“SO WHY SHOULD I EVEN PICK A QUIRKY VENUE FOR MY WEDDING?”

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with the more traditional wedding venues, I assume you’ll know by now that I am NOT a traditional wedding photographer and, therefore, neither are my couples! Most tend to be looking for something that either bends or completely defies “the wedding rules”. And I think I know why:

Unconventional wedding venues will: 

• Perfectly represent your weird/quirky/eccentric/nerdy personalities
• Stand out in the memories of your guests
• Give you the opportunity to design your wedding however you want

“WILL IT BE EASIER THAN BOOKING A POPULAR HOTEL/MANOR HOUSE?”

In a word, no. However, nothing worth doing is ever easy!

Once you find a venue that makes your heart sing, it’s very important that you open a discussion with the venue owners to ensure they are able to accommodate all of your needs before making a rash booking. For example: they may not provide kitchen or toilets facilities, etc, so you will have to find and provide your own! (Don’t worry though, if this thought terrifies you because you’re not the kind of person who likes to organise huge events, you can always hire a wedding stylist to do all of the running around and booking for you.)

“ARE UNCONVENTIONAL VENUES CHEAPER?”

It tooootally depends!

Some quirky venues don’t do many weddings per year, so they may not have a “wedding package” option, meaning your costs could mount up as you book all of the other suppliers independently. But if you’re diligent and determined, you can make it work! Many of the small quirky venues are perfect for elopements – fewer guests, less cost. However, if your guest list is longer than your arm, don’t worry, you still have a few options: you can either extend your engagement by one or two years to give you more saving time, or you can save extra money by cutting down on the less important parts of your day. (Noooo one can tell you which are the “more” or “less” important parts of a wedding, everyone is different, so sit down together and decide for yourselves!)

It’s obviously much easier to give in and choose something like a hotel wedding venue who can do all of the arrangements for you for a single fee, but that means you will end up with a wedding that looks like every other wedding held at the same venue. More commonly known as a “cookie cutter wedding”. And if you’ve got this far into my blog post, I think it’s safe to assume that you are NOT a cookie cutter person!! My advice: it’s always worth pushing for that extra mile!

“WHAT WILL MY PARENTS/FAMILY SAY IF MY WEDDING ISN’T TRADITIONAL?”

First of all, let me just be clear when I say…

THIS IS YOUR WEDDING, NOT THEIRS!

Yes, of course, we all want our parents, family, friends, guests, etc. to be excited about the big day and to have an amazing time… but honestly, this is a moot point. Because no matter where you have your wedding, your congregation will have an absolutely bloody amazing time! As long as they are with you, as long as you two are superbly happy, as long as there is music and plenty of good food, they will be like pigs in shit! Trust me! 😀

“OK, YOU’VE CONVINCED ME – WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE QUIRKY NORTHERN VENUES?”

I thought you’d never bloody ask… here is a list of some gorgeous venues dotted around Merseyside, Manchester, Cheshire, North Wales, Shropshire, Yorkshire, and many more…

TIP – You can use the handy links I’ve provided to visit the wedding hire pages for each venue, but I would HIGHLY recommend that you Google each venue (i.e. “Victoria Baths wedding”) and head to the “Images” section – this way you will see looooads more images for each venue. Some venues don’t seem to show many gallery options on their websites.

INDUSTRIAL/WAREHOUSES

The Giraffe Shed (North Wales)

The West Mill (Derbyshire)

Hinterlands (Liverpool)

Five Four Studios (Manchester)

99 Mary Street (Sheffield)

OUTDOOR/NATURE

Delamere Forest (Cheshire)

Alnwick Garden Treehouse (Northumberland)

Sefton Park Palm House (Liverpool)

Camp Katur (Yorkshire)

Ness Botanic Gardens (Wirral)

Greenacres Woodland (St Helens)

Brockholes Nature Reserve (Preston)

Cheshire Woodland Weddings (Cheshire)

INTERESTING CONCEPTS/BUILDINGS

Victora Baths (Manchester)

Abbey Dale Picture House (Sheffield)

Le Petit Chateau (Northumberland)

Everyman Theatre (Liverpool)

The Scarborough Fair Collection (Scarborough)

Manchester Art Gallery (Manchester)

Liverpool Philharmonic (Liverpool)

RESTAURANTS/BARS

OH ME OH MY (Liverpool)

Leaf (Liverpool & Manchester)

One Fine Day (Liverpool)

Crab & Lobster (Yorkshire)

HOUSES/HALLS/BARNS

Charlton Hall (Northumberland)

Davenport House (Wolverhampton)

The Malabar (Yorkshire Dales)

Newton Hall (Northumberland)

Acklam Hall (Middlesborough)

Garthmyl Hall (North Wales)

TENTS/MARQUEES

Baya Hire (anywhere!)

Wedding Yurts (anywhere!)

Arabian Tent Company (anywhere!)

Pearl Tent Company (anywhere!)