Mini Post

Just a mini mini post to remind every bride 2 be to remember that Pinterest is a great place to create mood boards and gain inspiration.
I have spent the last 20 minutes looking through DIY pew ideas.
I love looking through the imagination that has gone in to DIY wedding projects-
Remember : Grow your own - Sew your own - Collect your own
If it goes wrong the first time try again :) 
Thank you for all for taking the time to read my posts.
The Wedding Assistant 
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Task 3 continued - Reception venue ideas

I just wanted to take some time to share with you some affordable venues around the Beds and Herts area.
When your looking at venues you should view them as a blank canvas. Most wedding venues are a big empty room and its the decoration that gives them the WOW factor.
You can make an empty space beautiful with just a little imagination. If you put Village Hall wedding into google you will see exactly what I mean.
A lot of the venues below are in lovely grounds and even if you wanted to extend a venue you could always enquire to see if the grounds are suitable for a Marquee, or you could use party tents and gazebos to host the welcome drinks and give people and extra space to use.

This image is from google images. 



Venue: Woburn Village Hall 
Capacity:120 
Cost: £300 
http://www.woburnvillagehall.org.uk/Hire%20the%20Hall.html


Venue: Unity Hall 
Capacity: 80
Cost: £15 per hour 

We Went to view Unity Hall and I instantly fell in love with it.
It had such a welcoming feel and it was all nicely enclosed with grounds outside. It has a Kitchen, cloakroom and lots of parking.
As soon as I walked into the main hall I instantly decorated it in my mind.  

http://bartonunityhall.wix.com/home



Venue: Stanbridge and  Tilsworth community hall
Capacity: 150 
Cost: on application 

http://www.iloveleightonbuzzard.com/community/venues-for-functions/function-venues/756-stanbridge-and-tilsworth-community-hall.html



Venue: Millbrook Village Hall 
Capacity: 80 
Cost: price on application

http://www.millbrookvillagehall.co.uk/Millbrook_Village_Hall/Welcome.html



Venue Pirton Village Hall
Capacity 120 
Cost on application 

http://www.pirton.org.uk/VH%20Brochure%20aug07%20zigzag.pdf

We wanted to have an empty space from the start. Somewhere that we could make ours and the freedom aspect was really important.
We have hired our hall for 3 days so that we had a full day to set up, a day for the wedding, then the next morning to clear up.

I hope this gives you a bit of inspiration.

The Wedding Assistant 

Task 3 - The Venue 

The Budget has been set..
The number of guests has been estimated..
So now for the fun bit.. The Venue.
When I was searching for venues we came up against numerous barriers. Websites that show no prices, Venues that only allow wedding packages, venues with a minimum spend and venues where you are tied to using their caterers and suppliers.
We found that although wedding packages are stress free and reliable, the premium cost was always there. We often needed a few items from a few different levels of package options which meant we would be paying more than what we wanted and paying for bits that we just did not require.
Going off the wedding radar..
Instead off doing a 'Wedding Venue Search' we did a venue and function room search which came back with a whole host of exciting results..
We had a few things on our check list;

• A large open space
• A pretty venue
• A room big enough for 100 people
• the freedom to be able to create our own day.

We searched through town and village halls, old schools, various function rooms, hotels, sports grounds. A whole variety of places.

you will find the hire price will dramatically drop. You don't have to have a venue with a Kitchen or a bar as outside caterers can provide an outdoor Kitchen, and a mobile bar can be brought in. 

The Venue that we decided on which my Fiancé found is a Tudor barn which is used as a community village hall. It is set in a small field and holds 100 people. It came at an attractive price too at just £15 an hour. The cost allows us enough money in our budget to be able to add lots of personal finishing touches that will really make our day special. We also had enough room in our budget to hire the hall for the entire day before. I cant wait to get a team of family and friends together to help me decorate and create a beautiful room to host our reception.

We were also able to provide all of our own welcome drinks and Champagne for the toast which is a huge saving in itself!!

I love the fact that we are so hands on with what we can have and the flexibility to create our own day is exactly what we were looking for.

if your able to and want to spend extra time and have more control over your wedding then don't be scared to go off the radar and 'DIYing' it. 

If you want a package option they are fabulous for a pretty stress free option.

What ever you decide to do, make sure its right for you.

And don't be afraid to book it. You find once its booked that you stop looking around at other venues and fall more in love with the one that you have picked.    

If you would like any more advice on anything above then please comment below or email the-wedding-assistant@outlook.com 

Have fun 

The Wedding Assistant