The Venue Hunt: The Final Part!

Good morning!  Here we are again, at the third and final installment of The Venue Hunt.  I could drag it out a bit and tell you how the night after the Kentish roadtrip I dreamt of that beautiful white barn at Pale and Interesting.  Or how disappointed I was that 3 out of the 5 venues I had thus far visited had promised to email me through a quote and/or more information and not one of them did. (Clare at The House Meadow was the only one who fulfilled her promise, and very promptly too.)  Or even that a couple of nights after the roadtrip I got so drunk  that I cracked my head on the kitchen counter and blacked out for a second whilst demonstrating to Paul how I wanted him to dip me back ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ stylee during our first dance.  (We’re not even having a first dance.)

But I won’t waste your time.  I will simply get straight to the point and tell you that Paul and I will be getting married on 25th May 2013 at……

drumroll please…..

The Great Barn, in Rolvenden, Kent!

 Image via FreeDigitalPhotos

No, that’s not an image of The Great Barn; that’s an image of some fireworks in Bangkok but that is there simply to demonstrate how WONDERFUL it feels to have a venue and a date!

This is The Great Barn…

The Great Barn from the very back wall. (Image by me)

It is an 18th century listed Kentish barn which is dry hire only, meaning that aside from the roof, walls and floor we have to hire in everything ourselves; a prospect which I should find terrifying but at this point I just find so, so exciting.

Other things I love about the barn:

• It has a stage- perfect for a band.
• We get the keys for a week meaning we can set up and decorate well in advance.
• There’s zero corkage fee.  That’s right, ZERO.
• It can seat 150, meaning no restrictions on guests apart from what we can afford in terms of food and drink.
• It has a marrige licence so we will be there for the whole day- fortunately there’s an upper and a lower area so we can style the space accordingly.
• The owner, Edward, is a character and a gentleman, and has already said we can have a firepit outside in the evening.

Slight negatives are that there’s no accommodation on site, nor are there any large, cheap hotels within a few miles so I will need to work hard to make it as affordable as possible for my guests.  There are also only two toilets, meaning we will have to hire in extras probably (and portaloos are UGLY), but aside from that I am over the moon. Paul loves it as well, although he admits that he finds it harder to imagine it fully decorated and full of people.  And warm- it was so cold the day we went to view it!

The Orchard out the front where we will go for drinks after the ceremony. Hopefull the blossom will be in bloom! (Image by me)

View from the upper level where we will have the ceremony. (Image by me)

Now I was also going to show you what I’m going to do with it, but that’s a whole other blog post methinks.  I have to work out how to post pretty moodboards first, and as you can tell from the basicness of The Utter Blog thus far, I’m more technical moron than technical whizz. But hey, if you’re interested in following my wedding plans and more, why not follow the blog?  I would literally jump out of my seat and do a little dance if I knew I had just one follower.  What I will do when I get my first comment I just don’t know… Do feel free to say Hi.  Anyone been to The Great Barn?  Anyone getting married at The Great Barn?  Would love to hear from you if so.  Til next time folks… (aka tomorrow hopefully). Sama xxx