My husband and I recenlty got married at Martindale Hall, thanks to our celebrant Bob McGilchrist and our string quartet, Burgandy strings it was a ceremony that will be remembered fondly. The location was perfect for its romantic aspect and the photographer, Jason Champion was able to take some splendid pictures.
We found pre-wedding organisation very difficult with several things being un-organised or miscommunicated. This included menu choices being missplaced, times for the reception being shortened by two hours, rehersal times changed and receipts for payments made not sent out, even though we asked several times for them.
On the wedding day we were shocked to find members of the public in the hall viewing it as a museum when we had paid and booked for the hall for the day and had been very explicit as to the time of our arrival to get ready. We also found that our dresses were locked in a room we had no access to and had to find a key for, this meant we were keeping the photographer waiting and then the guests waiting. Some of the chairs the venue was meant to have organised were not there and also had to be located.
Guests were unable to enter the property for the ceremony as the gates had appeared to be locked and after waiting for a considerable time guests were forced to remove a chain wrapped around the gates that prevented their entry, this happened twice that we are aware of.
A sheet provided with times of events for the evening was provided weeks in advance to give staff a guide of when food and drinks would need to be served, though this was not able to be followed with only two servers available to serve the guests, this meant that half of the food we had paid for was still in the kitchen at the end of the night with most guests still hungry.
Guests at times found it hard to hear music when it was turned down by staff. The atmosphere was then spoiled. I was also shocked to see that our bar was little more than a fold out camping table with a sheet over it, not expected when you look at the beautiful historic charm of the hall itself, it seemed quite out of place. The bar was mostly serviced by one person, who at times found it difficult to keep up with the demand of the guests, particularly when leading into the speeches and guests all needing a drink for the toasts.
Unfortunately we were left feeling that this was not a good choice for a reception venue and wouldn't recommend it as such.