We booked a New Year's Eve wedding package at the William Cecil. This included all sorts of fun extras which rolled our wedding and a New Year's Eve party into one big celebration that, for us, felt like truly excellent value for money.
The venue and all the spaces speak for themselves when you visit. We immediately connected with the refined but warm and welcoming country house aesthetic throughout. Around Christmas and NYE the place is especially festive and cosy, and looks amazing in photos!
The dedicated spaces we used were the Exeter Gallery and the Burghley Room. Both spaces are tastefully finished and furnished but allow plenty of room for personalising with your own decorations. If like us you're getting married around Christmas, there are already plenty of festive decorations around; these can of course be moved or stored away, but we were more than happy to keep them as they were!.
We were given the option to hire the entire venue for exclusive use, which made the whole day feel more intimate, even though we had a full 60 guests during the day. Although we had clear skies and sunshine all day, it was a chilly one, so during the drinks reception our guests chose to filter out between the lounge, bar and conservatory. While our guests stayed inside all day, we did sneak out during the drinks reception to make the most of the grounds, which still show splendidly in photographs in winter (especially during ‘golden hour’!)
Another reason we chose the William Cecil was the availability and quality of accommodation. With our celebrations going on into the wee hours and with taxis likely being very busy, we wanted our guests to have the option of a night’s rest on site (not to mention the delicious buffet breakfast the next morning!). There are ~26 rooms available with a good range of sizes and rates. The hotel staff were incredibly helpful when it came to finalising all the details and making sure everyone was comfortable. Our guests all loved their rooms, and the room we had for the honeymoon suite (the Verrio Suite) was a show-stopper!
Amy, the Weddings and Events Manager, worked with us across the ~18months leading up to the big day, and she did an absolutely amazing job of it. Although I think one or two of our emails got lost in shared inboxes, Amy and her colleagues were always super helpful over the phone and we had two full planning meetings (one via Zoom six months before and one in-person three months before) to iron out all the necessary details at each stage.
We had a few late changes, but Amy and the team happily accommodated these, and welcomed the one or two unique ideas we brought to the occasion as well. They were also happy for us to do a few things to make the day more accessible for some of our guests, for example by letting us take photos throughout the venue to put together a visual story, and allowing us to temporarily adapt their toilet signage to include facility descriptions. All our vendors said they found Amy and her colleagues a pleasure to work with as well.
On the day the events team, led by Maddy, did a fantastic job. They were all super friendly and helpful throughout, assisting guests with whatever they needed, checking in with us as a couple, and adjusting the timeline slightly to suit the mood of the evening. The food and drink included in the package were excellent, and our guests were all very happily fed and refreshed throughout the day. We chose to build on the base catering part of our package a little by adding some choice to the menu; well worth the small additional cost. There was a great selection available at the bar as well… don’t miss out on their mulled wine!
We booked a New Year's Eve wedding package at the William Cecil. This included all sorts of fun extras which rolled our wedding and a New Year's Eve party into one big celebration that, for us, felt like truly excellent value for money.
The venue and all the spaces speak for themselves when you visit. We immediately connected with the refined but warm and welcoming country house aesthetic throughout. Around Christmas and NYE the place is especially festive and cosy, and looks amazing in photos!
The dedicated spaces we used were the Exeter Gallery and the Burghley Room. Both spaces are tastefully finished and furnished but allow plenty of room for personalising with your own decorations. If like us you're getting married around Christmas, there are already plenty of festive decorations around; these can of course be moved or stored away, but we were more than happy to keep them as they were!.
We were given the option to hire the entire venue for exclusive use, which made the whole day feel more intimate, even though we had a full 60 guests during the day. Although we had clear skies and sunshine all day, it was a chilly one, so during the drinks reception our guests chose to filter out between the lounge, bar and conservatory. While our guests stayed inside all day, we did sneak out during the drinks reception to make the most of the grounds, which still show splendidly in photographs in winter (especially during ‘golden hour’!)
Another reason we chose the William Cecil was the availability and quality of accommodation. With our celebrations going on into the wee hours and with taxis likely being very busy, we wanted our guests to have the option of a night’s rest on site (not to mention the delicious buffet breakfast the next morning!). There are ~26 rooms available with a good range of sizes and rates. The hotel staff were incredibly helpful when it came to finalising all the details and making sure everyone was comfortable. Our guests all loved their rooms, and the room we had for the honeymoon suite (the Verrio Suite) was a show-stopper!
Amy, the Weddings and Events Manager, worked with us across the ~18months leading up to the big day, and she did an absolutely amazing job of it. Although I think one or two of our emails got lost in shared inboxes, Amy and her colleagues were always super helpful over the phone and we had two full planning meetings (one via Zoom six months before and one in-person three months before) to iron out all the necessary details at each stage.
We had a few late changes, but Amy and the team happily accommodated these, and welcomed the one or two unique ideas we brought to the occasion as well. They were also happy for us to do a few things to make the day more accessible for some of our guests, for example by letting us take photos throughout the venue to put together a visual story, and allowing us to temporarily adapt their toilet signage to include facility descriptions. All our vendors said they found Amy and her colleagues a pleasure to work with as well.
On the day the events team, led by Maddy, did a fantastic job. They were all super friendly and helpful throughout, assisting guests with whatever they needed, checking in with us as a couple, and adjusting the timeline slightly to suit the mood of the evening. The food and drink included in the package were excellent, and our guests were all very happily fed and refreshed throughout the day. We chose to build on the base catering part of our package a little by adding some choice to the menu; well worth the small additional cost. There was a great selection available at the bar as well… don’t miss out on their mulled wine!