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Wedding Brochure

 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 daunted!  

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

Checklist: 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.  

Music: Please make sure that your DJ band is aware of our policy regarding live and recorded music at Owlpen.  We do everything we can to help them on the day, but it is easier for everyone if they understand how we operate in advance.  Full information can be found on our website here: www.owlpen.com/music.

Camping/ vans: If you have guests coming who would like to camp or bring their vans/ motorhomes, they need to register with us in advance, with vehicle registration plates of vans and motor homes, so that we have a record of who is staying overnight on the estate.  Please add their details in the camping section of the event checklist, including all names and a principal contact for each tent or van.  We will then reach out to them in advance of the wedding to let them know where they can camp or park.

Photos: If you can send us photos of both of you which we can add to your file, that would be really helpful, so that all of the employees such as cleaners, maintenance and bar staff, know who to expect when you arrive.

 

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: we will use the numbers on your checklist to put your invoice together, so please make sure that these are accurate.  Please make sure that they include the number of infants, children, and suppliers that need to be catered for.

  • Drinks package choices, including beer/ soft drinks buckets, and the number of non-alcohol drinkers. 
  • Ratio of red/ white/ rose wines required.
  • Late checkouts and extra nights in the holiday cottages.
  • Names of all people staying in each holiday cottage.
  • All additional catering plans finalised, such as tea/ coffee, canapes, and evening food.  
  • Details of all external suppliers, including their phone numbers and arrival times.
  • Details of table linen required: round tables, trestle tables and napkins.

 

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

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.  

Arrival: The first question you’ll probably be asking yourself is, ‘when can I be onsite?’  The office opens from 9am, so you would be welcome to arrive any time after that.  We strongly encourage you to be here by mid-day: after that we start to get nervous!  In any case, please let us know by phone or email when you plan to arrive, so that we know when to expect you.  

Meeting: We aim to sit down with you for a final planning 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!

End of Day: Please note: the barns close at 5pm the day before your wedding, so please make sure that you have allowed enough time to decorate during the day.  If you are having a church wedding, bear in mind that often the rehearsal is scheduled for 4pm, so by the time that has finished there will not be much time for decorating etc, so it may be better to plan to arrive earlier, to give you more time.  Sadly we do not allow the barns to be open in the evening, as it needs to be staffed.  In extremis, if you need to stay later than 5pm, we charge a fee of £50 per hour with a maximum of three hours.

After you have finished, 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!

Accommodation check-in: 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.  If you do not already have it, you can find a link by clicking here. Owlpen is not a straightforward place to find at the best of times, so it is good to plan ahead!

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!