Weddingbee Blog

There have only been a few moments in our planning so far that have made me feel like a real bride. The first was wearing my engagement ring for the first time, and the second was when I booked our church & our reception venue. Once money was thrown down, that was it—it was all really happening. The Jaguars are getting hitched, squee!

So now that you’ve seen our beautiful church, it’s time to introduce you to our reception venue. I love both of our locations and they’ll be lovely for photographs—and also because they’re only a fifteen minute drive apart. Since we’re having a winter wedding in the afternoon, the light will be fading pretty quickly, so locations close together will be perfect for zipping between the two.

Let me preface these next images by reminding you that I am not a girly girl. I never wanted a fairytale wedding with a frilly dress and bunches of pink flowers. But what I did want was a venue that was traditional and just a little bit different. Enter Curzon Hall:

{All personal photos.}

Yes, folks. It’s a castle.

Well, it isn’t really a castle per se, but it IS an awesome building. It was once a private residence turned Catholic seminary and is now a function centre. It’s massive and has lots of different rooms, but we will be occupying the first (middle) floor of the castle, with its private entertaining lounge, main dining room adn all of the surrounding balconies, including the amazing one at the very front of the building. (Ah, the pictures… I can’t wait!)

The room that we’ve booked is NOT huge. We deliberately chose the smallest section of the venue so that it would be cosy and comfortable and have a very relaxed feel—so there will be no giant central dance floor to walk through or big open spaces to fill. The bridal table is in the middle of the room but not a big feature, so it won’t bee too scary for Mr. Jaguar since he’s not a fan of being the centre of attention. (Suck it up, Mr J, it’s your wedding day!)

The dance floor is off to the side, so people don’t have to either a) feel intimidated by getting up and dancing or b) end up shouting over music if they choose to stay at the tables or mingle at the bar. And most importantly, our guests will have access to the balconies for fresh air all night long, so it’s something a little bit different.

And did I mention it looks like a castle?!

Our room was set up in two different ways on our two different visits—once with chair covers and sashes and once where the Tiffany chairs were left plain. I’ve basically made my mind up that I want them left without, as I think it opens the space up and looks less traditional, but the option is there to choose between them at a later date.

Even leaving it completely free of decorations, I am already happy with the room. It has gentle roof draping and chandeliers already arranged, big classic framed mirrors on either side of the room opening up the space, and lots of natural light streaming in from all sides—it’s so us. I love it. And luckily Mr. Jaguar had already seen this venue online before I had left; so he was happy with it as well.

As a bonus, the venue is located on gorgeous manicured grounds. There are quite a few old oak trees, gazebos, and of course, the sandstone structure itself to take photos alongside. I can’t wait to see what magic our photographer can capture on the day.

So there you have it! We have a date. We have a church. We have a venue. And with that, we’re on track for a real, actual wedding.