Yesterday I talked about the timeline for our elopement weddings. Today I’ll be looking at our mid week wedding timeline (MMW wedding) and how that works on the day.
If you haven’t heard about our MMW weddings, let me bring you up to speed. They’re weddings for 20 guests (hence the midi) on Wednesdays only (hence the mid-week) from May to September. We’ve got a dedicated MMW section here on the website which you can see here.
Ok, so now you know which type of wedding I’m talking about, let’s dive into the MMW timeline.
MMW ceremony
One of the big differences for our mid week wedding timeline is the ceremony time. With our summer Saturdays you get a choice of ceremony time. But the reason we can do the MMW weddings for such an amaaaaayzing price is we’ve got a set timeline for the MMW. The wedding ceremony in the wedding barn starts at 4pm.
That gives you time to get up, have breakfast, get ready in a leisurely way with your wedding party, have a bite to eat, be ready to meet the Registrars at 3.30pm before the ceremony and have some getting ready photos with Becca our photographer.
We co-ordinate everything for you on the day so you’ve got no worries about where you need to be and when – we’ve got you covered.
MMW guests
Your guests arrive on site at 3pm. They’ve had chance to have lunch before they come so you haven’t got that weird timing thing you often get on a wedding day when guests arrive starving but they’re not due to eat for hours. When they arrive, we’ll make sure they’re guided to the arrivals area. In dry weather that’s up at the top ponds where there’ll be a drinks station with our staff serving arrival drinks, somewhere for them to put bags and coats, a postbox for any wedding cards and people from your wedding party to make them feel welcome.
MMW timeline
Here’s a copy of our MMW timeline for the day.
After the ceremony in the wedding barn (which takes about 30 mins depending on readings and music), you could have a confetti throw on the lawns, we pop the champagne corks and you’re onto your drinks reception at 4.30pm. That takes place either on the lower lawns (lovely weather) or in the wedding marquee (your plan b for wet weather).
Then you go out with Becca for photos around the venue with your guests and also have your couple pics done. Whilst you’re off having photos, your guests will be enjoying drinks and canapés and don’t forget our lawn games. Don’t worry we’ll save some canapés for you for when you get back from your photos – you won’t miss out. Yay!
Your wedding breakfast is served at 5.30pm. That takes about 2 hours.
When the wedding breakfast is done, you’ll have your cake cutting and first dance at 7.30pm and then go straight into the evening celebrations. If you’re really not into cake cutting and/or a first dance – no worries, you just pick which wedding traditions suit you and ditch the rest. We’re fine with whatever you want to do.
After the wedding breakfast, the evening bar opens, the pop up lounges are all ready to go and the sparkly led dance is waiting for all your best moves. If you’ve got extra evening guests, this is when they’ll arrive. Evening food will be served at 9.30pm.
MMW curfew
So what time does it finish on the day? With our MMW weddings the bar closes at 11pm, music off at 11.15pm and guests off site by 11.30pm.
There’s no curfew for our couples or anyone staying in the annexe and the hut. But only those select few. You can stay in front of the fire or be on the riverwalk (or anywhere in the venue) for as long as you like. The staff will close up and we’ll make sure you’ve got drinks. So long as we can’t hear you from the house, you’re welcome to stay in front of the fire as long as you like. Lots of couples say this is one of their favourite parts of the whole day. Kick off your shoes, feet up on the sofa, glass of bubbly and talking about the day and everything that happened, either with the loved ones staying on site or just the two of you.
So that’s it, a quick run down on our mid week wedding timeline. A day you’ll have completely to yourselves (exclusive use is standard here for all weddings ), being looked after and then being left alone. Check out is 11am the following day so you’ve got plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast from the ingredients we leave in your fridge. Whether you’re going the whole hog of full English (or veggie version), home made muesli with berries and yoghurt or pastries and real coffee – you’re good. You can have breakfast on your private deck in the honeymoon cottage or just throw open the curtains in the bedroom and have breakfast in bed, looking out over the gardens. Perfect peace and privacy in our little corner of Dartmoor.
return trip?
And if you’ve loved your time with us, why not come back? We only let out the honeymoon cottage to couples getting married or who got married with us. Yep it’s a pretty exclusive club and you could be a member. We love to welcome our couples back to celebrate their wedding anniversary . We have to arrange them round our weddings which means dates are pretty limited. We’d love to see you back here, the special place where the two of you started married life together. You in?
You can see more of our real MMW weddings over on the gallery.
If you want to download our elopement brochure with all the prices, pop over to the download page.
If this sounds like your kinda wedding, drop me an email and let me know which year you’re looking at and I’ll let you know which dates we’ve got left. You’ll reach me at [email protected]
