Jasmine & Ryan Priest - 04/11/2023
We booked at The Compasses for our November 2023 wedding. We chose here because of the scenic location, cost, capacity and the rustic feel of the venue- we particularly loved the wooden beams and fireplaces. We had also attended a wedding here in October 2021 which was lovely, so we felt confident to go ahead with The Compasses knowing we'd be looked after.
The planning process was very smooth and Charlaine tried to accomodate us wherever possible. Charlaine was very professional throughout, easy to get ahold of, and knowledgable about the venue as a whole. She was able to make recommendations to us when we asked questions and the bundle she provided helped us to find other suppliers.
On the whole the day of our wedding was smooth. It was unfortunate that we couldn't access the venue before 10am as we needed to start getting ready long before this and subsequently had to transfer with our makeup artist to the venue partway through, but we were able to negotiate this with some extra planning and it was absolutely fine. We were given time to set the venue up the day before which avoided extra stress in the morning and had a wonderful helper in the bridal suite who brought us tea and coffee and checked that everything we needed was there.
The staff had taken lots of care of decorate the space beautifully and perfectly executed our vision, and the venue really shone once the sun had started to set and candles were lit., making everything very cosy and intimate, which was perfect for a cold November day.
We were made aware of noise limitations (for the neighbours and wildlife) which is as to be expected from any venue, but I wouldn't have asked for anything louder or different if we could have. The way that the speakers are angled means that the dance floor is a loud party that you still have to shout over to be heard, but if guests want to get away from it they can go to the quieter spots like the 2nd bar area to chat which our older guests and those with children really appreciated. One of Charlaine's great ideas was a board game table in this section which was a big hit with the children.
Our day flew by and we both had an absolutely amazing time.
Our only wishes were that we could have accessed the venue the next day to collect our items ourselves as we had left items in the bridal suite in the rush to leave at the end of the evening and then couldn't get them back for three days, one of our items was unfortunately lost, and another returned slightly damaged. There was not a wedding the next day so I wish the venue could have been more flexible on timings to allow us 20 minutes to clear down our things while we were there collecting our cars. The venue do provide tear-down services which is helpful, however I'd have been happy doing this myself to be able to get our things the next day and check everything was there. I'd recommend future couples clear the bridal room completely earlier in the day and perhaps put everything into the boot of their car, and ensure that you take all sentimental items like guestbooks, Photo Booth books, cards etc. with you that night.
We would also recommend hiring a day-of coordinator. At the wedding we had attended here previously there was a coordinator who was employed by the venue, so we had assumed we would also have one. However by our wedding that gentleman had left, and I'll be honest I'm not sure if we had a coordinator or not as no one introduced themselves as such and we had several people telling us what to do on the day. As we didn't have a clear coordinator we felt that at times we or our guests weren't sure what we were meant to be doing or what was happening next, and I found myself answering lots of logistics questions, such as whether we were having a cake cutting before or after the first dance or who would be introducing us, that I wish I'd have been able to go over with a coordinator ahead of time so that I didn't have to do anything else during the actual wedding. There were also some other small issues, like our guests coming into the ceremony room too early and opening the curtains themselves, and my father-in-law and brother-in-law having to run in because no one had told them the ceremony was about to start while they were outside, that I think could have been avoided if there was a coordinator there to take charge of the day and tell everyone where they needed to be.
That being said, I still wholeheartedly give The Compasses 5 stars as we thoroughly enjoyed our day and would do it all over again. The venue is beautiful and has come out as well as I'd hoped in our photos, and other than a couple of picky bits our day was perfect.
Thank you so much to everyone at The Compasses team for your hard work making our day so special.