Imagine a village hall wedding

[Keurig]

I’m getting married next year in a village hall type setting. I’m racking my creative side to this k of funky elements to add to the day to make it not so….blah.

if you were going to this kind of wedding, what would you like to see/experience? I think a live band, yes - but what else? We are a bit older, if that helps…

Bunting, fabric table cloths, garden flowers

plenty of seats

somewhere to sit and chat away from any music

@Bluevelvetsofa we haven’t set a time yet, so I was thinking maybe afternoon tea and champagne, then hog roast later on..

If you do a buffet, make sure veggie / vegan guests get first go so that they can fill their plates before the meat-eaters nab the veggie options.

I went to a wedding last year where each table had all the stuff in the middle for a game of tiddlywinks. Bit random but surprisingly fun, & something to do while waiting for food.

And definitely not hay bales - so uncomfortable to sit on.

im currently involved in planning a village event and the number one thing everyone has said is that they’ll only come if there are proper seats not hay bales.

I went to a village hall wedding but they’d put a marquee up inside, looked amazing. Informal sharing meal, plenty of food but served to the tables to feed 6/8 people and then people helped themselves.

band and pizza van I’m the evening!

I went to one where they had grown lots of flowers for the wedding and brought them along still growing in their pots rather than picked which looked really lovely.

Our village wedding I ordered pizza and chips from the local takeaway for the evening food. Much cheaper than set catered option and people loved it. We gave the take away plenty of prior notice!

Food could be afternoon tea - finger sandwiches, scones with jam and cream, homemade cakes, tea, coffee, and champagne, and then have a fish and chip van or a pizza oven van come round about 9pm - or a really good Indian takeaway banquet.

Second the recommendation for a ceilidh

We did this and my tip is to wrap and curtains in fabric also cover ant photos with fabric and flowers . We covered chairs used tablecloths and had flowers everywhere , simple ones . Hired glasses , went to France for all the booze .
We had a jazz band then a juke box for later which was great as also provided lights. We had canapés then full
Dinner, was just great!

@lilyfire i love that idea, actually

You can work miracles with pretty tablecloths, flowers, lights and metres and metres of cheap fabric.
I would say get the hall in advance as long as you can before, you might want to give the place a really thorough clean first, the floors are often very dusty and only get a bit of a sweep rather than a hood mop. If you can get a team of willing volunteers together to prep the place in advance.

Keeping the hall or getting in early isn’t a problem at all. It’s just the dressing of it - and food - that is stressing me out

The champagne afternoon tea followed by a hog roast sound amazing! Not sure what time of year your wedding is but what about hiring a vintage style ice cream cart or ice cream van instead of having canapés? We had one at your wedding and people loved it. People love food and drink in general so as long as there’s enough of both, people will be happy!

A live band sounds great too. Alternatively, a Sax player, a string trio/quartet or a pianist?

Other ideas off the top of my head:

• magician
• garden games (that are safe to do inside)
• Mini golf
• beer/gin pong (if you’re big drinkers)
• singing waiters!

This was ours. We got a company in to drape it for £500 and they added lights and bunting for another £50. Added carpet to protect (and cover up) the tennis court floor

We also had a string quartet and a jazz band, outside we had games etc but it rained so they didn't get used! 😂 then we had a pizza oven for the food.

Having assisted at a wedding reception in a hall:

Estimate how long it will take to set everything up and how many people. Then double both.

Estimate how long it will take to clear everything the next day and how many people, then double both.

Think about what time you'll need to be there to clear up the next day before you need to be out of the hall, and think about what time that means you need to start clearing up. Are you going to have enough people willing to arrive at that time the day after the wedding, when they've already spent one day setting up, one day at the wedding and they're likely to be hung over?

Think about who is going to let the caterers, bar staff etc out? They will need to stay at least half an hour later than the last guest, if not longer. Will they also need to arrive in time to clean up the next day?

Who is going to serve drinks on arrival? Who is going to put out the buffet?

If you're dressing the hall, make sure it's organised so that it's easy to set up (hand someone a box of table cloths and say it's one per table, have place cards/ napkins/ favours/ etc arranged in piles by table with a diagram of who is sitting where)

We had a village hall wedding. We had a ceilidh band, which was a LOT of fun. The hall we got married in was actually quite pretty and had a lovely outside space, which we were also able to make use of, as well as a separate bar area (it is also the cricket club).
We decorated with fairy lights, up-lighting and bunting. We bought table cloths from Primark and had succulents for table decorations.

The best wedding i ever went to was lin a similar setting. They had gourmet burger and cupcake vans, a "naked" wedding cake, a live band, bunting, jam jars for flowers, lots of foliage and outside games for kids like skittles and hoopla. There were bay bales covered with checkered tablecloths to sit on.
It was a lovely, fun, happy day and worked for all ages.

Ceilidh?

AH- also seeing the draping photos, we were also told other couples had used parachutes to achieve this effect.

Agree - decorations add to it. Don't try and make it look like a hotel room - but use what you have and add accents

Band/roaming band. I went to a wedding with these guys playing - was amazing - great music, interactive and the sound level was perfect (not too much for t a village hall which some disco set ups can be)http://www.belleandtheboots.com/acoustic-wandering-wedding-band/4pieceroamingquartet

We went to one where they had the inner tents used in marquees set up - so you felt like you were walking into a marquee rather than a village hall.

That is sooo pretty!

I’d also add, find out what you’re entitled to use in the hall far in advance. Don’t do what the last wedding did at our hall and:

Message the day before to ask if there’s a projector they can borrow for photos of the bride and groom. We borrow the projector from someone in the village who’s into sound/ photography etc.
Turn up on the day expecting to use Prosecco glasses from the bar for their own Prosecco that they brought for the toast. We have about 12 Prosecco glasses 🙈.
Turn up on the day expecting a full set up of disco lights, we borrow lights for our events from someone who lives in the village and has a lighting company. Luckily for them, we do have a sound system that they could use.
Definitely book the hall the next day for the clean up!

Thanks for all the tips!

A ceilidh instead of an evening disco