Venue panics

[SapphireLover]

OK, so there are 430 days to go until our wedding and I am already having panics about our wedding venue.

We had decided our brief was
-Day wedding
-Between 80-100 people
-Had to be licensed to hold a civil ceremony (this is law in the UK) as we don''t want to have to gt married in a registry office and then move across town.
-Had to be a hotel place, as we didn''t want to kick people out after lunch, and wanted them to have a nice bar area if they want to sit and have a drink after the reception. Also, all of DF will be OOT and will need somewhere to stay.
- Within 30 minutes drive of my mum''s house.

So, I went through the entire list of licensed venues in the two counties near us, and realised that out of a list of probably 100 places, only 3 could accommodate our needs. I refused to look at two of them, as one was within a few hundred yards of the cemetery where my Dad and Grandpa are buried and the other one was all chintzy and floral decoration that was just really dated old country house. The third one was an old country house, but decorated nice and modern, had a lovely shaped room. My brothers friends got married there and he raved about the food and the couple raved about the place from start to finish. We went and looked round it, and bearing in mind we are having a Sunday wedding, 3 of the 5 dates we wanted were already booked.

So, we have booked it, we love the venue and its great and I truly love it....

But.... I keep looking on Tripadvisor and it is getting really bad reviews. People staying at the hotel say its a wedding factory. This is not that bad, it just must mean that they put a lot of attention into serving wedding guests. The problem is that people are saying its just a bit "faded" and plates and stuff are chipped. Here are the reviews Here
The one about the lying wedding planner also got me panicked.

Arghhhhh!!!! I am having a minor freak out. We have paid our deposit, we know there is nowhere else in the area that can do a wedding and reception in one for the numbers we want.

I hate weddings in the UK. They are all centred around naff packages with cr@p evening discos and mandatory buffets. Its so annoying. I wish we could have ceremonies wherever we wanted and that I had a huge garden and could put one of these in the back garden Clicky here

 

[laughwithme]

Someone told me recently (in regards to wedding planning) - when you make a decision, go with it and DON''T look back!!! I think reading reviews after you reserved it is probably not the best idea. And don''t forget, 95% of people who write reviews for anything do so because they were very disappointed - most people who are impressed with something just don''t take the time to write reviews, because they don''t feel the need to vent to the world. Sooo out of 100 people, 75 who were satisfied won''t review it, and the 25 who were dissatisfied WILL write about it - but the odds are still in your favor.

In my opinion, you shouldn''t regret your decision - you had criteria and this place met the criteria. A chipped plate here and there won''t make or break your wedding day. I think you should move forward, focus on the details which will make guests love your venue, and don''t keep reading those reviews!!!

 

[SapphireLover]

I know, I know. There is no point in looking at the reviews. Also, the people writing them are looking at it from a totally different perspective. We want the place as a wedding venue, which is totally different from wanting a quiet romantic weekend getaway. If I think about when I stay at hotels that have got weddings going on, it always annoys me, so my reviews would be average.

The decor is perfect (traditional old English without the chintz), the size of the room fab, the grounds gorgeous and the food great. I need to focus on why we chose it and why it is right for us, and stop looking at things like Tripadvisor.

 

[lucyandroger]

Your venue is gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish there was a place like that near us that met all of our criteria...

Don''t focus on the bad reviews! There were plenty of people that said it was lovely and everything was great. Even the people who wrote about the bad wedding planner said that they thought the place was perfect for their wedding.

Plus, maybe in a year they''ll have all new plates and fix up a few of things people have complained about.

 

[Mayflower25]

Don''t worry too much about the blogs! For all the reading I''ve done, it''s only caused me more panic and leads to second-guessing. The location sounds amazing, and I''m sure your guests won''t notice 1% of any detail that might be out of place. With regards to old plates and items that may need revamping - you can always rent those if they choose not to replace them within the next year.

Tripadvisor also has to be one of the poorest resources online. Most reviews are negative to begin with- let your own judgement be your guide And in your case, the point of the hotel paying too much attention to wedding guests would be a positive!

You have over a year to continue planning. I promise it will all work out

 

[mayachel]

Try not to panic. To start, the reviews on TA frequently comment on how beautiful the grounds are, how delicious the food is, and that they are geared towards weddings.

SO...it is likely you will get excellent "wedding" service, since you will be ruling the roost while there. (Now the poor people who have nothing to do with your wedding, and are staying there are another story it would seem, but eh...not your problem.)

 

[AmberGretchen]

Ditto to the others, it sounds like you are re-focusing in a better direction already, just keep trying to remember all the good things about the venue you booked (it looks gorgeous!!) and the fact that the reviews on TA are severely biased towards the negative, generally speaking.