Modern village hall in Scotland

[StrongInside]

Hi,

I have previously posted looking for a different type of wedding venue but seeing the costs, I am now looking to price up village halls or similar in Scotland, with accommodation nearby (one big house or multiple, I don’t mind anymore, maybe guests could find their own).

We now have agreed on around 32 guests and the only criteria for a venue are:

• cheap or cheap-ish (hundreds, not thousands of £)
• modern looking (so not a Victorian building with a traditional interior)
• in a beautiful setting (near a lake, waterfall or pretty gardens, not on a high street due to parking logistics for our large group and I don’t want to be walking down the high street in my dress)
• location-wise, not further than Perthshire to the South or Inverness-shire to the North-North West. So Loch Lomond, Perthshire, Deeside, part of the Highlands all fit.

I am just getting so stressed Googling locations and maps. Please help!

DDIJ, thanks. Costs £300 for the whole day compared to thousands of pounds for hotels and restaurants. How can I justify thousands of pounds on one day, I can’t. I’m going back to the drawing board though because all these halls look huge for 30 people and would take forever to decorate, set up and tidy up. Man, this is hard.

Dooddlejump1980, Crear has been suggested. It’s far too expensive.

Edzell village hall is on the high street, but right at the end, loads of parking, easy access.

Another thought was Capo Cottages, Brechin area, it's recently been appearing in my timeline doing yoga retreats and select meals/tastings and they have accommodation...no idea of prices though

Wellbank village hall outside Dundee is modern as is the one in Balmullo in Fife. Both have decent sized car parks. Balmullo is within driving distance of Dairsie church and a waterfall at Dura Den. Another option might be Dunino church in Fife with photos at Dunino Den nearby (although getting down the steps in a wedding dress might be tricky!) You've then got reception venues in St Andrews including the university, hotels, golf clubhouses etc.

If it's those are too big for your numbers then Carmyllie Hall between Carnoustie and Arbroath might suit?

www.facebook.com/hallcarmyllie/

Have you thought about a bowling club or something like that?
I went to a wedding in a bowling club with a bbq recently

I wouldnt totally discount the hall idea yet. If you go down the hall route you will need a someone to set up and set down/ clean up as unless you are all around for 3 days and the wedding guest are able to pick in this isn't doable. Your caterer may well be able to provide this service of know someone locally who can do this for you. Again your caterer can hire / provide table clothes, cutlery/ crockery. Yiu just need to list out what needs to come together and find local people to do this.

www.planecastle.co.uk/booking-and-prices/

Sleeps 18 and you can do your own catering

Been having a Google
www.logcabinravensheugh.co.uk/#av_section_4 - walking distance from glamping so could meet your all staying in one place. Looks like it might be £ though

Weddings in Scotland are a huge and lucrative industry industry. Some venues are simply eye watering in price and you may find all the services you need similarly expensive unless you do alot of DIY.

I was thinking your guests could stay at Crieff Hydro if you had the wedding in Madderty Hall. There is obviously the hotel but they have a range of self catering houses and lodges where you would all be together. I was in a house for a hen party and it was lovely. Are you paying for guest accommodation as part of the budget?

If you had the service at Fowlis Wester folk could drive from there to Madderty Hall (4 miles or so). Plenty of parking at the Hall. You could organise a bus back to Crieff Hydro (8 miles) at the end of the reception. Lots of local bus companies - Burnbrae, Sweeny, etc.

You would need a caterer and a band for the Hall.

Hi OP, ah I completely understand you don’t want to walk past random people eating on your wedding day!
I more meant if you find a restaurant with a private room for 30 guests? We got married in NI and had our meal in the private room of a nice restaurant. We arrived at noon, before the other part was open, had the private room from 12-6pm, table service, great food and the room was beautifully presented although we did bring some extra decorations. We were a group of 40 so had had similar dilemmas about venues. It worked excellently for us as we then just went off to the pub.
I wonder if there could be somewhere equivalent in the area you’re looking in. No venue hire so amazing value as you literally just pay for food and drink (Ours was £25pp 3 courses and best food we’ve ever had at a wedding!).

MsMightyTitan.., Capo Cottages fit the bill by catering for our number of guests but their package is £4000😲 Is Edzell hall the same size as others, i.e. would our small group get lost in all that space?

Zoowolla, aside from finding someone to decorate the place if it was within our budget, what about the size of them all? We would take up a quarter of all that space, and now I’m not sure what to think of that.
I remember seeing the Ravensheugh cabin- apart from cost, it has no electricity or hot running water, apparently this gets provided by the marquee operator. I’m not sure if that’s for me😊 But the views are pretty, aren’t they.

BoomBoomBoom.., what are bowling clubs like size-wise and what did your friend’s space look like?

Stargirl1701, I started out thinking it would be fair to the guests and logistically easier for my partner and I to book and cover the accommodation costs. However, it doesn’t look even remotely achievable.
Is Crieff Hydro not really posh and expensive per night, even for a room? Otherwise it is a good location for Madderty Hall. Thanks for the tips of transport. I don’t like bands, so that’s at least one saving there, ha.

Cyberworrier, was the room big enough to stretch your legs and move about if anyone wanted to? Did you have to walk past strangers eating on your way out or was there a back door? It does sound like really good value. I guess I’m struggling to visualise and find where the ceremony would take place in the event of bad weather close to a restaurant that isn’t in the middle of a busy street and then where to stay.
In a way, I wish we only had a number of licensed venues, then you could work around their locations.

Thanks everyone else too for the links.

My friend had about 70 for a ceremony and BBQ in the bowling club- but it wasn’t a huge space if that makes sense.
I really think you should be looking at private spaces in hotels or restaurants based on numbers. Village halls are by their very nature designed to hold a lot more than 30 so are going to seem quite big for your group.
You are more likely get a smaller space in a hotel or restaurant. I mean an area you can have exclusive use of.

BoomBoomBoom.., I guess I just wanted exclusive use of the venue to feel a bit special, without having strangers in the room next door.
I have been searching high and low for non-village hall venues, but barns/steadings are too huge too. Found one small restaurant that offered exclusive hire for £1000, which is steep in my opinion for just a reception venue without anything else included for such a small group.

Is Applecross too far away. The potting shed there and walled garden is beautiful. www.applecrossgarden.co.uk/ Not big and they will cater.

We got ourselves over concerned with guest accommodation and it added one thing too much given our other constraints. I have seen a wedding recently in a cafe...it was a very picturesque one and the owners did a lot of the decorating for the couple.

Yes, the room was plenty of space for the 40 of us, it was 5 tables of 8 I think but they would accept groups of up to 50. We literally didn’t see any other people using the restaurant, there was a separate entrance and toilets and a cloak area for the private room. We actually got married at the City Hall first so didn’t have the ceremony there, but did speeches etc, the full reception there.
I wonder if it would also open up options for you if you separate ceremony venue from reception? I can’t remember what the rules are in Scotland, but if you organise a celebrant can you get married anywhere? I just feel there must be lots of restaurants/hotels with amazing views and private rooms in Scotland!
I think it is hard to do a small wedding exactly like a bigger more expensive kind of regular one...but that’s a good thing!

What about this house? big-cottages.com/properties/united-kingdom/scotland/falkirk/bonnybridge/bonnyside-house-antonine-wall-cottages-s103484?check_in_on=08-11-2019&nights=3
Sleeps 28 and has a swimming pool and hot tub in the garden.

Nooddsocksforme, half a country away, unfortunately.

TildaTurnip, how did you work around the costs in the end?

Cyberworrier, yes, you can get married anywhere with a registrar or humanist on location with you. And yeah, I thought it was going to be a breeze to find a nice place with a view. I keep looking every day.

If we put village halls on hold just now (I have a good few contacted, not sure that the cost of a large empty space that we will underoccupy and need to hire someone to decorate is worth it in the end ), any ideas how to find a restaurant with a view? I mean, there are many towns and villages with places to eat, and there aren’t exactly websites for restaurants with views🤔

Nemesia, looks nice and would accommodate everyone but it’s £2.5k for three nights off-peak. Too much to ask guests to pay each, I think.

StrongInside we got around the guest accommodation by just choosing somewhere near a big hotel that gave guests discount when we asked as we said we’d send enough their way. I’ve never expected accommodation to be provided so not sure why I was getting in such a twist about providing it!

We chose a fledgling venue business so it was a lot cheaper than it is now to hire but we had to do all the setting up except for the flowers, crockery and cutlery. We had weekend hire so set up on the Friday and Cleared up on the Sunday.

I noticed in a local forestry commission place near us recently that the cafe there is available for hire. It would be perfect as in a gorgeous setting, not too big but airy and easy to make even more beautiful with just flowers. Is there anything like that near you? It’s worth asking newly or not yet established venues.

www.dairyatdaviot.co.uk/

Has cottages, restaurant that can and has been used for weddings, playpark and make ice cream on site. Close to Inverness.

I would maybe look up restaurants near particular lochs/in particular national parks, rather than in towns or villages?
When my bro was planning his around Loch Lomond, there were quite a few restaurants by the Loch, although I know it’s comparatively more ‘built up’ round there, because of the proximity to Glasgow. Also thinking of places like Loch Fyne but that is obviously wrong direction for you. Are there any distilleries near you that have nice restaurants? Some I’ve visited are quite scenically positioned.

TildaTurnip, did you have a lot of guests decline? If we pick somewhere without booked accommodation, I worry that some of our friends might decline and I quite like the mix we have of party-starters and introverts (don’t want to end up with just introverts).
How would I find venues that aren’t yet established?

Hopestreet, thanks. I will have a look. The space is for up to 110 people so a bit too big for our small group.

Trying to find a restaurant similar to
Venachar Lochside- light and modern with a view, but maybe not as far south as Glasgow. www.venachar-lochside.com/

Will have a look. Seen some scenically-located distilleries but none of us are into whisky so thought it might be weird to have our wedding at one. Will have to zoom in on Google maps to see what restaurants are located where. There is a lodge and restaurant in Aboyne that had a great view, never heard of that place so I’m sure there are others. Thanks to you and others for the idea of a restaurant. If I was abroad, I wouldn’t be hiring a restaurant, just a function room in some taverna on the beach was my initial idea, so starting to think this isn’t so bad to do here too, if the price is right.