‘Rustic chic’ in the South Downs - October 2020


Hi everybody,
So I've been engaged almost two months now and recently found this site while agonising over how to solve our setting a date dilemma (more on that later). I adore weddings and have been loving reading everyone's planning threads, so I thought that this afternoon — while recovering from our brilliant engagement party last night, and having just set our date — would be a great time to start my own 

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Orange wednesdays need to make a comeback! It was such a good deal 😂
looking forward to reading your plans!
Fitzleroi did have the advantage of being the only place we looked at that guaranteed you could come in the day before to decorate as they only hold two weddings a week, but sadly they were booked for the two Saturdays we wanted in October, due to my MOH being a teacher in Japan and having a very small window when she could be here. We hadn’t ruled out Thursdays, but it would have to be for the perfect place...
The barn itself was beautiful, atmospheric and cosy - and we loved the wood burner! But we felt that again there just wasn’t enough space, either outside or inside really as our daytime number of 90-100 is the max capacity for the venue. A great barn, but not for us.
Anyway, the sole East Sussex venue that we looked at was Hendall Manor barn, again another late find that isn’t as prominent online. In all honesty, we considered cancelling this barn - it seems more of a dry hire option and we had been put off by that already. But we went and boy did it surprise us! For a start, the owner was absolutely lovely - one of my friends who got married last year had told us to how important it is to feel good about wedding venue coordinators and we definitely felt we could Nicola could help us produce a great wedding. Hendall was another single barn but was huge and split in half by steps. I loved the thought of a long aisle and descending those steps. It had a lovely terrace and lawn and the photo opportunities were fantastic. Best of all, there was accommodation - a bridal cottage and a fantastic house for the bridal party complete with games room and spiral staircase. We could really see our bridesmaids and groomsmen here. However it did have one major drawback for us - weddings had to end at 10.30pm. I totally get it as the owners live on site, but we felt strongly that we wanted our do to go on at least until 11.30. There was also a sound limiter which we were a little concerned about, and of course the fact that although it was large, it was just the one barn - if weather was bad we could have problems. Plus, although it was cheaper than other barns there were a lot more extra costs, for example, to have the ceremony there, and when all added up it meant it was about the same as others. So sadly, not for us.
We loved the people, there was a set caterer but they sounded fantastic, and the venue also supply lots of lovely things for free, like lanterns, blankets, a post box for cards etc. There was also a lovely bridal suite and we realised that being able to spend the night on site was something we wanted a lot more than we realised. Southend was a very strong contender!!
In the end we returned a couple of weeks later to look at Southend (which had a Friday available) and Upwaltham again. We loved Southend but their Friday price would be 2k more than a Thursday or Sunday at Upwaltham and that was without the Guildhall ceremony...
When we arrived at Upwaltham a second time we realised we loved it even more than the first - it just felt so us. A different week was out of the question - I decided that I just couldn’t get married without my MOH - and so we booked it that same day for Thursday 8 October, 2020. I’m so excited!!!
Upwaltham - not my pic above (I was too dazzled by the place to take many pics!)
but i I think you’ll be absolutely fine!
https://forum.youandyourwedding.co.uk/your-wedding-reports/463570-our-sussex-barn-wedding-july-18-the-report-p1.html
I spent half a day tying the damn things up and addressing envelopes but they’re all ready to send now which is so exciting!
We always keep all the save the dates we get sent on our fridge and it’s amazing now to have our own up there!
I don't really know where to start with finding one we can listen to first.