Logistics of a wedding on a family farm

Soldato
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Have you agreed with the family that owns the far if you can get there days before the actual wedding day? You might need to do a lot of small trips with your suppliers to set up the marquee and etc?

Also where is the ceremony going to be hosted?

I'm getting married in 8 weeks and we've paid for an exclusive wedding venue, a lot of the details are organised by use but the bulk of the wedding is all organised by them. We even get an event organiser to coordinate if anything goes **** up.
Vows, rings and stuff on site, my cousin is a celebrant. Register office for the civil ceremony, ideally in the morning / on the same day.

Arrangements for supplieres, marquee and stuff might be awkward as the farm is in south yorkshire me and my fiancé are in west yorkshire.
 
Caporegime
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Band all know each other and will come together so guess 2 cars.
Catering wise we want to book a hog roast.

Surely if we say there's no parking people get the idea! There's a local pub a 2 min walk away so drop offs and pickups from there

You need to do more than tell them "No parking on site".

You will need to give them suggestions, I recommend at least 2 places where they can park.

Then you need to give them taxi numbers, where to tell the taxi to drop off.

Then give them walking instructions.

You will then need to sign post every 50meters along the walking route with balloons or something.

What I am saying is, if you want them to come on time, to the right place, you have to treat them like children. OR they will just drive up to the farm. Because people have this mindset of "It will be alright, it's a farm, must have a LOT of space.". Regardless of what you tell them.
 
Soldato
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You need to do more than tell them "No parking on site".

You will need to give them suggestions, I recommend at least 2 places where they can park.

Then you need to give them taxi numbers, where to tell the taxi to drop off.

Then give them walking instructions.

You will then need to sign post every 50meters along the walking route with balloons or something.

What I am saying is, if you want them to come on time, to the right place, you have to treat them like children. OR they will just drive up to the farm. Because people have this mindset of "It will be alright, it's a farm, must have a LOT of space.". Regardless of what you tell them.

Strange, I went to a friends wedding 3 weeks ago and there were no signs, no taxi numbers, no info about drop off, no info about road diversions or anything.
It was a case of invite stating location and guests booked taxis to the Abbey. Most pople arrived on time, others 15 mins late due to road diversions around the grounds.

It's not a wedding where all guests have special needs, most adults can be given a location and if it says 'no parking' can manage to book a hotel and taxi to said location. Granted I will provide nearby hotels and taxi numbers for those who might be inccapable of using Google. I've been to around 15 weddings and some it has stated the address and a couple of close hotels, mostly not just book them as you need.
 
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Soldato
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If you plan it carefully to coincide with muck spreading time, every time you take a walk in the countryside you'll be reminded of your wedding day. It's a niche requirement but everyone has their thing I guess.

Joking aside, but will somebody else be organising and managing it from start to finish? The last thing you want to concerned about are children going exploring on a working farm.
 
Caporegime
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Strange, I went to a friends wedding 3 weeks ago and there were no signs, no taxi numbers, no info about drop off, no info about road diversions or anything.
It was a case of invite stating location and guests booked taxis to the Abbey. Most pople arrived on time, others 15 mins late due to road diversions around the grounds.

It's not a wedding where all guests have special needs, most adults can be given a location and if it says 'no parking' can manage to book a hotel and taxi to said location. Granted I will provide nearby hotels and taxi numbers for those who might be inccapable of using Google. I've been to around 15 weddings and some it has stated the address and a couple of close hotels, mostly not just book them as you need.

I am just trying to help. If you are happy for them figure it out, that's fine.
 
Soldato
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You need to do more than tell them "No parking on site".

You will need to give them suggestions, I recommend at least 2 places where they can park.

Then you need to give them taxi numbers, where to tell the taxi to drop off.

Then give them walking instructions.

You will then need to sign post every 50meters along the walking route with balloons or something.

What I am saying is, if you want them to come on time, to the right place, you have to treat them like children. OR they will just drive up to the farm. Because people have this mindset of "It will be alright, it's a farm, must have a LOT of space.". Regardless of what you tell them.

I can still remember the drama at my friends wedding... it clearly said no children at the wedding.
I was held at a very small chappel in the middle of no where...

Of course some people decided to bring their children... and was asked to wait outside with thier childern...
someone brought a baby and it wouldn't stop crying...
The people who didn't bring their kids was clearly moaning that there was a page boy and flower girl allowed..

It wasn't a case of my friend being mean, it was a case that they knew it be a very hot day, in a small chappel with no air con and the doors had to be closed due to the noise from the street.
Believe me 3 hours of sitting there and singing "kumbaya" was not fun!
 
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Associate
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Raymond is a wedding photographer so I wouldn't dismiss his advice so out of hand.

I'm in the middle of arranging my wedding in an actual venue and that's taken a lot of organising. The idea of trying to organise a wedding in what is essentially a field in the middle of nowhere makes me wince. It does, however, sound like you've already made your mind up, so I wish you all the best!
 
Caporegime
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Band all know each other and will come together so guess 2 cars.
Catering wise we want to book a hog roast.

Surely if we say there's no parking people get the idea! There's a local pub a 2 min walk away so drop offs and pickups from there

Just organise a bus at set times. Or maybe even two or three. Wouldn't be too hard to organise between 40 people.

Be cheaper overall and then everyone, mostly everyone, arrives at the same time
 
Soldato
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If you plan it carefully to coincide with muck spreading time, every time you take a walk in the countryside you'll be reminded of your wedding day. It's a niche requirement but everyone has their thing I guess.

Joking aside, but will somebody else be organising and managing it from start to finish? The last thing you want to concerned about are children going exploring on a working farm.
It'll be no kids (bull on farm - is behind a fence, but still. It's rather large!)
 
Soldato
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I can still remember the drama at my friends wedding... it clearly said no children at the wedding.
I was held at a very small chappel in the middle of no where...

Of course some people decided to bring their children... and was asked to wait outside with thier childern...
someone brought a baby and it wouldn't stop crying...
The people who didn't bring their kids was clearly moaning that there was a page boy and flower girl allowed..

It wasn't a case of my friend being mean, it was a case that they knew it be a very hot day, in a small chappel with no air con and the doors had to be closed due to the noise from the street.
Believe me 3 hours of sitting there and singing "kumbaya" was not fun!
Poeple are fee to brind them, but if they wonder off and get crushed but a cow or bull... well, we told you so!
 
Caporegime
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Has anyone ever held a wedding at their / their families house and know how feasable it is?
probably cheaper and better to find a nice pub tbh...

There's an amazing one in Newcastle that seems to get a lot of weddings with fire works etc.

There must be place like it all over the country in quite nice surroundings

probably a way better experience than on what's basically a field somewhere, a field that could get pretty muddy.
 
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Soldato
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Raymond is a wedding photographer so I wouldn't dismiss his advice so out of hand.

I'm in the middle of arranging my wedding in an actual venue and that's taken a lot of organising. The idea of trying to organise a wedding in what is essentially a field in the middle of nowhere makes me wince. It does, however, sound like you've already made your mind up, so I wish you all the best!
Not at all, we only asked recently and the more I look at things required the hard it gets. Might just get married in a boring hotel instead! :D
 
Soldato
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probably cheaper and better to find a nice pub tbh...

There's an amazing one in Newcastle that seems to get a lot of weddings with fire works etc.
There must be place like it all over the country in quite nice surroundings

probably a way better experience than on what's basically a field somewhere, a field that could get pretty muddy.
Mud is a very valid point, thanks :)
 
Soldato
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I would be very hesitant to doing anything without power, kitchen facilities and toilets. Remember who's coming to your wedding. Not everyone will be able to cope with portaloos.

We arranged all of our wedding in virtually the middle of nowhere - but we used a village hall. The main reasons were it had a decent sized kitchen, a stage, power, and toilets. Plus the fields next to it had children's play equipment and football posts.

The rental was only £80 for the weekend and fortunately they also had cutlery and plates.

We hired tables, chairs and tablecloths. We bought table runners and made our own flowers / decorations.
We hired a bouncy castle, other inflatables and some small fairground rides.
We had a daytime local band and an evening wedding band.
We hired a mobile bar and my dad put in a £1500 open tab.
We had a mobile hog roast company do the catering.
We arranged for our local ice cream man to turn up with a £200 tab.
Asked a friend who was into photography to do the official wedding photos.
We managed to borrow some outdoor marquees (which turned out really handy for shade as it was +30c on the day).
I asked a guy from our local VW club if he'd be our Wedding car (VW campervan). He's since done loads of weddings.
My dad hired a coach to ferry all my family from the local hotel (where they were staying) and the village hall.
My uncle worked as a wine rep, so bought enough wine with him for a couple of bottles on each table.

Overall, our costs were about £4500 (ignoring dads tab) - and the wedding turned out brilliantly. Lot of work though, before and after.

WeddingPrep.png
 
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