Anyone recently married or planning a wedding in Cambridge / Cambridgeshire?

Hello! I'm just wondering if anyone can share experiences and/or advice about venues and suppliers in Cambridgeshire?

My fiance and I live in Cambridge and we've provisionally booked Sheene Mill in Melbourn (near Royston) for a wedding in August 2013 :)

xx

Hello

Im from Cambridge too .. we are getting married in April 2012 at The Cambridge Belfry

What have you got to book etc?

Im still trying to source invites

Flower girl dress

Photographer

Have you looked at other venue's in the area? x

We are getting married in Cambridgeshire and are thinking about booking the horse shoe in offord darcy, it's such a nice little place, just the sort of thing we are after as we don't want anywhere too big and the food reviews have always been amazing too.

Hello Kelly and Debs, nice to (virtually) meet you! Congratulations to both of you on your engagement! :)

Some questions for you both: are you getting married in a church, registry office or licensed venue? And how many guests do you plan to invite?

My fiance and I will have about 95-100 guests (including a few children) so they won't all fit in Cambridge registry office, which has a maximum capacity of 50 I think. So our main challenge has been to find a licensed venue for 100 people which we like, is available when we want it, and isn't TOO expensive! For the budget we're lucky in that we have some savings and our family is contributing, but we don't want to go too mad on what is just one day after all! However, we much prefer Sheene Mill to the other places we've seen (to answer your question Kelly, yes we've looked at a few...)

We've still got everything to do! I don't even have my engagement ring yet :( my fiance didn't get the ring before he proposed, because he knew I wanted us to choose it together, but ever since getting engaged we have been too busy a) telling family and friends the news and b) trying to find a venue! But we're going ring shopping on Saturday, so I'm looking forward to that :)

Debs, the Horse Shoe looks really nice. When are you planning to get married?

Emma xxx

Hi Emma, congrats to you too! Where abouts in Cambs are you? When are you getting/hoping to get married?

We have changed our minds today on our reception venue, we were quoted 6k just for a pub which is lovely but it's just a pub! So that's way more than we wanted to spend on feeding someone their dinner lol We went and had a look at St Neots Football club today and it's just what we are after, the room can be laid out just like a traditional wedding breakfast and the dance floor is massive! The bar is also in the same room too unlike some other venues we have looked at. The view is of a football pitch but hey I don't care, it's a clean looking view! (Might even hope for some fit footy players haha). We have been quoted 20 pound a head there for a full 3 course sit down meal which we were really pleased with and and we asked that none of the food was too poncy for want of a better word lol We are having either a prawn starter or garlic mushrooms or melon, a roast beef dinner and a chocolate pud! Later in the evening we are having bacon rolls, jacket potatoes, all the fillings and salads etc, a cheese wedding cake and crackers and a chocolate fountain so I think our guests will be nice and full and none of it is too fussy I don't think? We are having 120 guests or thereabouts for the whole day and night so I think we are getting really good value for money and now I have seen the venue I really want I am getting so excited!

I haven't got my ring yet either :( We chose it together online and went to the shop to have a look and order it but they don't stock it in store only onlin and I didn't want to pay for it to not like it then have to wait to buy another so I have decided on a different one from a different shop which I still absolutely adore even though it's a single stone with plain shoulders!

We have everything left to plan still. The vicar is coming on Saturday to confirm our date and go through things with us (we are having the 5th Oct '13). I have chosen my dress I think but I am going to go and have one more last go of it before I put a deposit on it and get it ordered. How far along are you with planning? x

Sheene Mill I have photographed at before and based on that experience I can strongly recommend the venue...

hello,

I think you should go for Lanwades wedding hall. It is situated in Newmarket. It is a really beautiful venue...just go for it without any doubt...

Hi Emma!

I'm from Royston and we are getting married at Hotel Felix - so excited!

My friend got married at Sheene Mill this year and it was so lovely! :-)

Bx

Hello everyone! It's great to find other brides planning weddings nearby.

Debs: We live in Cambridge and we're planning to get married in August 2013. St Neots Football Club sounds great, really good value for money as you say :) Exciting that you've found what you want! It sounds like you're getting on nicely with the planning, especially as you have until 5 October. We're still stuck on the venue - once we've confirmed that we will be able to sort out the registrar and then get on with all the other stuff!

Demon: Thanks for the suggestion - unfortunately Lanwades Hall only accommodates 70 people for a sit down meal, so it's not suitable for us.

Becca: Hotel Felix looks lovely! Sadly it's too small for us (we're having 95-100 guests) otherwise we would definitely have looked.

It's funny, quite a few people have told me they've been to weddings at Sheene Mill, and everyone says it's lovely! We really liked it when we went to visit, but we're starting to have second thoughts because of the price. They have quoted us £9k-£10k (depending on whether we have drinks as part of the package, and how many drinks we have etc). We're wondering whether we could negotiate.

One place I found which seems like good value is Slepe Hall Hotel: http://www.slepehallhotel.co.uk/weddings/index.asp They are booked up for Saturdays in July and August 2013, but they are worth looking at if you have other dates in mind.

I've also asked for more info from the Athenaeum in Bury St Edmunds. It's quite far from Cambridge but we're getting a bit desperate now!

just a quickie to say that I'm in Cambridgeshire too - not that far from Royston, I live in Sawston.  I've looked at a few venues, including the Belfry but will probably go for Abington Hall, Great Abington...  only disadvantage with that is that you have to drive through a science park to get to it (the land the Hall owned is now the science park) but we both like it. 

also looked at the DoubleTree Hilton by the river, very pretty if the weather is nice and you get your own private garden bit. 

The Double Tree is lovely I looked at that but only got as far as looking online lol What about South Farm have you looked at that? What is your budget for your venue? I would have LOVED South Farm but our budget wouldn't allow it but it's gorgeous and there is accomodation for yourself and hubby and then there are old fashioned trailer things for guests and also camping space! x

http://www.south-farm.co.uk/about/

Hi Debs, yes I really love South Farm too - I had spotted it before getting engaged! But it's more expensive than Sheene Mill - would have cost us over £15k (for 100 guests) for a Saturday in the summer. Also, they're completely booked up for next year, and apparently they do weddings every single day so it's a bit of a production line. Apart from all that (!) it looks lovely...

Hi Lynd, we looked at Abington Hall too - we thought it was nice but we ruled it out mainly because the ceremony room only fits 70, and we need room for 95-100. But we really liked the big green space with the lovely oak tree, and the fact that the restaurant has huge windows overlooking that and the hall. Oh and all the guest rooms are handy too! If you like it then go for it - from the research I've done, it looks like one of the better value venues.

xx

Yeah I hadn't thought of that actually, I did know about it being booked up duh!

I have just had a look at Sheene Mill, it's lovely!