My partner and I have decided to get married next year. I've been married before, he's not. My first wedding was in 1997 and was a pretty traditional church affair. For our wedding, we'd like something really informal, non-traditional and we'd love to embrace the whole 'Anything Goes' ethos. We both love live music and have lots of connections with musicians/bands etc so music will play a big part. We love gigs, festivals, films, museums etc and have loads of brilliant, easy-going friends so we just want to provide a great, happy gathering for them.
The problem we have is finding a venue without spending an absolute fortune. We've decided to do away with a formal meal altogether to reduce costs and hopefully be able to invite more guests.
I think it would be a late afternoon, celebrant-led ceremony for all guests (around 100) with informal speeches and toasts but no formal meal. A bit of time for drinks and photos, and then straight on to an early evening buffet/food and live entertainment and music for the rest of the night.
We're currently looking at hiring a tipi but I'm nervous about what would happen if it rained. It would be gorgeous on a late summer evening as people could mill about outside and we could have it in the middle of nowhere with no noise restrictions but we'd also have to actually find a piece of suitable land or grounds which adds to the cost.
We're also looking at quirky venues in or around Manchester. They don't need to be licenced wedding venues as we will be using a celebrant so it can be literally anywhere, but this is making it difficult to know where to look! There's a couple of distilleries that offer wedding spaces that look very cool, and some of the old buildings like the Albert Hall or the Victoria Baths are amazing but too expensive. Some of the historic Manchester University buildings also host weddings which would be great as I studied there many moons ago but to be able to invite 100 people to these kind of spaces is ££££.
Do any NW people have any ideas of largish, quirky spaces that could be used for a big party that wouldn't cost the earth. We really want something a bit different that people will remember rather than the usual hotel/hall but I really need help to think outside the box. Typing in 'unusual wedding venues' into Google still just brings up obvious venues for weddings. What we need really is an impressive space that isn't an obvious choice for weddings but that can easily be transformed and used for one.
Any ideas, or has anyone done something similar?