Newly Engaged Couple - Advice on venue

heebie-jeebies

I got married at St Audries Park which is in the same group using a last minute offer through whirlwind weddings. It was stressful because we were then engaged for 17 weeks and I didn't have a dress or anything (and I live abroad and all of the family are 4 hrs away from Somerset!). But we could afford to have what we wanted, my DH loved the venue (he chose it actually!) and at that time we had rooms included in the last minute deal so the majority of our guests stayed overnight. We had 64 guests and the 4 extra were children so we paid child price for the 4 extras.

The 3 course meal and evening buffet for the offer price will be the lowest selection but our food was incredible so I think this is sufficient. For the wedding breakfast, we had:
- tomato and mozzarella stack
- slow cooked lamb shank with celeriac mash
- chocolate brownies and ice cream (I don't like chocolate puddings so has pannacotta)
You will pay extra for canapes though - we got married at the end of November so were looking at mini mince pies and hot canapes (mini yorkshire puds!) but they were not worth the money so we had the light bites instead which consisted of breads, dips and nibbles but still got a good reception from our guests.

Welcome drinks - we got married in November so had 30 glasses of winter pimms and 30 of champagne in case the pimms wasn't popular. The price is for 60 of these so if you only have 30 guests, you have 2 rounds.
House wine for meal - ours was 30 bottles and we had red, white and rose. In hindsight, I would have asked if the bottles could be left on the table as we never saw the total qty so cannot be completely sure that it was all used. Any leftovers could have gone to the evening reception.
Floral decorations - depending upon when you get married, I would ask what this includes. St Audries was decorated for Xmas when we got married. My theme was temporarily ice blue, white and silver until I spoke to the venue and confirmed that their decorations are all red and gold. So I changed to red and gold (and my ivory dress fitted in perfectly) and my guests genuinely thought that some of the house arrangements were ours.

We paid extra for the cottage the night before so that me, my Mum and sister could stay there and we put some money behind the bar (yes yes I know!) for the evening.

There was not much room for negotiation though, if Clearwell are more open to it, I would suggest asking if they can cater for 75-80% for the evening buffet rather than 100%. We did not have extra evening guests, some people left early and everyone was full from the wedding breakfast so there was a lot of waste. Also, if you do not get a deal where the overnight accommodation is included, the rooms are very expensive so it may be worth trying to negotiate that you and your OH get a room included in the price.

We booked St Audries without seeing it first and did not look at any other venues. If something in particular is important to you, I would go and see it first as a prospective client. For example, at St Audries the disco room is small so a choreographed first dance would not have been possible and a band would need to go somewhere else. Obviously though, I can only refer to St Audries and realise that Clearwell may be completely different.

Good luck deciding what to do. I've been married for almost 2 years and would make exactly the same decisions if I were doing it again.

blondy24

Hello, I am back again. I have been trying to get a special offer for Clearwell in the summer/autumn this year (Yes I know we have decided to move the date forward!!) However I am not getting much response seems that they only are displaying the next month offers, yet in December they did show Jan - May special offers. Apparently the majority of dates in our timeframe have been taken and the rest are at full price. Do you think we should still wait for a last minute deal or look else where.....

trying_2_b_good

Have you talked to them direct? They may have something that isn't on Whirlwind?

This is the risk that you're going to have to choose whether or not to take! Hold off or look elsewhere... Depends how happy you are at risking it/leaving it at a short notice.

FYI, we booked March for August wedding and got a deal, now for August may be too long? But then again, what if all the dates go?!?!!

johannalf88

I think you would be very lucky to get a date in the summer on offer. Our venue had no weekends free in July, August, or sept, when we booked in March next year. You would be looking at cancellations, and they may be very last min!

You may have more luck if you try October/November, but u really are going to have to be flexible, could you get married on a weekday for example...

blondy24

I am now sooooo confused after talking to OH/family and drawling the net to see other venues. We are happy with Fri-Sun date in July - December now but don't know whether we should find somewhere else instead as not getting an idea on special offers until month before. We went for an open day and were told that there wasn't any offers after Jan, yet they are now advertising Feb!!

Please help. We would like to get married either around the Gloucestershire area or Dorset/Somerset border..