table and a drinks package.

We were married at newcastle civic centre, MIL sorted out a few flowers, a friend of a friend made the cake for a small amount, I bought my outfit from BHS (lol), we used our own cars, took our own photos.

We were married on a Friday.

Good luck :-)

mookybargirl

We viewed Lumley Castle about 2 months ago, while looking for our venue (I'm 28 so friends vary from that age and up for our wedding). Not exactly high praise, but it is an honest opinion of what we thought.

• Driving up to it gives you tingles, it a lovely, lovely building and the grounds are immaculate.
• The bar has a lovely open fire, which I love though the furnishings were a little shabby in places.
• All the staff have outfits fitting in with the castle - I didn't like these but some people might.
• The rooms were a very odd layout for our numbers (about 70). The room upstairs was too split with use of 3 rooms giving people too much space to spread out that we felt we'd lose people to the other 2 rooms.
• The room downstairs was over 2 levels with the dancefloor and bar down a very steep set of stone steps and I had visions of someone tumbling after a few drinks. Once you reached the bottom, you would be in the middle of the dancefloor and would have to walk on through to get to the bar. Again less than ideal on the way back when you're carrying a few drinks.
• We viewed about 5 or 6 different types of guest room, castle and courtyard, both were nice enough but some of the bathrooms were tucked into cupboards, a plus in their mind as it's quirky, but would make access a little difficult for some people. Some rooms have steps up to the bed. Again not ideal for everyone.
• The main problem for me was that the corridoors were too dark/badly lit, and I was constantly looking down to see where I was stepping.
• It is a castle and some people would see this as a major plus point.
• The packages they quote seem high but they effectively include drinks in the price, so you're almost forced to take a drinks package (though price was reasonable for having drinks included).

I should also add that I like modern hotels, and don't like fussy curtains and more traditional venues on the whole. This venue was one of the worst I viewed in our minds and we viewed 14! My advice would be to arrange to have a look around. OH's family did have a 80th party at Lumley Castle about 5 years ago and they had a great night with good food and service (no one stayed over at this one), but even OH was disappointed looking around. Hope this helps

stardoman

My husband took me there as a surprise for my 40th, two months ago. It had a lovely atmosphere and I loved the character. There was a wedding in a room just off the restaurant and a medieval banquet downstairs. Someone played bagpipes which added to the atmosphere.

We had a fabulous time and I would definitely go again, if given the chance. The room was quirky as lots of things were hidden and you had to search to find them. And I loved the 4 poster bed.

The bar is a bit unsual too as it looks like a library. Again, full of character but no obvious as to which drinks they serve!

Mandy.

Noctu

You probably already know this but please be aware that Lumley Castle will impose minimum numbers on prime dates, i.e. Saturdays!

Personally I thought it ridiculously priced for what you get... however if money were no object, we would get married there!