To beg for help finding a wedding venue

[Herbert1234]

So, we're looking at getting married next year. We don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money. We had hoped for around £5/6000 all in.

We're located on the Shropshire/North Wales border, Oswestry area but happy to travel 20 milesish.

We'd love a barn rustic sort of think, but also into old type halls and that sort of thing. I'd also love a marquee style do but think that'd be too expensive all in.

We were thinking of a late small ceremony of just immediate family and a friend each then a buffet and disco after for around 100. Can cut numbers to about 75 if needs be but I have a massive family that I would like there.

We're mostly interested in yummy food, cheapish booze and a fun party with a close, intimate ceremony. Happy to have ceremony and reception in different places.

I intend to get my dress from jjhouse for cheap too so our major costs are looking to be venue, food and drink.

I'm scratching my eyeballs our trying to find somewhere that isn't just a box in an ugly place or extraordinarily expensive.

Even village halls that are pretty would be great. We've considered everything from doing food ourselves, to getting like a chippy van or something in, to a buffet at a restaurant. So we're pretty open!

Pleaseeee help me find somewhere!

Pimhill Barn? www.pimhillbarn.co.uk

No corkage or limits on food so you could do a potluck and get drinks from a cash and carry, designate a friend to be DJ (we did this and asked my brother, it was better than a professional DJ because he knew all the family tunes we all love).

Thanks ever so much. We've just had a look but feel it might be a bit too pricey if we have to then sort food and drink on top of all that. It looks gorgeous though!

Here are some halls - some are pretty cute and could definitely be decorated really nicely! www.hallshire.com/halls/1/england/84/shropshire-halls-for-hire

Oooh some of them are gorgeous! Thank you so much :)

Cock o Barton, nr Malpas- excellent and not pricey

Disclaimer - I have never been to your part of the country so I do not know if they are truly as cute as they look on the internet!!!

However here's some good advice on catering and decorating a village hall for a wedding: www.racheljoycephotography.co.uk/planning-a-village-hall-wedding/

We went to a rustic-y wedding where the bride and groom insisted no presents at all, but said we were welcome to bring along pudding and / or a bottle for behind the bar. I reckon most guests brought both.

The cake table looked amazing and that was dessert sorted for everyone, the bar was full to brimming and was all free, and a local farmer did hog roast, stuffing and apple butties. No idea what they paid for the pig (and the farmer and his wife lol) but that was their only catering outlay.

It was one of the best weddings I've ever been to!

Thanks @minimonkey11 I've had a look online. We've been before for a drink and it looked lovely. I can't see any prices but have sent an email. Thank you.

@Xiaoxiong thanks so much for the help. It's so appreciated! The first place you suggested looked absolutely perfect. You've got me wondering if we could stretch to that!

@alohajuliet123 I love the sound of that. We just want everyone well fed, plenty of drinks without breaking the bank!

@Xiaoxiong I've just seen a lovely village hall literally down the road that's free to hire and I'm now so excited! I've emailed to see if we can go look around this weekend. It'd give us the flexibility to do what we wanted with it and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Thank you so much!

www.yha.org.uk/hostel/yha-okehampton-bracken-tor

You csn hire the whole site as exclusive hire, it is licenced for weddings and has the most amazing views.

Thanks @crispbuttyNo1 but that's quite a way from us. It looks amazing though!

Moor Farm, Baschurch do Marquee weddings. Beautiful, rural area and very good for price! Honestly it's lovely! It's on a working farm but they have a fab cafe which is all from their own produce.

You're welcome! Free to hire is definitely the best of all!! Now what else can we plan for you while battling insomnia in the middle of the night...food? Flowers? Seating plan? Guest list? I'm assuming my invitation is in the post!!

@Motherofthenoise I know where you're talking about. I've had a look online and have gotten in touch. Sounds like an awesome venue.

@Xiaoxiong haha thanks. As much as I'm so excited to start planning properly I feel it's pointless until we've booked somewhere really. We won't have the money to do this just yet. We just wanted to get started with finding a venue and maybe putting a deposit down. Then I can get my craft on!

I know my place is quite a distance but it does sleep 76 guests, on site camping too, completely exclusive hire and very very cheap.. Its worth the travel with those views too. A lot of guests travel from London and further to us. (I work there 😁)

Its in cornwall but has cottages that sleep 40 something people. www.wringworthy.co.uk/weddings/

I helped my niece plan her wedding. if you are on a budget keep your numbers below 80-85, look for a venue where you can have your own food and bar, dont pick school holidays, do your own music with an ipod and play list, get people to "buy" things for the wedding rather than buying you presents. We did this MIL did the flowers, uncle the car, aunt the cake etc. You can have a fantastic wedding on a very small budget if you pick the right time of year and the right venue and keep your numbers down.

Barnutopia - glamping site really close to Oswestry. We camped there when they were newly opened but they've done a number of weddings over the past few years, have a look at pics on FB

I’m not much help with the venue, although village halls do seem to be the best option. Look at some nearby villages. They’ll often have nice rustic barns.

Just wanted to say be careful with sites like JJHouse. These are Chinese knockoff dresses and often very poor quality. However, there are plenty of high street stores that do bridal ranges as well as ASOS etc. Or you could even find a really good second hand buy on eBay!

Thanks everyone. Unfortunately a wedding our of our area is out of the question. I just can't ask my huge family to travel that far. We want a wedding that isn't making people dread the cost.

Barnutopia is gorgeous but not in our price range unfortunately, but thanks.

I've made a load of appointments this weekend to have a looks round places. I'm finding prices very difficult to work out so think it may be best to go speak to someone, tell them what we want and get a solid quote.

Thanks for all your help!

If you have a huge local family I think you could definitely put them all to work to help like mummymeister suggests.

We had the opposite, no local family at all but because they all travelled in a day or two before our wedding we had a large number of people hanging about ready to help with things. The day before the wedding a few of us woke up at the crack of dawn and went to the wholesale flower market and bought lots of v cheap flowers (under £100 total if I remember), plus green floral foam, tape and pins and we had collected large jam jars for weeks. We then had afternoon open house with just tea and cake where my very creative auntie made one centrepiece and everyone copied it, and the two sides of the family got to know each other a bit before the wedding. She also did my bouquet and everyone did button holes.

Another wedding I went to was similar, everyone travelling from out of the area so we all showed up to the village hall the day before and decorated - they ordered pizza and we all hung bunting, fairy lights, set up tables and chairs, one person with lovely writing did a seating plan using markers on a piece of A2 posterboard and someone brought a bluetooth speaker which was, amazingly, loud enough to play music for the whole evening. They also asked guests for playlist suggestions when RSVPing and designated one person to put together playlists on spotify and be the DJ for the evening.

Final one I remember was a potluck wedding for 80 people which was fabulous - bride and groom were both local and vegetarian so asked all their local family members to make things for the dinner - 5 people made a veggie lasagne each, 5 more made grain salads, another few were asked to do tomato salads, bread, cheese etc. Then 10 people were asked to bring a dessert to serve 8 people each (we brought an apple crumble) but it meant you could try loads of different things. The bride and groom provided a fully stocked free bar all night. And then there was a ceilidh to finish!

Hi Op. With your budget I'd avoid looking at any specific wedding venue barns as they are really popular and most will be out of your budget (depending on season the hire alone ranges from £3000-8000, I got married at one and we looks at a lot). Village halls are the way forward. You could hire a mobile bar or supply your own drinks. Also consider hiring a chip/potatoe/pizza van for the catering side of things. You can make a village hall wedding really lovely with your budget.
Consider a preloved or high street wedding dress rather than jjshouse. Jjshouse are cheap, knock off china dresses and most of the pictures are stolen from the original designer.

@xiaoxiong those weddings sound great. I'm very luck to have family who are happy to help and close friends too. DPs Mum is very crafty and seems keen to help also. I'm feeling very positive about this hall. I feel with hard work we could make it look very nice. But we'll see. With a 1 year old I wonder how much is realistic!

@honeyplop thanks for the advice. I also agree that these barns are expensive and it may be a look we have to make ourselves. Regarding JJHouse I had no idea, so thank you. I've looked at the main high street shops and I can't see anything I like, but then I'm very picky. My parents have offered to pay for my dress which is lovely of them.

Also, would it be totally unreasonable to pick a date and book this hall at the weekend without a ceremony venue? I'm so keen to get something booked!

is Beddgelert too far?

I'm going to a village hall wedding next weekend. The actual legal bit has already been done, this is the party bit coming up. Hall has been selected on grounds of 1. Loads of parking 2. Nice clean loos. 3 Kitchen for caterers. 4. Level space for the tipis that are actually where everything apart from loos and the kitchen that the caterers need is going to be happening. 5. More level space for the tents that some of the guests will be sleeping in. 6. Not ridiculously far from Big Town where some of the other guests, particularly the older relatives, live.