Simon and I knew we didn't want a church wedding from the very beginning so we've gone down the
civil service route.
For those of you not in the know, a civil service is defined as:
a legally approved marriage ceremony that contains no religious aspects. A civil ceremony is conducted by the superintendent registrar or deputy and can take place in a register office or a licensed venue. We also made the decision to hold the civil ceremony and the reception at the same venue rather than go from registry office to venue. This was to avoid lost time and the transport/parking issue for guests.
When looking for venues we considered the following things (everybody loves bullet points):
- Distance from our house* and from the place Simon will be leaving from
- Cost and what it includes
- Local B&B's/Hotels in the area for guests' accomodation (my family and some friends have to travel)
- The size
- The food**
- The "feel it factor"***
* We live in Guisborough which is 220 miles away from my parent's house so we won't be keeping up the tradition for the bride to go from there on the morning of the wedding. Simon will be leaving from his mum's or his friend's in Middlesbrough.
** Simon is the fussiest eater in the world...that might inspire another blog someday!
*** When it just feels right!
So, knowing the size of the wedding we would have so far in advance would be a challenge. a rough guest list was drawn up. It's amazing how quickly the small wedding you have in mind actually amounts to a large number simply by including close family and friends. The guest list is an issue for another entry. However, intial counts put us at about 50 for the day. This later increased to about 60, then 70. We counted 120+ for the evening.
The Viewings in Brief
On our initial numbers of 50, I came across this place. It looked pretty judging by the photos on the website. I really had my hopes up.
Rookie-Bride error!!
Of course, a website can pick and choose which pictures it shows you. There were none on there of the actual room the ceremony etc would be held in. I sent off for the pack which had menus in and costs which was helpful.
We thought we would go and try out their restaurant to get an idea of food quality and book to see the room at the same time. The outside was covered in snow when we went but the building still looked good to us. However, the outside space consisted of a car-park and a patio. Not many places for photos. Giving it the benefit of the doubt we went in through the restaurant. The restaurant itself was STUNNING. Amazing atmosphere and beautiful decor. The woman decided to show us the room for the wedding before we ate so we dutifully followed her through the restaurant (both of us thinking it was a very nice reception meal location) and straight out the other side to the conservatory. Not helped by the fact it was freezing in there, it was a plain white walled room with beige curtains and a not so nice carpet. There was an exceedingly small bar in one corner of the room and a split level floor. She showed us were the ceremony table would be and pointed out my entrance door and how the chairs would be laid out (on a weird angle). Then she said that everyone would stand outside the doors of the conservatory whilst they changed the room over for the wedding breakfast (yeah, I'm still not over the fact they call it a breakfast when it's the meal in the afternoon). Knowing the minimal space outside, there wasn't much to do for them whilst we had photos taken on the patio. The guests wouldn't even be able to make use of that space. So, all the day would be in the conservatory and we wouldn't get to use the restaurant. After that we went into the restaurant to eat. The food was well-presented and tasted good and we couldn't fault the service.
How do we weigh up against the bullet points then?- Distance - 5/10 mins from us both.
- Cost and what it includes - Just below the average costs we were working out, but not the cheapest we considered.
- Local B&B's/Hotels - A hotel itself (reasonable prices) and some other local B&B's.
- The size - Good indoors size for what we need though outside space limited.
- The food - The example menus are very basic but have opportunity to upgrade by paying more money...plus we know it tastes ok.
- The "feel it factor" - It just wasn't there. I couldn't see myself getting married in that room.
Grinkle Park Hotel
When this pack came through the post I was pleasantly surprised by the costs as it looks so grand. When we visited it we were certainly not disappointed. It truly has lovely grounds and the inside is the no different. The ceremony room is very large and there are some beautiful views of the coastline. There's also plenty of room for photo opportunities outside and if it rained, there would be photo opportunities inside too.
I didn't particularly "click" with the designated wedding co-ordinator. He didn't seem like he was very confident and that worried me a little.
We were told, however, that we could have any food we wanted for our reception and they would work it out. This pleased Simon as it was mentioned that we could have parmos!
Bullet points?
- Distance - Now, this place is far out! It would be about a 30+ minute drive each way which could be problematic for guests. No quick taxi!
- Cost and what it includes - Just above average costs for us.
- Local B&B's/Hotels - A hotel itself (though expensive) and in the middle of nowhere so little option for those not wanting to pay lots. My family will already have to pay to travel let alone stay!
- The size - Massive! Possibly a little too big. I would be worried people would empty out of the main room.
- The food - Whatever we want!
- The "feel it factor" - I loved the scenery but was a bit paranoid about the wedding co-ordinator and the distance. Also, there was a snooker table...I'd lose my new husband to it!
Guisborough Hall Hotel
A beautiful venue from the outside and impressive grounds. Aside from the epic staircase (think Disney's Beauty and the Beast as they walk one from either side) inside the main room, it was actually pretty standard as far as venues we had seen go.
I had a pack through the post for this place (they took 3 weeks to send it. My wait had been 1-3 days on average for everywhere else) and the prices weren't as bad as I imagined. However, my maid of honour used to work there and she mentioned that the prices at the bar were sky high (and that was a number of years ago). People expect to pay more at a hotel but I don't want to inflict that on my guests if I can help it!
Cue bullets:
- Distance - 2 mins for me, 10 for Simon.
- Cost and what it includes - Average costs for us.
- Local B&B's/Hotels - A hotel itself (though expensive) but others in the local area.
- The size - Massive!
- The food - Good choices though fairly expensive on the menus.
- The "feel it factor" - Nice venue, gorgeous scenery and I wanted to play princess on those stairs so much! However, I wasn't feeling the love from the staff and when they looked at me they had "£" signs in their eyes.
This is by no means all we looked at for "potentials". We had a lot of places which were either too far away, they never got back to me or they came to a price that was average without any benefits or "wow" factor.
Our final, and now confirmed, decision shall be in the next entry.
Pee.Ess: I wish I knew how to add a cut on this thing so not everything is displayed at once!
Colourful shawls/wraps in a basket for the guests who venture outside in the evening. Given there is a seating area outside the marquee I thought it would be a brilliant idea. I'm sure I've seen these wraps on the market for about £1 each!
I think it was about £30 +P&P for 100 jumbo magnets (60x90mm) plus the cost of ink and some card. I fit 8 designs on a page so I used less card and ink usage was minimal. The magnets are also available in smaller sizes but for the information we wanted on them, the larger ones were more suitable. I suppose you could also make keyrings if you wanted considering Ebay sells the blanks in bulk!
