This review relates to the following services purchased from the White Hart Hotel:
Diamond Package, with alterations to the packages as per our needs as a couple
It's worth noting that we did not get married at the White Hart, and instead utilised their venue for a full wedding reception, including the 3-course meal, evening reception and buffet, as well as accommodation for guests and the use of the bridal suite the night before, and the night of the wedding.

Before the big day:
We found the thing that drew us to the White Hart was - and it shouldn't be a surprise - the setting. Not only is the hotel incredibly beautiful, well presented, clean and tidy, with very good staff, but the location cannot be beaten by any venue in Lincoln (except maybe the Cathedral itself!).
We found the discussions with Helen, the events manager, to be very helpful and accommodating.
Helen took us on a tour of the venue to show us everything from the dedicated wedding reception space, the bridal suite, normal guest rooms, and even the venue's terrace.
We also attended a wedding open day to see the venue setup, and consider additional vendors for the day.

As mentioned, we went with the venue's top tier package, and Helen helped guide us through altering it to suit our needs. This included:
1. Removing the DJ from the package. As we didn't want/need a DJ, this was taken out and the value was re-allocated to flowers, which was perfect for us!
2. We added an additional 'course' to the wedding breakfast, composing tea & coffee for our guests.
3. Additional canapes
4. Additional room hire for the bridal suite the night before the wedding

Beyond the package, we found the management and communication of our needs to exceed our expectations prior to the big day.
Helen was very accommodating with changes, odd requests for guests, and our needs/wants as a couple.

The venue itself accommodated our guests needs for their rooms, and parking.

The big day itself:
We got married outside of Lincoln in a Church. However, the bride and her bridal party got ready in the hotel's Brownlow suite on the morning of the wedding, and stayed the night before.
The suite itself was very well equipped, beautiful and worth every penny.

We setup the reception/dining room ourselves. The venue had offered, but we wanted to handle this, so this was no issue.

What went well:
The food was incredible. No guest left hungry, and everyone commented on how good the food was, both during the wedding breakfast but into the evening at the buffet as well.
Staff were attentive, professional and helpful. Even the bar staff did wonders for us and the guests on the day.
The room and bar were well equipped and beautiful
The florists chosen by the venue - Chambers Florist - were very good.
The venue were more than willing to accommodate dogs, which helped us include our own, but also meant our guests with service animals felt welcome.
The Bridal suite is possibly the best hotel room, and best view you could ever ask for.
The booking, admin, contracting and payment process was smooth, and clear.
Guests commented and loved the rooms they stayed in.
Beyond the wedding rooms, the venue has a brilliant ambience/quality that can't be beaten.

What could have gone better:
While the venue itself was lovely, the overall co-ordination on the day felt inconsistent.
Food services ran much later than planned out between ourselves and Helen. This meant that key moments like speeches and the cake cutting were not only rushed, but almost cut entirely.
There were also some execution issues - rose wine was placed on the tables in place of red wine, and the tea and coffee course we had added on as an additional element was subsequently missed out.
To elaborate on this, the intention was for the tea and coffee to be served during the speeches, or afterwards. Because everything was delayed and evening guests had arrived (on time), we had to clear the dining room and so tea and coffee ended up being ill-placed nearly the bar, and not advertised.

Another challenge was communication. We had made several requests in advance that were not followed through.
For example, we had made requests specifically about the bridal suite to make us feel more welcome on the night of the wedding, including bedding being changed from the night prior, and the complimentary champagne and chocolates to be put in the room for that night, and not the one before.
These did not get actioned.
Equally, we received little support on the morning of the wedding with logistics, whereby reception didn't direct our vendors (hairdressers etc.) to the bridal suite, meaning our party had to manage this themselves.

Possibly the most disappointing challenge was breakfast for the bridal suite. The hotel had offered to bring the breakfast to the bridal party in the morning, and asked us for the number of attendees.
We found this to be incredibly positive - initially - as the call from the hotel in advance of the wedding about this was a surprise, and definitely made the morning seem easier.
However, we found the breakfast to be lackluster (think a single pain-au-chocolat/croissant per guest) when compared with the breakfast served downstairs to all guests (which was excellent the morning after the wedding). The bridal party had to ask for juice to be brought, as this had been missed/forgotten.
The phone also didn't work in the room, meaning staff-bridal suite communication was amiss.
The bridal party had also asked for some drinks to be brought to the bridal suite the evening before the wedding, to celebrate having just setup the wedding reception. This was promised (and even suggested by the hotel staff...), but never delivered by the hotel.

Added to that, on the morning when the groom arrived at the White Hart's private car park waited for 5 minutes on the phone to reception for the barrier to be raised - they never answered - meaning he was late for his appointments in the morning to get ready.
Other guests notably had the same issue, and ended up parking in the public car park. We paid £100 for the private car park for some of our guests staying at the hotel, which therefore went to waste.

We fully appreciate these issues sit with the hotel, rather than the events team, but hopefully you can appreciate how this has led to us feeling that our 'special' day at the White Hart really didn't matter to the venue.

After our wedding - two weeks on - we haven't received any follow-ups, or requests for feedback. Whilst we're aware this is common practice (not asking for feedback) in this industry, we have found this matched the overall feeling that co-ordination tapered off right as the wedding day arrived, rather than being active throughout the day and after.

To summarise:
We found the White Hart to be a beautiful setting, with great food and regular staff being incredibly attentive. As the bride and groom, it's very easy for us to spot these problems and hold them to heart, but we must reiterate these did not spoil our big day, and we're so grateful to Helen and the team for everything.
Would we recommend the White Hart for a wedding? Absolutely.
Would we recommend staying at the hotel? Maybe. We'll probably be back, but maybe not with special requests