The Old Vicarage Boutique Wedding Venue Reviews
The Old Vicarage Boutique Wedding Venue
Southwell, NottinghamshireReviews
4.9 out of 5 rating
4.9 out of 5 rating
106 reviews
99% recommend it
Badges
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Stacy L. Sent on 11/04/2023
Terrible terms and conditions to agree to, made us very cautious wedding venue hunting!
Just so there are no crossed wires about the whereabouts of this venue this review is based on my dealings and service regarding our wedding booking at the Old Vicarage in Southwell, Nottingham.
Laura, who is the only lady I have met at this venue due to her showing my fiancée and I around for our viewing for a potential wedding there , she was lovely, open, friendly and honest, we spent just over an hour with her one Sunday afternoon (end of Jan 2023) whilst she beamed about the venue, showed us around all of the wonderful bedrooms and she was proud to let us know she got married there. All was well and within a few days we were keen to get a booking in (paid early Feb for a wedding on a Saturday in June 2024.
The old vicarage was the only venue we had viewed, we looked at various venues online so we felt the Old Vicarage was right for us due to the decor, the location and the layout of the venue plus having Laura alongside to work with.
We handed over 1K to lock in a wedding date via bank transfer (should have noticed a red flag here as only bank transfer and cash were accepted)
After reading all of the pages of the contract thoroughly (and there were a few) we felt really concerned.
We didn’t expect such harsh and unrealistic terms and conditions.
I would advise if you are planning to get married here these are the terms you and your partner need to agree with-
1. The total cost given is with and without VAT in the contract so with some and without in other parts of it so you need to work it out and read very carefully
2. Be prepared to NOT be able to taste the food they will be presenting to your guests for the wedding breakfast as they just don’t offer that piece of mind
3. No draught beer!!! Terrible for the chaps. Min card payment of £10 and no cash accepted at the bar (doesn’t matter if you were planning on paying for all but in case you decide to have a fixed figure behind the ‘bar’ this could be an issue for the odd guest
4. There are 8 bedrooms at the old vicarage, each being £195 per room (without VAT and including breakfast) so that’s £1870 total. If you would like to stay the night before your wedding (which I wanted to, you are penalised for it) so you can but for over double as much as the night of your wedding (£4200 that’s including the VAT of which I did the Math for) with zero negotiation even them not having a wedding at the venue the day before.
5. You can only arrive at the venue 1 hour before the wedding ceremony (no earlier!!) and you are limited to who comes in the bridal suite with you. So if you would like photos arriving and time to get into your wedding dress and have a glass so you are feeling nice and relaxed forget it!
6. No fridges available for your cake or flowers
7. Any staff member are within their rights to enter any of our guests bedrooms at any time and take any alcohol that has been purchased outside of the venue and will charge £50 for EACH item found. Wow! (Not that any of our guests would consider this but the old vicarage is very keen to keep the money coming in)
8. If you do for whatever reason decide to cancel you will be charged £120 per hour based on the time the wedding planner/s have spent to date
9. Further, once we had paid the £19.900 for this (of which we had to add the canapés because they forgot that cost) we get the pleasure of being charged a further ‘non-discretionary’ 3% of the whole balance to pay the staff that are on shift for our wedding day to cover their wages.
10. If you would like an outside wedding you can have it for an additional fee, that was fine with us however we were not allowed to chance it up until the day before but make a decision a week before
Once I flagged all of our concerns I was told there will not be any refund of our £1000 despite them having a ‘14 day change of mind policy’ and they did not deem it necessary to even explain why. Suzanne Fitzpatrick (the owner of the venue) who I dealt with via email whilst asking if it was possible for our deposit back was a hard person and really difficult, not even an alternative or half based on the wedding being in a year and a half was even considered. The whole contract had holes in. I spoke with Suzanne for the first time over the phone today. Terribly patronising.
Timeline-
Paid the deposit 2nd Feb 2023
Sent back the signed event order schedule 20th Feb 2023
Cancelled the 24th having not wanted to send the terms and conditions back signed and based on all noted above she didn’t offer a compromise just said she didn’t have to give it back.
I really wasn’t expecting to read all the agreements required this is why I am leaving a review to urge others to read thoroughly.The Old Vicarage Boutique Wedding Venue's reply:
Hi Stacy
Thank you for your much anticipated review.
It has been very interesting reading your review and points you have made to why you were not happy. We have taken this opportunity to clarify and respond below.
1. All couples receive a wedding quote at their initial wedding show round appointment. This information gives a total cost for the type of wedding you are looking for, all inclusive of VAT for complete transparency and ease. The hire of all our eight boutique bedrooms plus VAT for the night of your wedding is also detailed on this wedding quote.
2. As an exclusive use wedding venue we solely use an in house chef rather than a catering company. This means that due to the nature of what we do, we are unfortunately unable offer food tastings. This information is no secret and is detailed in our FAQs and T&Qs you received prior to booking your wedding. We do however encourage our couples to attend our many events and open days during the run up to their wedding to taste our delicious canapés and meals so that they can get a taste of what we have to offer. However our review alone speak volumes of the standard of food we produce.
3. During all of our show round appointments we inform you that we do not offer any beer on draught. During your visit to The Old Vicarage, we show you the bar and discuss pricing and what we have to offer. Our fridges are very visible for you to make the judgement of what beers we sell. We are a card only bar and we don’t have a minimum card spend.
4. Exclusivity the night before is an option to our couples. We understand this isn’t in everyones budget and therefore we give recommendations on other lovely local accommodation suitable for wedding party’s to get ready before arriving at The Old Vicarage.
5. If you don’t book exclusivity the night before, you can arrive from 12.30pm on the day of your wedding and we advise that you have your hair and make-up done before you arrive at The Old Vicarage. You will then have 45 – 50 minutes to get into your dress and have photos of you getting ready in a beautiful clean and tidy room - some couples like this option. Again, this information was given to you at your initial show round appointment and also included in your quotation FAQs and T&Cs. As explained to you, we advise a maximum of 6 guests to join you in the wedding suite to get changed - This is to avoid the wedding suite getting too busy, stressful and overwhelming for our brides/grooms. As an experienced wedding venue we know what works and what doesn’t, we are here to give you our advice however, it is entirely your choice if you wish to have more.
6. Your cake and flowers arrive on the day of your wedding, therefore not requiring refrigeration. However, if you had asked us, we would of explained that if any flowers or cake needed to be refrigerated due to excessive heat, this is something we can do and have done in the past.
7. No alcohol is permitted to be brought onto the grounds of The Old Vicarage. This is part of our licensing and detailed in our FAQs and T&S which you received prior to booking your wedding.
8. All our cancellation terms and costs are clearly detailed in our T&Cs, which again you received prior to booking your wedding with us.
9. Unfortunately, unless you express that you would like canapés, we wouldn’t know that you would want them. We never like to push additional cost items to couples however during your wedding show round we would have explained the pricing and how it works. For example, we charge £10.95 + VAT and each guest effectively gets four canapés per person. You can choose any four canapés from our menu. Had you have mentioned that you would like canapés, we would have added this to your wedding quote.
We add a 3% non-discretionary service charge to final invoices. This cost gets divided between all staff that work on your wedding day. This is in addition to their wages and not to cover their wages which it clearly states on your wedding quote and our FAQs.
10. Regarding an outdoor ceremony, which you may have also misunderstood this information given to you during your wedding show round. If you are planning to have an outdoor ceremony, we ask that a week prior to your wedding you make a decision to whether you would like your ceremony to be indoor or outdoor. If you know the weather is going to be awful for example, we offer a full refund one week before. If you decide to have an outdoor ceremony, we still set up both ceremonies which gives you the flexibility to decided whether you would like it in or out on the day. The reason we cannot refund you within the week is due to us committing to staffing - it is imperative that we have the correct amount of staff on that day as, as you can imagine requires a lot more man power.
You received a detailed wedding quote on 22nd January 2023 at your show round appointment which included FAQs and also our terms and conditions which details all the above information.
You then proceeded to book your wedding with us on 1st February 2023. After a change of your preferred wedding date, we sent you a booking confirmation email which again included your wedding quote (including VAT) with FAQs, terms and conditions and an event order schedule which details your payment structure, including VAT which you signed and returned to us.
You requested to cancel your wedding on 24th February 2023 admitting you had not reviewed our terms and conditions properly. Ultimately, you have broke your contract with us because of your negligence and have now written an unjustified complaint. We advise every couple to thoroughly check through all documentation before booking which is essential before entering into any agreement.
We make ourselves available 7 days a week and at no time prior to your booking were any of the issues in your review raised with us. Only after canceling your first wedding meeting one hour before you were due to arrive did you express any concerns about access time, guest numbers to the wedding suite or our license not allowing a band outside during the day, which ironically you haven’t raised in your review.
As a well established and respected business who prides ourselves on being upfront and transparent, we do not take lightly to threats being made over the phone or via email to slander our business’s name and reputation.
We hope you find the right wedding venue for you and wish you all the best for your future together.
Kindest regards,
The Old Vicarage -
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Deborah G. Sent on 25/08/202301.07.2023 the most wonderful day ♥️
My husband and I got married at the Old Vicarage on the 1st July 2023. From attending the open day and seeing the venue my husband and I fell in love with it. The grounds and rooms are stunning and the attention to detail in every way was outstanding. Laura and the team put us at ease and answered any questions we had. The day itself was incredible and all we could have wished for.
Our guests also commented how wonderful this venue really is. The food was incredible, some of the best we have ever eaten. Thank you so much for making our special day as fantastic as it was, we couldn’t be happier
Deb & Rob -
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Sammie E. Sent on 08/10/2023The most amazing venue
My husband and I married at The Old Vicarage in June and from start to finish it was the most amazing day. As soon as I saw the venue online I knew it was the place we would tie the knot. This was then cemented as soon as we arrived to view the venue. The staff were all extremely friendly and helpful and were always willing to go the extra mile in every step of the planning. My hundreds of questions were always left answered and nothing seemed too much to deal with. Fast forward to the day and they left me with absolutely no stress, running the day exactly as planned which was a massive sigh of relief for a nervous bride! All of our guests complimented the venue and the food got amazing reviews. I’m gutted that our big day is over and I’ll be forever grateful to all the staff but especially Laura & Jess for all of their help!
Mr & Mrs May, 24.06.23 x -
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Daina S. Sent on 07/05/2023
Amazing Experience
We got married at The Old Vicarage on the 18th March this year and I have been thinking about what to write as a review to do this place justice ever since and I’ve realised I don’t think I can actually put into words how amazing this venue, the staff and our day was. From the minute we stepped into TOV on our first visit we fell in love with the place, Laura the Events Manager is amazing and was with us right from booking through to our big day. My bridesmaids and I stayed over the evening before the wedding and it was the best decision. No request is too big, not only was I pregnant when we got married but I’d also had some health issues which meant I had to have a special diet, which TOV completely catered for to ensure I was ok throughout the day. The team really are experts in what they do. If you are thinking of booking TOV I would recommend going to an open day and meeting all of their regular and trusted suppliers, this takes loads of stress out of trying to find suppliers for the big day.
Our wedding was a total dream, even torrential rain didn’t spoil it! We can’t thank the team enough xx -
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Chelsey C. Sent on 07/09/2022
Our wedding 05/08
We honestly cannot thank The Old Vicarage Boutique for hosting our wedding. We booked prior to covid and we contacted Laura as we fell pregnant during the pandemic and we were due to marry 2021. We managed to move our date to 2022 and we cannot thank all the staff for helping us plan our special day.
A special shout out to Laura who handled all my stressful moments and gave me advice and wisdom and listened to me during all my rants.
The service was second to none and they accommodated my last minute requests and even on the day gave me the minutes I needed with my dad before greeting all my guests by walking up the aisle.
They helped me plan the day down to T and assured me on every aspect.
The food was absolutely delicious and even our guests complemented the food and we have some picky eaters. They even accommodated my 2 year old who had struggled with the typical food groups.
Our stay was magical and our day was everything we imagined and so much more.
Laura and Chelsea also helped when we asked for music suggestions for walking down the aisle etc. they fit perfectly into our day and were everything we wanted and so much more. Even when it started to drizzle just as I was about to walk out the doors to the bandstand the staff were amazing providing umbrellas just in case but luckily enough my grandad in heaven shone the sun as I stepped out.
Thank you to all the staff for serving us and keeping all our day running to schedule. We appreciate you all.The Old Vicarage Boutique Wedding Venue's reply:
Wow, what a lovely review! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this! Your wedding was so special from start to finish and we are thrilled that you had a wonderful day! -
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