When it came to picking a venue for our wedding reception, we had no clue where to start. I knew what I didn’t want though, and that was anything over priced and pretentious!

My Mother in Law to be kindly stepped in and helped me out big time, she took me to a few places to have a look round, some we were impressed with, others not so much. Then we found our Venue – The Colonnade at The Manor of Groves in High Wych. I had such great feel for the place and the space was quite vast, bearing in mind that although we are having a small and intimate wedding dinner, we want a mahoosive party in the evening so space is top of the list! As you can see it is a beautiful place, quite Edwardian. The food menu they offer is really varied, and the drinks packages are flexible. They literally would take care of everything for us. Guests received a discounted rate, and they would provide a private breakfast for us all the following morning, fantastic!

I took the Fiancé along to check it out, he wasn’t overly enamoured at first. I think he had imagined something different for our wedding, in his mind he had conjured up a quirky farmhouse sort of wedding ideal, with spit roasts and such like. I initially had this sort of wedding in mind too, a really relaxed affair, something that was really just how we wanted it. But quirky farmhouses are few and far between around here, especially within our budget. And we had the issue of sorting out caterers, crockery, linen, tables, chairs etc. I just felt this would add on more stress!

Being realistic about it, The Manor of Groves is a convenient option. It is a fifteen minute drive from our Church, and easy for our guests to find. I didn’t want a venue in which the guests spent an hour travelling to from the Church. So after a few calls from the venue saying they had interest from other couples, I took it upon myself to pay the deposit to confirm our date. I rushed into it completely, it was a giant leap of faith really because although we thought it was a great venue, the only reason it was so great was because of convenience. Yes the alarm bells started ringing. Hammering in fact.

After (yet another) wedding related meltdown, I took a drive to where my Mum’s memorial tree is to get some headspace and do some thinking aloud. On the drive there I cut through a village we used to live in when I was a teen, and saw a road sign for a restaurant called ‘Coltsfoot’. I remembered an old boss years ago telling me what a great venue it is, so when I got home I looked it up on the net and gave them a call… the ladies name was also Jenny, and I told her about my venue meltdown, and that the village has such a special place in my heart because it’s where I grew up, and because it reminds me of my Mum. The poor woman basically got my life story! I had to go and look at it, but were they available on our wedding date? Nope. They were the week after though……

We viewed it on a really sunny day, and my heart flipped over in my chest when we pulled up outside. Coltsfoot Country Retreat in all it’s glory. I remembered from CAOS’s wedding report that she had also had Venue issues, and I knew that I had to trust my instincts. It’s so important to be in love with your Venue!

I loved it. It was totally what I had envisioned for our reception, and they would cater for us allowing spit roasts, bbq’s, bacon butties, ice cream vans and whatnot. We could have anything we ruddy well wanted! I actually hopped with glee. I had a lump in my throat about it (yes dramatic I know).

So here we had ourselves a bit of a dilemma. Plus points were perfect venue, perfect area, just perfect everything, and minus points were losing a hefty deposit on The Colonnade, and a 45 min drive from the church. Hmmm.

What the heck were we going to do….??

Love

Jen xxx

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