Shortly after we got engaged, we booked a venue. It had an opportunity to have an outdoor ceremony, a tent cocktail reception and all of the food, booze and décor was included. I was so excited – until 5 months before the wedding when I found out that it was going out of business. Luckily they returned our deposit, but now we were faced with finding a new venue in a place we don’t live, for the busiest wedding month of the year, 5 months before the date.

We had the option of only two venues that were available on our date. Originally the Elsie wasn’t available – but a bride cancelled the day we were back in London to check out the scene. Even though the Elsie was going to be a LOT more work for me (no food, booze or décor included), I knew it was closer to what I wanted in a wedding. The grounds and the house are absolutely gorgeous, and what I liked about it was that it gave us a chance to have several different locations for our wedding that was all at the same place – the ceremony was in one place, cocktails on the cobblestones, a big tent for dinner (because they can only seat max 80 people inside, and we had about 100 guests), and then inside for dancing and karaoke! The house also has several rooms inside, so guests could sit down and relax or come into the main hall and join in the fun. Having the vast grounds was great for our cocktail reception as well because people had places to walk around and explore while we were getting our formals taken.