Take your time when choosing the right venue for the most important day of your lives!

So, you are getting married.  Congratulations!  Organising your wedding can be a thrilling and exciting experience but it can also be extremely stressful if you don’t plan it properly.  Second only to finding ‘the dress’, your choice of wedding venue can make or break your big day.

Before you even start to look at venues, you must decide what your wedding will look like.  How many guests are you inviting?  Do you want children at the wedding or is it just an adult’s only occasion? Do your guests have to travel a long way and need overnight accommodation?  Do you want a venue which has a licence for a civil ceremony as well as providing the perfect location for the reception?

Budgeting for the big day
Every couple has to work to a budget, and even though your wedding day is one of the most important days of your lives, it will lose its gloss if you blow the budget and spend the next 10 years trying to pay it off!

The Wedding breakfast
 A good rule of thumb is to choose something that you believe most guests will enjoy, but don’t forget to cater for the vegetarian guests and it may also be worth adding a children’s menu if you are having young children at the wedding.

Wine and Champagne to toast your wedding is always acceptable but make sure that you have a non-alcoholic alternative on hand.

Don’t forget to budget for gifts for bridesmaids, groomsmen, and flowers for the bride and groom’s mothers will be much appreciated.

Evening guests
You need to budget for a buffet for your evening guests.  What about the evening bar?  Do you want a paid bar where you put money behind the bar so your guests drink for free or is it more sensible to pay for the first drink and then the guests pay for themselves?

Entertainment 
Make sure that you take the time to audition potential entertainers including discos because you don’t want to find you have made a big mistake when the big day arrives!  If the budget allows then perhaps a special surprise during the evening to entertain the guests. It could be a close hand magician or a special customised fireworks display in the garden.  If there are a lot of children you may want to keep them entertained during the day by putting on a bouncy castle in the garden.

Choosing the perfect venue
When you are selecting a venue make sure that you visit it and don’t just rely on the photos in the brochure.  Ask specific questions. For instance, if you don’t want to marry in church does the venue have a licence for civil ceremonies? Rest assured that Chartridge, Hitchin Priory and Lydiard House are all licenced to hold civil wedding ceremonies.

Do they, like Chartridge venues, provide an all inclusive wedding package? That way ensures there are no hidden costs or nasty surprises when you get the final bill?

Do they provide the services of an experienced wedding planner? Having a wedding planner will take a lot of the hassle and stress out of planning your wedding. They know all the potential pitfalls and they will take care of everything so you won’t need to worry about chairs, seating plans, place cards, or whether you’ve ordered enough drinks and flowers.

Chartridge, Lydiard House and Hitchin Priory have on-site wedding planners with a wealth of experience managing and running successful weddings.

And what about the actual wedding theme – are you looking for a modern environment or would you rather have an atmospheric and grand country house feel?

All of our venues are steeped in history and offer large landscaped gardens and parklands which provide the perfect backdrop for your wedding photographs.  Hitchin Priory in Hertfordshire was originally a Carmelite monastery built in 1317 and still exudes the calm monastic atmosphere to this day.  Lydiard House in Swindon is a 17th Century Manor House and beautiful Chartridge House Chesham is a country house dating back to the early 1900s.

If you have elderly guests or guests who have travelled long distances to attend your wedding then it would be a good idea to choose a venue which offers overnight accommodation so they can relax and really enjoy this special occasion.  All our venues provide excellent en-suite bedrooms and a superb breakfast the following day.

There are so many different components to take into account when organising your wedding. To help you through the minefield of wedding planning we are holding Wedding Fayres at all our venues where prospective brides and grooms can discuss their individual requirements with wedding experts.  Why not come and see for yourself what we can offer you to make your wedding day unforgettable.

Hitchin Priory - Hertfordshire - Wedding Fayre, Sunday 23rd September 2012

Chartridge - Chesham -  Wedding Fayre, Sunday 14th October 2012

Lydiard House, Swindon - Wedding Fayres, Sunday 9th & 30th September 2012

Every wedding is different and it is your day so make sure that what you wish for is what you get.

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