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FINAL WEDDING PLANNING – NOT LONG NOW!

If you are reading this page it means that your wedding is just around the corner.  We hope that you are feeling excited, and not too nervous!  

We wanted to direct you to this webpage to give you a sense of key milestones in the lead-up to your wedding.

Hopefully it will help to focus your mind a little towards what needs to be done by you, and what you can expect from us, in the coming weeks.

FINAL PLANNING

1.  ONE MONTH OUT

If you are planning to use the barns for events (drinks/ brunch etc) the day before your wedding, or the day after, then you need to let us know asap so that we can staff these events fully.  If you only require catering then you can liaise directly with your caterer, but if you have any requirements for drinks, then please let us know.  

2. TWO WEEKS OUT

This is when your final invoice will be due.  We will go through your event checklist and put together the invoice based on the information that you have provided, so do please make sure that the following is confirmed on your checklist:

  • Final numbers
  • Drinks package choices, including beer/ soft drinks buckets
  • Late checkouts in the holiday cottages
  • All catering plans finalised, including meals for suppliers

3. ONE WEEK OUT

It is possible that you have suppliers who would like to drop important things off in advance of your arrival: we are talking wine, floral arrangements, glamping installations and other prop hire etc.  Ideally this would happen no more than two days in advance of your wedding (usually a Monday or a Thursday), but please do check with us first, so that we can factor these into our schedule.

4. THE DAY BEFORE

The first question you’ll probably be asking yourself is, ‘when can I be onsite?’  We would love it if you could be here between 10am and 12pm.  If you need to arrive earlier then that can be arranged, but it is helpful if we know in advance.  We aim to sit down with you for an informal meeting at 2pm.  This gives us an opportunity to double-check everything, and if there are any surprises then we’ll have the afternoon to make final tweaks to our operational plan.  If you would like other key players to be at the meeting as well, that is fine: the more the merrier!
When you arrive, you are welcome to drive down to the pole barn to unload your car.  Please can you make sure that it is then parked in the car park until your accommodation is ready.  The same goes for the day of the wedding.  Please make sure guests, unless they hold a blue badge, park in the car park.   If anyone needs a lift down then they can be dropped off outside the venue.  As you are aware, there is a small hill for people to walk down to the venue.  It may be worth asking guests to bring flat shoes and change into formal footwear once at the venue.
As you know, there is parking outside all of the cottages, but please don’t overload!  If needs be, unload all belongings  into the cottage and park in the car park.

 

We always look forward to seeing you the day before your wedding: it gives us a chance to make sure that we have everything in order, and it is great for you to be able to decorate and welcome people without being run off your feet on the day of your wedding.  

We will have been working the day before to prepare the accommodation for you, so half of the cottages will most likely be ready as soon as you arrive.  Please let us know which ones you want to prioritise for early check-in, so that we can crack on with them first.  If possible, we recommend that you nominate one lead guest for each holiday cottage.  It would be great if you could send them our “Welcome to Owlpen” pdf so that they know how to get here in advance, and which cottage they are staying in.  Owlpen is not a straightforward place to find at the best of times, so it is good to plan ahead!

If you do not already have a copy of the Welcome document, you can find it by clicking here.

Please be aware that we lock the barns at 5pm the day before your wedding, so you’ll need to have finished your decorating by then if that’s ok. 

After that, do please take a bit of time to relax and save your energy before the big day.  And most importantly, don’t worry about all of those little details: that is what we are here for!  

A note about amplified Music – Holiday Cottages

Whilst we encourage our guests to make as much use of the outside space in the holiday cottages as possible, by having welcome parties or barbecues during their stay, we do not allow amplified music to be played after 5pm in the holiday cottage gardens, out of respect for our neighbours.  

We really hope that this information is useful for you.  If you are feeling like you are missing things, or even if you are just feeling nervous, then do please give us a call to talk things through.  After all, a problem shared is a problem halved and we are always here to help!