In Our Own Words: Five Years at Bredon Manor
In Our Own Words: Five Years at Bredon Manor
People often ask what it is like to live in the house you hire out. The honest answer is that the two are not really separate.
Bredon Manor is our family home. We live here with our two children and three dogs, and for a limited number of weekends each year we hand the estate over to a couple and their guests. That arrangement shapes everything about how weddings work here.
How we ended up here
We fell in love with Bredon the moment we drove up the drive. We had been living in Streatham, and this was about as complete a contrast as you could design. We knew straight away that we wanted it to be our family home.
It needed work. We spent the first year restoring the barns, cottages and Manor, bringing them into the twenty-first century without stripping out what made them worth having. The Manor retains its traditional features. The barn was deliberately designed as a neutral space, so couples can put their own mark on it rather than having to work around ours.
What we had not expected was the history. The woman we bought the house from had run events from the barns and grounds, and we understand that weddings have been held here for several decades. We still meet people who mention that they, a friend or a cousin were married at Bredon. There is something rather good about continuing that history rather than inventing it.
What makes it different
The short answer is that it is genuinely our home.
We only take a limited number of weddings each year. I say five; my husband says ten; we tend to meet somewhere in the middle. That is not a marketing position. It is what makes the rest of it possible.
Because we are not turning weddings around week after week, we can be very flexible, and couples can personalise their day in ways that a busier venue might not be able to accommodate.
The feeling we are after is less “wedding venue” and more “you have taken a country house for the weekend and invited everyone you love”. You have exclusive use, so it should feel like hosting rather than hiring.
There is also the seasonal heated outdoor pool. It sits in its own enclosed garden beside the barn and acts as a proper sun trap, with grape vines along one wall and roses along the others. Couples can add Friday drinks before the wedding or a Sunday pool celebration afterwards.
What a weekend here actually includes
Your weekend begins with access to the barn from midday to 5pm on Friday for setting up. The Coach House and Manor House Lodge are included on Friday and Saturday nights. On Sunday, guests staying on the estate can use the pool area and barn until 3pm.
If you want to bring a wider group together before or after the wedding, you can add a Friday welcome reception or a Sunday pool celebration. These are optional additions rather than part of the base hire.
Included in the hire:
Exclusive use of Bredon Manor for your wedding weekend
Venue coordination to direct suppliers on Friday and Saturday
Long tables and chairs for up to 80 guests
A PA system and microphone in the barn
Friday access to the barn for setting up
The Coach House and Manor House Lodge for eight guests on Friday and Saturday nights
Two Manor bedrooms on Saturday night, bringing the included Saturday total to 12
Pool and barn access for resident guests until 3pm on Sunday
Security support and parking for up to 50 cars
Sunday pastries and fresh juice for guests staying on the estate
Two further Manor bedrooms can be added on Saturday, taking the total accommodation to 16. Manor bedrooms are also available on Friday when a Friday event is booked.
We think of ourselves as a “dry hire plus” venue. You have the freedom to choose how your wedding looks and feels, but with venue coordination on Friday and Saturday to direct suppliers and help keep everything moving.
If you would like broader planning support, we can introduce preferred wedding planners who know the estate and can be engaged separately for partial or full planning.
The barn, and the marquee
The barn seats up to 80 for the wedding breakfast, with room for up to 100 guests in the evening. It has vaulted ceilings, white stone walls and windows overlooking the pool.
There are two connected rooms, giving couples flexibility over how the barn is used. One can hold a celebrant-led ceremony before becoming the dance floor later, while the other can be used for dining. For marquee weddings, the barn also provides a valuable wet-weather alternative and can become a bar, dance floor, quiet space, photo-booth area or whatever else the day requires.
Most couples at Bredon celebrate under a marquee, and for more than 80 seated guests that is the route. The marquee sits on the front lawn, with the Manor at the heart of the celebration, and can accommodate up to 150 seated guests.
County Marquees are our current preferred supplier and know the estate well. As a guide, a marquee seating 120, including flooring, lighting, a bar and power, is approximately £8,500 including VAT. Final pricing depends on the date, layout and specification.
We would rather say that plainly than have it appear on a quote later. A wedding for 120 here is a marquee wedding, and the marquee is a real cost on top of the venue hire. The tables and chairs for 80 included with the venue can be used in the marquee, so you are only topping up the difference.
Where you can say your vows
There are three options, and they are genuinely different from one another.
The barn. A flexible space with vaulted ceilings, white stone walls and large windows overlooking the pool. It seats up to 80 for a celebrant-led ceremony and provides a guaranteed dry option.
The grounds. Most outdoor ceremonies take place on the lawn immediately outside the Manor, although we can discuss other locations around the grounds.
The lawn creates a lovely piece of theatre. You can get ready in the Georgian rooms overlooking it, watch your guests arrive, come down the cantilevered staircase into the hall and walk straight out through the front door. Your guests have the house as a backdrop, and there is an arbour with roses growing over it that many couples use for the ceremony itself.
Because we offer exclusive use and avoid consecutive wedding weekends where we can, we can be genuinely flexible about the weather. If the dream is an outdoor ceremony, that is what we plan for, and the final decision can be made on the day.
At one wedding, the couple badly wanted to marry outside but the forecast was against them. We set the chairs out without cushions, adjusted the timings and worked with the catering team. As soon as there was a break in the weather, it was all hands on deck to put the cushions out and complete the setup. They married outside, as they had always wanted.
St Giles’ Church. This one is my favourite. The village church sits immediately next door and is properly loved, with bell ringers and a choir.
We are lucky enough to have a private gate between the churchyard and the Manor gardens, so the transition from ceremony to reception is almost seamless. Your guests walk through the gardens and into the churchyard, and when the service is over everyone comes straight back into the gardens. There are no cars, no convoy and no time lost travelling between the ceremony and reception.
Ceremonies in the barn or grounds are celebrant-led; any required legal formalities are completed separately.
Suppliers
The only supplier we stipulate is catering. Napier is our exclusive caterer and can tailor the food to the style of the day, from informal sharing dishes and street food to a traditional wedding breakfast.
There is no corkage, so you are welcome to bring your own wine and Champagne.
Every other supplier is your choice. We keep a list of people we have worked with and rate, many of whom already know the estate and what works here. County Marquees are our current preferred marquee supplier because they know the site, access and practical requirements extremely well.
Two pieces of advice, for what they are worth
Do not rule a venue out from a screen. If somewhere ticks nine of your ten boxes, go and see it. That tenth box is often something the venue can solve, or something you find you do not mind once you are standing there. We all try to produce good photography and honest floor plans, but there is no substitute for walking around a place.
Then focus on what is actually yours. The most memorable weddings we host are the ones built around the couple’s own story. It might be a location that means something, handwritten notes to guests, or details that came from them rather than from a Pinterest board.
Choose the things that make you feel comfortable and happy, and the rest tends to fall into place.
And do try to enjoy it, even the stressful parts. It is your wedding. Worry less about catering to every guest and more about what the two of you actually want.
Bredon Manor is an exclusive-use wedding venue near Cheltenham, on the edge of the Cotswolds, seating up to 80 in the barn or up to 150 in a marquee on the front lawn. Explore weddings at Bredon Manor or get in touch to discuss your plans.
