Village at Lyons

crumble_15

Hi all,

Just looking for some thoughts on the Village at Lyons as a wedding venue - anyone had their wedding there or been a guest at a wedding there? The place is really fab, but there a couple of things I'm not sure about, so would love to hear some experiences. We'll have between 80-100 guests.

Typer Monkey

I was a guest at a wedding there. I thought the place looked fab. The ceremony was in the room overlooking the waterfall/mill and the drinks reception in the conservatory was gorgeous. My now husband proposed there so I have a soft spot for it and we considered it for our own wedding but the following put me off enough to go for somewhere else in the end;

- the split level reception set up. We had 130 guests so would've had tables on both levels. Who gets shunted upstairs??

- the bar is upstairs and the dancefloor downstairs. The vast majority of the crowd migrated upstairs to the bar and very few people were dancing or sitting/standing around the dancefloor.

- there's no resident's bar and the party moved fairly early (like maybe 1ish) to a house on the grounds which felt like a drunken house party rather than a wedding.

It was a shame because the place does have a lovely feel and look but the above worked against the 'party' we wanted.

lazygal

The spilt level could ruin a wedding. I was at one there and I was heavily pregnant so traipsing up and down for a drink got exhausting and I ended up with a gang upstairs most of the night. The accommodation is very limited and expensive and the drinks at the bar were a talking point because they were very overpriced, a spirit and mixer was nine quid. The food was really good and the venue is lovely for a ceremony as it was nice to have everything in one place. However knowing how much it cost the couple for the day I think you'll do better elsewhere. The split level REALLY affected the dancing and I'd hate to be seated upstairs for the meal away from the main floor.

crumble_15

Thanks for the replies yeh the split level is worrying me a bit too, but we'll have max 100 people at the wedding so everyone would hopefully be seated on the same floor. Pity the bar is upstairs tho :-/ because the venue is so gorgeous!

lazygal

There was about 80 at the wedding I was at and the ground floor was pretty full. Fitting in a hundred would be tight I'd think.

ChampagnePop

I'm looking at this venue at the moment, the split levels not an issue for our numbers but I'm worried about the lack of residence bar, is the only bar available in the main room?

Preset No.3

There is another bar out at reception beside the big fireplace and loads of comfy sofas and chairs.

ixus

The band and crowd really matter for split levels.

If the crowd are not the type to dance, they will be drawn to bar and make the floor feel empty.

If the band are modern and the dancers are elderly, you run into same situation.

Need the band you select to be the kind that gets people up dancing. Not necessarily plays your fav tunes.

Preset No.3

ixus wrote: »

The band and crowd really matter for split levels.

If the crowd are not the type to dance, they will be drawn to bar and make the floor feel empty.

If the band are modern and the dancers are elderly, you run into same situation.

Need the band you select to be the kind that gets people up dancing. Not necessarily plays your fav tunes.

As a DJ who has worked several times in VAL this is a problem that I have never had. I have found that the crowd don't generally hang around the bar because there is actually nothing there. Some will go to the fire room outside but they are generally just the smokers. Some of the older generation will move toward the reception bar because it is quieter but the bulk of people will be downstairs enjoying the music but this is all dependent on the quality of the DJ that you have.

ChampagnePop

Oh fantastic about the bar, will try book a viewing so!
The crowd will be thirties mostly so I should be okay to find something. I've done my fair share of dancing at a lot of weddings recently, so I'm sure they'll return the favour (*well fingers crossed)

Preset No.3

ChampagnePop wrote: »

Oh fantastic about the bar, will try book a viewing so!
The crowd will be thirties mostly so I should be okay to find something. I've done my fair share of dancing at a lot of weddings recently, so I'm sure they'll return the favour (*well fingers crossed)

DM Sent with links to pictures

ChampagnePop

Did anyone have their wedding here? I would love to hear about your experiences