The day was planned with military precision. Alarm : 0600 hours (Yuk!). First appointment 0900. First of five appointments that is, with a further venue allowing us an informal look during the course of the day. We were heading from Oxford into the heart of the Cotswolds. The reasons being purely sentimental and entirely mine - so thank-you very much James for being so accommodating. I have always wanted to get married in Tredington, or more specifically Tredington church, St Gregory's. I was raised as a Christian and my beliefs are still important to me. As such for me it is vitally important that the wedding take place in a church. The particular church in question is in the village that my Grandparents lived, and I subsequently spent many of my childhood holidays. I have nothing but the fondest of memories of my times there and my Grandad's ashes are scattered nearby. Granny is still tottering on, now age 92! To add to the connection my parents married in the church and I was christened in it. As such under the rules of the Church of England I am entitled to marry there - as is James by association!
The church was the easy bit. Our 3pm appointment with the minister went very well. He turned out to be a thoroughly personable man and was open to all our suggestions. He was interested in us and how and when we met. I think it will be very easy to work with him as we approach the wedding. He was also very flexible on dates which is a great help as we are planning at reasonably short notice and trying to coordinate with a reception venue.
In light of the Church's location we needed to find a relatively local reception venue. After some discussion of the available options - barns, halls, hotels and stately homes we decided that a country house hotel would be the most practical option as many of the guests will be travelling considerable distances and many more will be wanting to drink and not worry about driving. Said country house hotel needed to be within about 30 mins drive of the church so that the majority of the day will not be lost in travelling.
So we had our search criteria and we'd turned up five potential options to view that day - somehow shoe-horning in all those that had made my initial shortlist. The first, and one of my fore-runners was Walton Hall. One of the Puma chain of hotels, the photographs I had seen online were quite simply spectacular and, it could cater for a wedding of the size we had in mind. To be fair we didn't pick our weather on Saturday very well and it rained for the whole day. Despite this on the winding country road that approached the hotel, it was visible for at least half a mile and it certainly had the wow factor. The approach, the grounds and the interior did not disappoint. I fell in love. Sadly what it had in granduer and elegance was not matched by the approach of the weddings co-ordinator who was somewhat infelxible. In order to get what we wanted - a sit down time for the wedding breakfast of later than 1530 - we had to have the hotel exclusively. This entailed 37 bedrooms and an extra £9000. While our budget is generous we don't want to spend it all on the venue and have nothing left for other essentials - like the dress! Regardless we left in high spirits and the bar had been set fairly high for the next venue.
Our 10am was with Ettington Park. It was the smallest of the venues we were seeing with a sit down capacity of 96. The weddings co-ordinator was nice but sadly the building just didn't seem to work for us. There was limited scope for alterations and the breakfast room was essentially an attic conversion. It didn't compare to the first place and was thus ruled out.
At 11.30 we saw the only venue that wasn't a country house hotel, Warwick House, although it did have 8 lettings bedrooms and a deal with a local hotel regarding other rooms. It was also one of the larger venues we'd be seeing. The exterior wasn't as imposing as I'd expected and it was located in the middle of a housing estate. While the interior was quite a blank canvas and the co-ordinator was very professional it lacked character and lost points with James for being iPad orientated. We still had a clear winner.
Then our 1pm put the cat amongst the pigeons. Also a Puma chain hotel, Billesley Manor was slightly smaller and less grand. We arrived early and had lunch in the bar in front of an open fire. James admired the whisky menu and the weddings co-ordinator stood the bill for our drinks. She was by far our favourite co-ordinator of the day with a professional and enthusiastic approach. Her attitude was incredibly 'can do' rather than restrictive and she embraced our ideas for personalised elements. She was also the only one whose quote had landed in my inbox by the time we got home that evening. The hotel had lovely topiaried gardens but the interior was lacking in a little bit of elegance and we were also concerned that we would be using the hotel to capacity. There was a gorgeous dog statue in the entrance hall and when we left we had another serious contender on our hands.
Finally we saw the Welcombe Hotel - a prestigious golfing hotel on the outskirts of Stratford. It was the largest venue we were seeing and the one where we didn't have a formal appointment. Again the start was very promising as we were seated in a beautifully appointed room before a roaring fire to await the concierge to show us round. The tour was comprehensive and included the bridal and honeymoon suites - impressive. We just caught the light to see the impressively manicured gardens. However it missed out on being a contender due to the sheer size and our worry of being swamped in the hotel.
So we were left with two. My clear favourite - the first Walton Hall and the one where the wedding planner was our favourite - Billesley Manor. We both agreed we preferred Walton Hall and as such we emailed in a provisional booking for a Friday in September. And then we got cold feet. We realised that the attitude we'd been met with and the fact that none of my emails in the run up to our appointment had been answered promptly might prove to be an insurmountable obstacle. Thus, having been so impressed with Billesley Manor and having the reasonable quote already to hand we emailed in another provisional booking, for the same date in September. We were keeping our options open but we now knew our wedding date. As such we then emailed the vicar and requested that particular date.
So that was it... we were sorted - or so we thought. We just weren't happy though. For me Billesley Manor was second best. I didn't love it in the way I did Walton Hall but I had too many serious reservations about Walton Hall to be happy with that either. After an anxious night which saw us up and talking until gone 3am we finally got some sleep. What we still didn't have by the time we got up the next morning though, was a decision...
To be continued...
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