We got married in Danby castle at the end of June and it was truly magical! The view is honestly incredible and so many of our guests said they’ve never seen a setting like it for a wedding - we are so pleased we picked Danby!
Here are some of the things which really stood out for us:
- the food was amazing! We did an all vegan wedding and were initially nervous about this, but we didn’t need to be - the canapés (gyozas and sweetcorn fritters) were delicious, as was the main meal - the sticky toffee pudding was INCREDIBLE!!! If you want to do an all vegan wedding - this is the place! They were also very accommodating with allergies and really took it seriously (they made our guests with nut allergies sign something but she said this felt like they were taking it seriously and reassured her).
- The venue is stunning, the barn was beautiful and even at full capacity (just over 100 people in the small barn) it didn’t feel too cramped. All I would say is with that many people you can’t hear the music at all, so doing a wedding breakfast playlist was a bit of a waste and we also couldn’t hear our entrance music over all the cheering).
- All the staff were so friendly and lovely.
- There was never a queue at the bar - the staff were quick at serving and the drinks prices were really reasonable.
- The sound limiter in the bar/dance floor part wasn’t too quiet - the music was loud and the dance floor was big enough.
We wanted the review to be honest, so although we really loved our day, there are some administrative and organisational things that really need improving:
- communication with staff: every time we rang we would speak to a different person (all lovely) and would often be given different answers to the same question.
- We were told we could have certain drinks deals as part of a one off Black Friday deal, then when calling back to book we were told they weren’t part of the deal / they didn’t know the deals were on.
- We requested 2 food options for our wedding breakfast as we weren’t having a meat option, but we were initially told no (which we felt was unfair given that non-vegan weddings would generally have 2 options with meat/veggie/allergens) but it was subsequently agreed to.
- We were told because we were having a bigger wedding (around 100 day guests), staff would need 3 hours to serve the three course meal and we agreed to a timeline on that basis. However, just 3 days before our wedding, we were told that food service would actually only take 2 hours and staff suggested that we should move forward all our evening suppliers and evening guests, otherwise we’d have an hour spare. In the end, we decided to move suppliers forward but not evening guests. Then the next day, 2 DAYS BEFORE they told us it would in fact take 3 hours to serve everyone - it was too late to change plans with the suppliers at this point and fortunately we had not taken their advice regarding evening guests. In reality, food service took a little over 3 hours so our evening guests still arrived whilst we were doing speeches, which wasn’t ideal. The inconsistent communication and last minute changes so close to the wedding were stressful!
- We agreed at time of booking and in the final details meeting that my bridesmaids and I would be allowed into the getting ready room at 7am (slightly earlier than usual). However, when my mum contacted the venue 2 days before the wedding, our co-ordinator said she was not aware of this request and it seemed that this would not have been done if we had not reminded the venue of it at late notice (which really would have been a disaster with hair/makeup timelines).
- The venue also contacted us numerous times in the days leading up to the wedding (which was a stressful and busy time!) to say that some of our suppliers had not got back to them regarding PAT testing of electrical appliances (having previously said that they would request this from suppliers so that we didn’t have to). They told us that the suppliers wouldn’t be able to come if they did not provide this information. We had to contact the suppliers, a number of whom had told us Danby had never actually requested this Information from them and others said they’d already given it to Danby. Danby rang me at 4:30pm the day before my wedding following up about this. This seemed unnecessary and chaotic and added a lot of last minute stress.
- They gave us the wrong wedding cake the next day, which wasn’t a big deal because we just went back the later in the evening and exchanged it and they were very apologetic, but worth checking it’s your cake before you leave!
The other thing we felt needed mentioning was that the venue is not set up for big weddings (or at least is wasn’t in June, things may have changed?)- after all our guests had had one reception drink, they ran out of glasses and were serving drinks out of cheap disposable plastic cups. Not the vibe for a wedding or when you are paying that much for a drink! They just weren’t prepared for large numbers of guests.
Overall, the communication with the venue was quite chaotic but we wouldn’t have changed the venue. It was beautiful and perfect for us, the staff are all very lovely and you’ll get the most beautiful photos and memories here!We got married in Danby castle at the end of June and it was truly magical! The view is honestly incredible and so many of our guests said they’ve never seen a setting like it for a wedding - we are so pleased we picked Danby!
Here are some of the things which really stood out for us:
- the food was amazing! We did an all vegan wedding and were initially nervous about this, but we didn’t need to be - the canapés (gyozas and sweetcorn fritters) were delicious, as was the main meal - the sticky toffee pudding was INCREDIBLE!!! If you want to do an all vegan wedding - this is the place! They were also very accommodating with allergies and really took it seriously (they made our guests with nut allergies sign something but she said this felt like they were taking it seriously and reassured her).
- The venue is stunning, the barn was beautiful and even at full capacity (just over 100 people in the small barn) it didn’t feel too cramped. All I would say is with that many people you can’t hear the music at all, so doing a wedding breakfast playlist was a bit of a waste and we also couldn’t hear our entrance music over all the cheering).
- All the staff were so friendly and lovely.
- There was never a queue at the bar - the staff were quick at serving and the drinks prices were really reasonable.
- The sound limiter in the bar/dance floor part wasn’t too quiet - the music was loud and the dance floor was big enough.
We wanted the review to be honest, so although we really loved our day, there are some administrative and organisational things that really need improving:
- communication with staff: every time we rang we would speak to a different person (all lovely) and would often be given different answers to the same question.
- We were told we could have certain drinks deals as part of a one off Black Friday deal, then when calling back to book we were told they weren’t part of the deal / they didn’t know the deals were on.
- We requested 2 food options for our wedding breakfast as we weren’t having a meat option, but we were initially told no (which we felt was unfair given that non-vegan weddings would generally have 2 options with meat/veggie/allergens) but it was subsequently agreed to.
- We were told because we were having a bigger wedding (around 100 day guests), staff would need 3 hours to serve the three course meal and we agreed to a timeline on that basis. However, just 3 days before our wedding, we were told that food service would actually only take 2 hours and staff suggested that we should move forward all our evening suppliers and evening guests, otherwise we’d have an hour spare. In the end, we decided to move suppliers forward but not evening guests. Then the next day, 2 DAYS BEFORE they told us it would in fact take 3 hours to serve everyone - it was too late to change plans with the suppliers at this point and fortunately we had not taken their advice regarding evening guests. In reality, food service took a little over 3 hours so our evening guests still arrived whilst we were doing speeches, which wasn’t ideal. The inconsistent communication and last minute changes so close to the wedding were stressful!
- We agreed at time of booking and in the final details meeting that my bridesmaids and I would be allowed into the getting ready room at 7am (slightly earlier than usual). However, when my mum contacted the venue 2 days before the wedding, our co-ordinator said she was not aware of this request and it seemed that this would not have been done if we had not reminded the venue of it at late notice (which really would have been a disaster with hair/makeup timelines).
- The venue also contacted us numerous times in the days leading up to the wedding (which was a stressful and busy time!) to say that some of our suppliers had not got back to them regarding PAT testing of electrical appliances (having previously said that they would request this from suppliers so that we didn’t have to). They told us that the suppliers wouldn’t be able to come if they did not provide this information. We had to contact the suppliers, a number of whom had told us Danby had never actually requested this Information from them and others said they’d already given it to Danby. Danby rang me at 4:30pm the day before my wedding following up about this. This seemed unnecessary and chaotic and added a lot of last minute stress.
- They gave us the wrong wedding cake the next day, which wasn’t a big deal because we just went back the later in the evening and exchanged it and they were very apologetic, but worth checking it’s your cake before you leave!
The other thing we felt needed mentioning was that the venue is not set up for big weddings (or at least is wasn’t in June, things may have changed?)- after all our guests had had one reception drink, they ran out of glasses and were serving drinks out of cheap disposable plastic cups. Not the vibe for a wedding or when you are paying that much for a drink! They just weren’t prepared for large numbers of guests.
Overall, the communication with the venue was quite chaotic but we wouldn’t have changed the venue. It was beautiful and perfect for us, the staff are all very lovely and you’ll get the most beautiful photos and memories here!