Newly Engaged Couple - Advice on venue

blondy24

Hello,

I recently got engaged to my soul mate/love of my life

We have been looking at Clearwell Castle for our venue. We are not going to get married until late next year/early 2013. I have noticed that whirlwind wedding site has dates available at last minute for quite a considerable reduction. Does anyone have any good/bad feedback on this site, has anyone used them?

Any help would be much appreciated

sammy_wheeler

no personal advice on the venue- just had a quick look at their website and seen the one for their last min- 12.11 wedding-- at £5k- for 60 guests
theres lots of things in their which dont cost money-- Roaring log fires, House floral decorations throughout the venue, Front of House Manager to help plan and coordinate your day- you won't have to worry about a thing
all this makes it sound really good- but if you break it down its fires, flowers around the venue and a coordinator-- not worth £5k tbh! (every venue has a coordintator)


it doesnt actually mention in the package whether this includes you actually getting married there- a registrar etc, cermoney room etc-- so is that £5k just for evening venue?


dont get me wrong its a lovely venue-- but doesnt appear very mse! but if you have the money and like it then why dont you book a appointment to go and speak to them

trying_2_b_good

Congrats!!

It's £3,500 via Whirlwind weddings for 60 people - that's £58 each. Question is - would you be paying that much if you did it in 2013? Is it really a great deal for the amount of stress of organising a wedding in 4 weeks?

Not heard of the company, but assume they just get commission from the Castle and you'd be dealing with the venue all the way through...

blondy24

Thanks Sammy for your response you get;

• Exclusive use of the entire house/grounds from 12pm to midnight
• Welcome drinks
• Three course sit down meal (incl tea/coffe and petit fours)
• House wine for meal
• Sparkling wine for speaches
• Evening finger buffer
• DJ and disco
• Free use of a choice of settings for the civil ceremony
• Floral decorations
• Front of House Manager
• All non consumables including furnishing,table linen, crockery etc
• Full bar facilities inc staff

This is for 60 people but extra for additional.

I know that the registar will be an additional cost.

Whirlwind weddings are offering certain dates for 3.5k at the mo, they have been 2k in the past couple of weeks which is a good price I think.

Any help would be appreciated x

MaggieBaking

We arranged our wedding at a venue that advertised late notice weddings. We got reductions beyond our expectations. Visit the venue quickly, see what they have to offer and see what else you can wrangle. If you have a cheaper wedding breakfast can you have it cheaper? Can you get more than 60 people included in the cost as it is very last minute? Maybe extra evening guests? It'll be harder to get suppliers, but some, like wedding cars and photographer will also be cheaper due to the late notice.

If they're free on the day, they will know that it's your small budget of x, or nothing at all for that Saturday so you could really get some bargains.

We had 3 months to plan and it was seriously hard work, but I wanted a lot and for very little money. You need to ask yourself if you have the time to do it all. Personally, by the time our wedding day rolled around I was exhausted.

Edit - with the notice and invites sent out with 2 months to go, everyone sent a Yes RSVP!

sammy_wheeler

i suppose you need to also think of your guests- so will everyone be able to come at short notice? what happens if some cant- how important is that?
have you done a guest list- is it 60 people
some venues you have to have that number- no more no less

Idiophreak

Keep in mind that at such short notice the number of people that can make it is likely to be significantly reduced, anyway.

blondy24

Sammy -We can add additional guests at an extra cost dependant if we want them to come to the whole day or just the evening do. I appreciate that it will be short notice for some people however this is the only venue we really like. We do not want to get married at a registry office or church.

Maggy - Thanks for your help. They are good questions which we could ask nearer to the time. I am prepared to put in a lot of effort at short notice if the price is right. Would you do it at last minute again?

LEJC

Is that the only venue you have looked at or have you had a good look whats available in terms of other packages and discounts....?

If you havent looked at other places...compare what they offer to see if what you are looking at with Clearwell is a good package...

The name rings a bell...Its possible that there has been a bride married there within the last month or so who posted a few pics...sorry dont know who...I cant remember...but if shes still around she may reveal herself and be able to offer a bit of first hand knowledge on the venue...

sammy_wheeler

just did a quick search on the forum for Clearwell and loads of results came up- some were from you op a while ago-
this one https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/43973708#Comment_43973708 states a poster bro got married there

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/24666057#Comment_24666057 a couple of years ago
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/21348505#Comment_21348505

MaggieBaking

blondy24 wrote: »

Maggy - Thanks for your help. They are good questions which we could ask nearer to the time. I am prepared to put in a lot of effort at short notice if the price is right. Would you do it at last minute again?

Absolutely, our wedding ended up being about a third of the cost it would have been if we waited, and it ended up being a great day.

I would have made sure I took a spa break for a couple of days before the wedding though as I was quite run down.