We got married here in March 2024 and I would never recommended this venue to get married at.
I felt extremely let down and disappointed in the venue and organisation on the day. I felt anxious, stressed, worried, and spent a lot of my time keeping on top of the event rather than enjoying my wedding day – this is not what any bride should have to deal with.
I’ve listed below some things that happened on the day which affected my experience negatively and thought I should bring them to other brides attention so no other bride feels the way I did.
•Firstly, when my bridesmaids and I were leaving to go to the Chapel it was heavily raining so we were waiting for the buggy as we were told it make a few trips to take everyone over however this was not the case. The buggy could only take myself plus two others and would not allow children, so my other bridesmaids and flower girls had to run in the rain in their dresses with their hair and make up done. They were not even provided with umbrellas!
•A huge issue for myself and my groom was that our wedding photos should have been taken during the drinks reception, but this did not happen as Dani our wedding co-ordinator informed us there was another wedding walking around the venue with a videographer and a photographer, so we were not allowed to use the space. I spoke with my videographer and photographer about this, and they informed me the venue were being extremely difficult with regards to timings and that their hands were tied. Therefore, the only photos we had taken of us as a couple are a handful in the corridor. This is beyond unacceptable. As a married couple, photos are the biggest part of the day, and they are treasured for years after the wedding as a chance to reflect on the most magical day – this was taken away from us and we have barely anything to show for it.
•As a result of the above we have a very limited timeframe to take photos, with our photographer trying their best in an awful situation, we had our photos taken after dinner in the corner of the room. Mine and my bridesmaids hair and makeup was not full and fresh, my child had eaten dinner, so he was agitated and tired, we had to miss our main course in order to ensure we had family shots, and we were standing in a corner of the room. This is not how I planned my wedding photos to be, and it certainly is not what was promised when I booked this venue.
Another point is that our wedding evening was planned to start at 7:30pm, but we had no DJ and the tables had not been cleared by the point our evening guests were arriving. I spoke to the wedding co-ordinator and was told the DJ was in another wedding covering for a different DJ how this is okay?
•I was in contact with Dani throughout the day and raised all of these concerns to her but felt as though I was met with a blunt, rude, and dismissive attitude. I did not feel supported or heard and spent the entire day with anxiety and stress caused by the huge disappointment that was the venue.
We booked Old Thorns because of it’s reputation and with the amount of weddings they host, we trusted we would be looked after and have the wedding day we dreamed of. It is really sad that we were left with such a disheartening experience and after spending so much money on a day that did not live up to the expectations because of the venue.