Help! Wedding venues in Leicestershire

x.sophie.x

Ladies, I really (like seriously really) need your help

I'm trying to organise my wedding for May/June 2014. We live in Leicester and have been toying with the idea of getting married abroad (Italy), but not all of our close family/friends can afford to attend. So. I'm back to the drawing board and am looking for venues in Leicestershire.

As we are now getting married nearby we need to invite more people, and are looking at approx 150 guests. Our budget is around 15k. We could go over this amount, (parents giving 5k each) but I really do not want to, as it is just one day.

I've fallen in love with Oakham castle, but the venues nearby are too expensive. For the nearby venues we have been quoted min 12k for 150 guests (with food) but that doesn't include photographers, flowers, cake, etc etc.

I've then looked at hiring a marquee, which has come back at 5.8k (with land hire overlooking Rutland waters) but then there is the food (I've been quoted 4k) on top. Then we'd be expecting all our guest to travel to a random field... So they can't drink. And there is no accommodation. Paying for transport does not come in our budget.

Again, I feel we are back to the drawing board.

I'd like a relaxed wedding, but still beautiful. I'd like a place with character- which is what drew me to Oakham castle to begin with.

Can anyone suggest any ideas/recommendations?

This getting married malarkey is so stressful!

Sophie x

MissTeach

A fellow Leicester bride!!

I'm getting married at Brooksby Hall near Melton in July 2014. We looked round a few venues but lots were out of our price range (like Kilworth House - love that orangery!)

Shearsby Bath has a large marquee that we also liked but in the end the grounds at Brooksby swung it for me. It's beautiful and having the church on the same site as the manor house is a big bonus.

Good luck! I'd be interested in keeping in touch to discuss local suppliers!

x.sophie.x

Hi MissTeach,

Thank you for your reply. By interest how many people are you inviting and how much is the venue (plus food) costing? I had looked at Brooksby before but i thought the venue was out my price range

Sophie

x.sophie.x

Also, in terms of suppliers I've been thinking:

Flowers: Sarah's flowers quorn - used them before for work leaving flowers and they were great. Website looks good too. The florist is in a summerhouse in the owners back yard, so it feels like a nice, initimate and unique place.

Food: Dimblebee caterers - fantastic reviews online. Looks very professional, 3 course meal at £25 pp, but I may have to cut this cost for something cheaper.

That's all I've got up to. Very early planning. Will update as I go. The only good thing is my best friend is a designer for cath kidston, who wants to make all my table plans and invites as my wedding present. Feel very lucky indeed

MissTeach

I think we've got approx 100 guests but at the moment the list is around 120.

We had a rough quote from Brooksby (as we obviously don't know exact numbers or what food we will have yet) which has come out at around £7700.

That includes the venue hire, reception drinks, 3 course wedding breakfast, 2 glasses of wine per person on the table, prosecco toast, and a hog roast as the evening food.

You could cut the drinks down if trying to budget and that is the average food, so there are cheaper options.