wedding venue - Leez Priory

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the site and to the whole wedding planning. we have recently viewed Leez Priory and thought it was amazing, i could see myself getting married there and having a perfect day, but would like opinion from others.

Has anyone been married at Leez Priory to give honest opinion, good and bad? was service good, food, wedding planner helpful. i know its an amazing place but i dont want to be naive.

thanks for your help in advance  

Have you tried Trip Advisor?

Congratulations on your engagement and welcome to Hitched.

I just Googled the venue and it looks amazing! Really amazing. Hopefully someone here can help you more.

Good luck with your planning :)

thank you so much, its an amaing place, lookin round was like a fairytale.

Trip advisor came back with no results found :) 

Hiya,

I went to a wedding there last year and if im honest it wasnt up to my standards

the staff were quite useless.

the meal was lovely but very rushed.

the evening was awful and its something that really stuck in our heads.

the room they use for the reception is almost cove like with rounded ceilings-feels like your udner a bridge. it was very cramped and dark.

great for photos but didnt leave a positive lasting memory, and for the price that place charges id be horrified if that had been my wedding

oh i see. that was a shame. thank you for you honesty

Leez Priory was my dream venue, I loved the pictures of it and thought id feel like a princess however the more people I spoke to the more put off I got :(

Everybody agrees that the venue is absolutely stunning and the wedding pictures ive seen are gorgeous however everyone complained about the fact that the dance floor is in the cellar, meaning most of the reception party stay upstairs by the bar. Sereval people who had been to different weddings said it was very hard to get the dance floor filled up and the atmosphere fizzles out where your guests are scattered about.

Hope this helps

Depending on your budget and what you're after, there are loads of lovely Essex venues.

Where else have you considered?

We can give some professional opinions on the venue, having shot a few weddings there. 

It's a lovely venue with lots of opportunity for photos- both for group and family shots and also for bride and groom portraits.

The staff, in our experience have always been fantastic. Their wedding co-ordinator has always been efficient, without being pushy or unnecessarily bossy. Bar/waiting staff have always been friendly and helpful too.

The food is beautiful- each time we've been provided with the same meal as the guests are eating.

"Bad" wise, the dancefloor and entire dancefloor area is rather tiny for such a venue and is a little awkwardly located in my opinion. It's down some little wooden stairs, which you'd probably never anticipate was where the party was happening unless you knew otherwise. 

Guests therefore seem to hang around in other areas and wont always venture in, which means frequently the dancefloor area is empty or not very well used (in our experience) Probably also due to the fact that there is no seating in there- so older guests prefer to sit in the bar, which is elsewhere. Also, if guests are tired or need a sit down, they have to leave- which makes it more likely they wont come back! Entering that room is also a bit like walking into a pub and everyone turning around to look at you if there aren't many people there as you have to walk down the little stairs to go in, which are the focal point in the room due to its size.

Another thing worth noting possibly, is how many of your own touches you want to add. A previous bride for example, mentioned to us that she wanted to have an afternoon tea party but said that she hadn't been allowed to. Others have also echoed similar things, which suggests everything is quite "set" and you may just have to choose between the options you are given for certain things, rather than what you may have ordinarily chosen yourself.
Of course however, that's second hand information and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

Oh and of course it's relative, but it's one of the more expensive venues in the area.

If you have  specific questions we'll try to help :)

Ok firstly yes the grounds and overall venue is stunning, I went to a beautiful summer wedding there!

However I never entertained it as a venue choice as the same with all other comments, the dance floor is just bizarre? It was always empty when I went to this wedding as everyone else had said and the one time is was not for the first dance barley everyone could fit in to see and it was soooooooo hot!

Habe you looked at Gosfield? It's there sister venue?

thank you all so much for the information. When we viewed it we did think the dance floor was a bit unusually placed, we wil be having roughly 40 people at the wedding and me and hubby to be are not the dancing type so it hadnt really bothered us too much but i have to take in to account others wanting to dance and they wil be separate from the other wedding guests who wont be dancing. i must admint i do like to people watch there funny dance moves once the wine starts to flow, which would be tricky in this case.

we have the booklet for gosfield and do plan to view it, i currently live in chester so difficult to pop there on days off, we will tie it in to a visit to hubbys family. we have requested a few booklets for other venues, just none of them seem as wow-ie as Leez. 

i also take in to account that things seem 'set' as i would of liked an ice cream van and chip van but was told i couldnt have these, also if i wanted fireworks i had to use only one company which charge £750 for 10 mins. 

The cost to pre book is very expensive but we were looking to take advantage of the deals they do which seem pretty good compared to some places i have seen, as there are the added extra's like the bride and bridesmaid cottage the night before which is the first time i have seen this as part of the venue.

Thank you for all the information it is really helpful 

Having spoken to friends who books the late deals, they don't seem to be as good as they first seem. A few friends have said they were pressured into extras which really bulked up the price.

Are you looking for venues in Essex then? We looked at Boreham House which is lovely, Hylands House, quendon hall (Parklands) which is stunning, or just over e Suffolk border, Hengrave Hall (biased as it's my venue, but it really has that wow factor too) xx

just googled Hengrave hall and wow. it looks amazing. is it expensive? and also is it wheel chair friendly? i like the boys room, iam rapidly finding the groom seems to not be catered for on the day as it to is there special day.

hubby to be's family live in sudbury so a venue around that area is what we are looking for as his dad i sin a wheel chair and we do not want to put him throu the drive to chester for the wedding. xx

Loopz:

Having spoken to friends who books the late deals, they don't seem to be as good as they first seem. A few friends have said they were pressured into extras which really bulked up the price.

Are you looking for venues in Essex then? We looked at Boreham House which is lovely, Hylands House, quendon hall (Parklands) which is stunning, or just over e Suffolk border, Hengrave Hall (biased as it's my venue, but it really has that wow factor too) xx

I would echo Parklands if you're looking in that price bracket- it's beautiful and seems to be more flexible.

The wild deer in the fields behind set the scene perfectly and at sunset, wow. It was just amazing.

Yesterdays wedding was there and the couple had an ice cream bike, hog roast, chocolate fountains, photobooth, a balloon release and all kinds of other things that required external suppliers to come in. It was fabulous and everyone (staff wise I mean) was wonderful, helpful and polite.

It's probably one of the best venues we've ever shot at, I couldn't fault it. 

i have emailed parklands for some information and pricing as it looks lovely.

we have spent most of the day on website looking at other venues some of which have been suggested on here and there is alot of lovely places that has now make us have a  re-think. booklets havee been requested from a few places for us to have  look through which will help with our decision...hopefully xx