Everything our events team is asked in the months before a wedding, in one place. Read it with your planner, and bring your questions to the final meeting. This sample page and Hollowfield itself are fictional.
Arriving and setting up
Your suppliers can arrive from nine in the morning on the day. The hall, the pavilion and the kitchen yard are unlocked by the events team, who stay on the estate until the last guest has left. Deliveries come down the farm track to the yard behind the hall, never across the lawn.
Please ask your florist and stylist to bring their own steps and tools. We keep a small store of clamps, cable covers and extension leads, and the events team will show your suppliers where the power points and water taps are before they start.
Anything fixed to the timber frame of the hall has to hang from the rails we provide. Candles are welcome inside glass holders. Confetti is welcome outside if it is dried petals, which the grounds team can sweep into the beds.
If you would like to set up the night before, ask us when you book. When the estate is free we are happy to open the hall for a few hours in the evening.
Your suppliers
Our own kitchen cooks every wedding meal, from canapés to the late supper, so there is no outside catering. Cakes, sweets and a coffee cart are welcome from your own suppliers, and the kitchen will plate and serve the cake for you.
Bands, DJs, photographers, florists and celebrants can be anyone you choose. We keep a list of people who know the estate well, which the events team will send you after your viewing, but you are never asked to use it.
Every supplier who brings electrical equipment needs to show us a current safety test. The events team collects these in the month before the wedding so nothing holds anyone up on the day.
Marquees and furniture hire can be arranged through us or directly. Either way, the events team walks the site with the supplier first, so pegs and cables stay clear of the old drains under the lawn.
Ceremony and timings
Ceremonies can be held in the Garden Pavilion, on the lawn in front of the hall, or in the hall itself if the weather turns. The celebrant and the events team agree the timings with you at the final meeting, about a month before.
Most couples begin between one and three in the afternoon. That leaves time for drinks on the lawn while the light is soft, dinner in the hall, speeches, and the first dance before the evening guests arrive.
The kitchen serves dinner at the time you agree and holds it for up to half an hour if speeches or photographs run late. After that, the chefs will talk to you about what can wait and what cannot.
The late supper is usually served an hour or so before the music ends, so the dance floor stays full afterwards.
Music and noise
Music ends at 11:30 pm, and the last guests leave the grounds by midnight. The valley carries sound a long way at night, and our neighbours have been kind to us for many years, so this time does not change for any wedding.
Live bands and DJs play inside the hall with the lawn doors closed after ten. The sound limiter in the hall is set by the events team and cannot be adjusted by suppliers; it keeps the music full inside and quiet in the lane.
Acoustic music is welcome outside until ten, including for the ceremony and drinks on the lawn. Fireworks and sky lanterns are not allowed anywhere on the estate, because of the livestock in the next fields.
If you would like a later finish, ask about our winter weddings, which close the grounds at the same time but start the evening earlier.
Accessibility
The hall, the pavilion and the paths between them are step free, and there is an accessible toilet beside the hall. Two parking spaces by the kitchen yard are kept for guests who need them; please tell the events team who will be using them.
The lawn is level but can be soft after rain. We lay a firm walkway from the hall to the pavilion whenever a ceremony is held there. Let us know about any guest who would like a seat kept near a door or away from the band.
Assistance dogs are welcome everywhere on the estate. Other dogs are welcome at the ceremony if a named guest looks after them and takes them home before dinner.
If it rains
Every ceremony and every drinks reception has a covered plan. The pavilion can be closed on its two windward sides, and the hall can be laid for the ceremony and turned round for dinner while guests are in the barn.
The events team makes the call on the morning of the wedding, after looking at the forecast with you or your planner. Umbrellas for every guest are kept in the hall porch.
Still have a question?
Bring it to your final meeting, or ask us any time before. The FAQs cover the questions we hear most.