Southend Barns

10 User photos

• 

  Kimberly · Married on 27/08/2018

  5.0

  • Quality of the Service:
    5.0
  • Responsiveness:
    5.0
  • Value for Money:
    5.0
  • Flexibility:
    5.0
  • Professionalism:
    5.0

  Wonderful Southend Barns

  We got married at Southend Barns in August 2018 and had the wedding day of our dreams. The Southend Barns and Field and Fork teams are absolutely outstanding. They are experts in the best in the industry. Nothing is too much trouble for them. They listen to your visions and ideas and just make everything happen effortlessly. Rob from Field and Fork who ran the operation on the day is absolutely phenomenal at what he does. He filled us with confidence as soon as we met him and he ensured that everything on the day was absolutely perfect. The level of service delivered by Rob’s Team was extremely high. My background is in premium hospitality so I’m rather fussy when it comes to good service and they absolutely blew my socks off! The service was professional, effortless and unobtrusive. Everything just happened and the staff seemed to know what our guests needed before the guest even knew themselves!
  
  The venue itself is absolutely stunning. Every detail has been carefully considered and the grounds are immaculate. There are beautiful flowers everywhere. The two barns are gorgeous and so atmospheric. The venue also have a number of fantastic props that you can borrow (included in venue hire cost) such as a postbox for cards, blankets, sheepskin bench covers, room dividers, lawn games and centre pieces. The attention to detail is second-to-none.
  
  We knew we wanted to get married at Southend Barns from the moment we stepped inside and met Mariella. Our wedding day completely exceeded our expectations. Our guests are all still talking about it. Thank you Southend Barns... you are absolutely wonderful.

  Sent on 15/09/2018

• 

  Lucy Keable-Hallitt · Married on 03/08/2018

  5.0

  • Quality of the Service:
    5.0
  • Responsiveness:
    5.0
  • Value for Money:
    5.0
  • Flexibility:
    5.0
  • Professionalism:
    5.0

  Perfect wedding day

  We got married at Southend Barns on 3rd August 2018.
  
  The most important thing for us was always the venue; as well as having all the essentials, it had to all be in one place to save travelling between venues, it had to have a bit of a "wow" factor and it needed to accommodate around 100 guests of all ages.
  
  We viewed a handful of venues but Southend Barns won hands-down because of the outside space and the friendly and welcoming staff.
  
  We got married inside - as it was 30C degrees and didn't want our guests to burn/die of heatstroke - but the recently-built outside ceremony area is absolutely stunning, so we would recommend booking a viewing even just to see it!
  
  The venue is absolutely flawless, the staff are extremely organised and catered for our (very specific) needs! My husband sang me down the aisle and they made sure everything was in place to make this possible, including several practice runs.
  
  Alice was absolutely brilliant. She completely put us both at ease and on the day she kept my husband calm and collected beforehand. Every detail was thought of, and - whilst that means more time planning the day - it meant that we all knew what was happening and literally EVERYTHING went to plan. Not one thing went wrong and we just couldn't believe how smoothly the whole day went.
  
  Thank you SO much for hosting us and all our guests, for organising the big day and giving us the most stress-free and perfect wedding possible!

  Sent on 09/08/2018

• 

  Roger · Married on 10/06/2018

  1.8

  • Quality of the Service:
    1.0
  • Responsiveness:
    2.0
  • Value for Money:
    3.0
  • Flexibility:
    1.0
  • Professionalism:
    2.0

  Stunning venue but shame about the service

  We got married at Southend Barns in June 2018 and had a wonderful wedding. The venue is an Ibiza style modern venue with a beautiful barn area and outdoor grass areas that was exactly our taste. The caterers and Rob in particular were truly amazing.
  
  Unfortunately the venue owner and one of the staff seemed to be more concerned about what suited them than what we wanted. Throughout the booking and planning stages we dealt exclusively with Laura who was very pleasant and we didn’t have any issues. 3 days before our wedding we had a drop-off where you leave your decorations, drinks etc. At this time we were introduced to Alice (another venue rep) who we had not dealt with before. We had included some confetti cannons that we had planned to use as our big entrance to the wedding breakfast as a married couple. She took one look at them and said they don’t allow confetti cannons because they might make a mess and go on the ceiling beams (being difficult to remove). After some discussion with the owner Mariella we were told we could use them but that if there was any cleaning of the beams required after then we would need to pay for this. We were ok with that.
  
  Subsequently Alice contacted my entertainment supplier who was involved with our entrance sequence expressing concerns about the cannons (I know this because my entertainment supplier relayed this to me) and the following morning (now 48 hours before our wedding) I got an email from the owner Mariella saying that we were no longer allowed to use confetti cannons because this was a health and safety issue (apparently people might slip on the confetti- interesting that they never even mentioned this in our earlier conversation) and that we were not allowed according to their terms and conditions. I replied to her email asking for her to call me but she did not get in touch and the office did not answer or return any of my numerous calls that morning. Luckily my father lived nearby and drove over there to find them all in the office chatting (not looking very busy). When my father asked the owner if she could call me she said she was too busy and refused, my father had to call me on his mobile in front of her and pass it to her in order for me to eventually speak to her. Ultimately (after plenty of arguing) she agreed we could use one confetti cannon but no more. We went ahead on this basis and it was OK but the whole thing was highly stressful and not pleasant at all. Remember this all happened 48 hours before our wedding and was the last thing we needed!
  
  So if you are planning to book this venue (which is lovely) then you should have a good think about exactly what you want at the wedding, check it all is OK (preferably in writing) and have a good read of their terms and conditions, expect them to be quoted to you later if not! If you can do your wedding the way they want you to and comply with all their rules then you should have a wonderful wedding as the venue is stunning.
  
  Examples of things they don’t allow (according to their terms and conditions and our experience) includes;
  
  1. Confetti cannons or confetti that is not thrown by hand (although this is not mentioned in their terms and conditions).
  2. Paper confetti, glitter, Chinese lanterns or any confetti not made from real flowers.
  3. Sparklers.
  4. No animals except guide dogs.
  5. No external caterers or barman etc.
  
  Obviously there is no day more special than your wedding and we hoped and expected all our suppliers would do everything in their power to make it special for us, I think Mariella and Alice really need to learn to be more customer focused.
  
  I should mention that Laura (our original rep we dealt with) was lovely and even turned up to help on our wedding day when she had not planned to.
  

  Sent on 16/08/2018

  Southend Barns's reply:

  We are so sorry that you were disappointed in the service you received. We always endeavour to be as flexible as possible to make sure our couples enjoy their dream wedding day, but there are limitations in what we can do.
  
  We don't allow paper confetti cannons in the Threshing Barn primarily for health and safety reasons as our staff serve food and drinks in there and the confetti can be a slip hazard for them and for guests. Additionally it can affect future weddings due to the confetti becoming stuck in the original features of the 200-year-old barn. We are always more than happy for couples to use real petal confetti in other parts of the venue, including the Dairy Barn and the gardens.
  
  Unfortunately we were not aware of the cannons until they were dropped off two days before the wedding otherwise we would have had this conversation earlier and avoided any last minute stress, which is the last thing we want.
  
  We apologise for any miscommunication on our part and while we do have to consider health and safety, we really do try to be as accommodating as possible and have welcomed personal additions such as dogs, owls, helicopters, archery, funfairs, flyovers, fireworks and more.
  
  We really hope despite your disappointment that you still enjoyed your day and wish you all the best for the future.