Are there people who 'style' rooms for weddings??

[Enid]

I'm thinking of having my wedding reception () in our village hall...but I really want professionals to come in and transform it for me. Does anyone have any idea whether there are people that do that? What would they be - set designers? interior designers? Does anyone have any idea or is it just a mad dream?

Choc coins, great idea, and Boe at your robust flowers. Do tell us what you decide Enid. How romantic, a Christmas wedding, a village church, snowflakes swirling (maybe), bells ringing, aaahhh!

Am making a big folder for next wedding - always thought after last one that I would like to do it differently again - if only I had known eh!!!!

Am going to go to Italy or France and do it somewhere on a hill in the sunshine.

I want to know what other people did for their weddings whilst I am thinking of other ideas for the xmas extravaganza!! Please share with me.

Bog standard church plus reception at Epsom Downs race course. I did virtually everything fromdesigning my own dress & ring to creating my own wedding invites and hand sewing 200 orders of service!

I had our humanist ceremony in big house in Somerset (summer wedding) with guests staying in the house, house party style. Ceremony then out on the lawn for canapes then picnic of ham, coronation chicken, chocolate cake, strawberries, a giant pyramid of scones and homemade jam and clotted cream washed down with champagne and home made elderflower cordial. Then croquet, boat rides etc until all too pissed to stand, then fish and chips. Lovely.

I think your christmas wedding sounds gorgeous, Enid. I think the village hall could be lovely.

"The Mumsnet Book of Weddings" oh yes! And not only are we not being considered as bridesmaids, we're not best friends either!! And afer all we have been thru together, sob sob sob.

I have chosen readings and music for my next wedding(!!) and designed the invites, or if its not going to happen to me I will just take over dd's! I know some wonderful poems Enid adn will let you pinch all my ideas.

Where do you live? Could we come and watch?

Go with the velvet cloak thing - it looks stunning. We got married just after Christmas (so couldn't do the Christmas theme thing but it did mean another party which was fab). I had a black velvet cloak (a la Scottish Widows woman) embroidered with gold thread to wear over my gold damask wedding dress. Noone knew I had it (apart from my mum) and just before it was time to leave I slipped away to get it and got to make yet another entrance! Still gets talked about 5 years on and meant I could wear my wedding dress for even longer (instead of silly going away outfit). Can I do it all again!!! It's all so exciting - enjoy.

I had a winter wedding - v romantic. Means you can sing christmas carols as hymns - we had in the bleak midwinter which I love. Also it means if you have an afternoon wedding that it is dark when you leave the church which is lovely and cosy - we had big torch flares lining the way to the church and to the reception. Beautiful! I didn't have a cloak but a friend of mine did who married in a tiny church in the yorkshire dales in Jan - she walked up the aisle in a fantastic scottish widow cloak with hood and flipped the hood back as she stood at the altar (instead of flipping back a veil). Extraordinarily cool!
Ahhhhh...
Village hall will be lovely but you just have to be a bit careful that it has the kitchen facilities to be able to cope with a wedding - you need quite a lot of "backstage" space even if you only do drinks and canapes - obviously if you feed people properly then there needs to be room somewhere for the caterers to manage that...

ps also had some fireworks as we left the church - great because it was dark enough in the afternoon (you always have to wait until midnight at a summer wedding), no-one was expecting it so everyone went "wow!" and because it was just a few while we were moving from church to reception it didn't (a) look mean and (b) cost 20 grand like a proper big firework display does....

Ooooh - give everyone sparklers and they can hold them up - really high as not to set you on fire!!!! That will look really pretty!!!

Lots of gorgeous winter colours and holly and miseltoe (?sp) (lots of that!!) and mulled wine. Don't forget long sleeves for the bridesmaids. Sparklers and fireworks sound amazing. You could have nice Christmas favour things like a tree decoration and everyone would remember your wedding when they decorated their tree each year (maybe too corny). Possibly getting carried away now. Such a shame you only get to do it once (hopefully).

Friends had mulled wine as the welcom drink at the reception. The smell as you came up the stairs was amazing

keep em coming...I promise to post pix on mumsnet after this as you've all been such amazing inspirations...

sparklers instead of confetti...loving it...

I think the village hall idea is lovely - especially as you live in the village - we did the same for DS christening - everyone walked back to the hall from the church (stopping the traffic - all two cars!) - it was a really lovely day &, apart from flowers*, we didn't do anything special inside the hall - but do take your own tablecloths. Some hotel venues can be really dull and soul-less (sp?).

Flowers - our neighbour is very talented & a member of a flower club - she did all the arrangements for the church and the hall and we only paid £60 for the actual cost of the flowers -they looked fabulous. If you don't know anyone who could do flowers you could contact your local flower club - many of their members really enjoy doing this sort of thing and don't always have many opportunities.

You could do Christmas dinner - or mini turkey and cranberry and baby mince pies as canapes. Candles scented with clove and cinnamon. I love the christmas tree ornament favour idea!

enid do you mind my asking where you are getting married (county will suffice if you wish not to reveal more)
I have a friend who does fabulous (and Ikea budget (though you'd never know it)transformations on houses for parties). She just turned a house in to fairy den and it was wonderful.Shje is not a professional but very creative.

enid do you mind my asking where you are getting married (county will suffice if you wish not to reveal more)
I have a friend who does fabulous (and Ikea budget (though you'd never know it)transformations on houses for parties). She just turned a house in to fairy den and it was wonderful.Shje is not a professional but very creative.

I keep doing that - sorry very annoying

not to say decorating the village hall won't be great but... as soupdragon has mentioned could end up costing just as much to tart it up as to get somewhere else.

other places to consider, not hotels or stately homes, usually cheaper:

*any historic public schools/colleges/universities around? they're usually desperate to be in the hospitality business to earn more money, and they're much cheaper and can be just as atmospheric, if your wedding is after they've broken up.
*likewise a lot of museums do the same now
*council buildings/town halls etc some v. picturesque ones around
*or any historic pub around? was good enough for Kate Winslet first time round...

other things:

colour - white, dark green, deep red, silver
fabrics - velvet, marabou, heavy silk
flowers - holly, mistletoe, ivy, berries, deep red roses
lighting - plenty of soft lights, candles, open fire (if you can) - love the sparklers idea
drinks - mulled wine is a great idea, but it's not a wedding without fizz, is it?
food - would steer clear of trad xmas food, maybe duck, goose instead, roasted winter veg?

i want to get married again!

scented candles - yes!

Oh I want to get married again too! It was such fun and I'm so jealous of you Enid! I think your idea is great, however I think as BK says it may be an idea to check out some other places too.
Candles, candles and more candles are so vital I think. Don't forget the disposable cameras on each table (I didn't do it but a friend did and the results were great)

We had a fun wedding in Westminster Reg Office, lots of sitting on the stone lions outside for piccys! Just family and a few mates. Then a big evening reception at the Great Conservatory at Syon House which looked so beautiful it made me cry (several times!) Lots of garlanded flowers with gold willow and lilies and singapore orchids. Sigh. The best day of my life so far.

Have DDs "Celebration Lunch" (ie non religious christening type thing) on Saturday so have been having fun organising that, even managed to track down the florist from our wedding to do some flowers for the tables/cake. Hope she hurrys up and grows up so she can get married.

Oh and a fun thing we did was hire the oldest routemaster in London which they decorated, we got it to pick people up on the way and we all went away on it together (and carried on the party till 6 am at the hotel). Was more fun than a posh car and everyone sang all the way back to Richmond!

Bossykate - the mulled wine at the wedding I went to was just for the welcome drink. It was the end of November in Durham and freezing! You'll be pleased to know there was still champagne for all the toasts Actually, I think it was a choice between mulled wine and fizz for the welcome drinks too now I think of it

My brother got married in the mountains in Germany. At one point during the reception all the guests were handed helium balloons with sparklers tied to the string. We lit them, carried them outside and let them float off over the mountains. It was supposed to be something to do with wishes for the bride and groom and the effect was magical.

sambom, that's spooky we had our reception at the great conservatory too and had a routemaster...

sambom, that's spooky we had our reception at the great conservatory too and had a routemaster...