Hello once again and thank you so much for being with us today. Are you well? Are you coping? With lockdown continuing, it seems as if the light at the end of the tunnel has maybe moved a little further away than we might have originally anticipated, but we promise you it’s still there.
Hang in there lovely ones, because we’re going to get through this together.
We’ve already shared two real wedding postponement stories from real brides who have had to completely reschedule their weddings. You can read them both here. Today, we’re publishing more real life experiences, only we’re sharing the perspective from the venue this time, alongside stories from several couples who were due to marry there in Spring and early Summer.
We’re delighted to introduce you to the utterly charming Crockwell Farm, one of the exceptional venues that we’re proud to list in our Little Book Wedding Directory.
We know that wedding suppliers are working super hard to make the whole task of postponing a wedding as easy as possible for couples – this article today provides a little insight into things from the venue’s side and how this work has made a desperately difficult situation that bit easier for those affected.
Crockwell Farm + Follow
(Photography by Matt Brown)
We send, as always, huge amount of love to everyone facing postponements right now, couples, venues and suppliers alike. Weddings are just on pause right now and we can’t wait to hit ‘play’ again.
Enjoy this piece – it’s uplifting, inspiring and totally lovely in equal measure. Words from Amy Cox of Crockwell Farm follow…
Crockwell Farm’s Story
Perhaps luckily for us, we are in the middle of a big renovation project so we didn’t have any weddings scheduled to take place until the beginning of May this year. On 9th March we emailed all of our couples to let them know that we were closely monitoring the coronavirus pandemic and to strongly advise them to take out wedding insurance if they hadn’t already done so (we advise all couples to take out insurance at the time of booking but it isn’t a requirement).
We then stayed in touch with weekly updates until 19th March, when it became clear that our May weddings were going to be severely affected by the restrictions put in place by the government. At this stage, venues hadn’t been closed but it was clear that hosting a gathering of any number of people was a risky and negligent thing to do – so we asked all our May couple to seriously consider postponing their wedding to a later date.
We decided early on that the only fair way to proceed was to offer couples postponement dates within a calendar year of their original booking (of available dates). Most so far have been able to postpone to similar dates although obviously not all summer weekend weddings have managed to find a weekend alternative. Where couples have moved to low season, or mid-week dates, we have dropped their hire prices to those relevant to the new date. Our caterers, Ross & Ross Events have also agreed to hold this years’ prices for all couples having to postpone.
So far, we have worked with couples to postpone all our May and June weddings. July couples are currently holding “back up” dates in case they also need to postpone and we will do the same for all our couples until we are able to re-open.
Our couples have been absolutely amazing. These were obviously difficult conversations particularly at the beginning when the pandemic was still a real shock. All though have been incredibly understanding and have taken the huge disruption in their stride, adapting their plans and embracing their new dates. We have tried to be as fair as possible – offering the greatest range of postponement dates that we as a venue can possibly afford to offer and this has certainly been appreciated by our couples. We have found that couples have been hugely relieved to be able to postpone their weddings with no extra cost, and often for a lower rate.
This time is definitely a big challenge. Trying to anticipate the ever changing situation is hard and keeping couples up to date with the latest advice. The uncertainly over how the pandemic and restrictions will come to an end is creating a huge amount of stress for us as a venue and for our couples. Understandably, couples would like to postpone as far in advance as possible but the situation is very unpredictable. We are trying to overcome this by offering “back-up” dates in case postponement is necessary for those with weddings booked further in the future.
Also, the financial burden of this situation to our business is huge. We are trying to as fair to our couples as we can be, while protecting the future of our venue, team of employees and suppliers.
Advice to couples from Crockwell Farm
Our advice would be that for anyone getting married this year, realistically there is a chance that your wedding may not be able to go ahead as planned. This is devastating for everyone but there are positives to be taken and in order to make the most of a bad situation – adjust your expectations and focus on what is really important. For most, this will be the health of your friends and family and the fact that you are marrying someone that you love.
The fact that the wedding may be happening later than you planned is not the most important thing here. Furthermore, when life does get back to normal, whenever that may be, we really believe that after all of the suffering, our need to let loose and celebrate will be greater than ever.
Weddings are one of the happiest occasions in our lives and that isn’t going to change. Having your wedding to look forward to will be a milestone for all of your guests, friends and family and we need these celebrations to look forward to now more than ever.
Postponement stories from Crockwell Farm couples
Faye’s story
Our wedding was due to go ahead on Thursday 4th June 2020, things seemed to be a little uncertain however after a phone call with Crockwell we decided towards the end of March to postpone until September.
Crockwell have been fantastic, always super fast with emailing back to reply to my questions and concerns. I was worried about getting married at a later time but my mind was put as ease so quickly. Our new documents and timings of the day have been emailed out already, which has also helped me be really organised. I feel like I’m their only bride which is amazing as they must be running round like headless chickens whilst trying to please everyone but you would never know.
We are continuing to plan as normal, staying positive and looking forward to our new date. I have moved my wedding dress fitting and hen do’s so have lots to look forward to. I have a few more bits of decor to make and are in the process of moving our honeymoon. I am now sitting back and enjoying the extra time we have planning. We can really make everything super special. I am exciting to have all our friends and family at our wedding – healthy and in need of a celebration!
Nicola and Leo’s Story
Our wedding was originally scheduled for 27th June 2020. Concerns first surfaced for us in early March as the Coronavirus started becoming more widespread and cases being reported in the UK.
We first rang the team on Thursday 12th March and discussed our concerns. Crockwell confirmed they had also made the choice to postpone May weddings. However understandably so, they were waiting to make a decision on June weddings, watching the news closely, but if they did that there would be no further charges. Crockwell were very kind and promised to keep us updated with any new developments. Following this started to make contact with all our suppliers to update them on the current situation. They also offered to move the date for free should this be the case as the situation was unprecedented.
The possibility of Crockwell and suppliers offering this was a great relief of stress as by this point we had learned that despite being sensible and having wedding insurance this situation was not covered, unless either myself or Leo contracted Coronavirus at the exact time of our wedding. This left us extremely concerned that could potentially lose approx £15,000 in deposits already paid for our wedding.
On Friday 20th March Crockwell called to confirm that all June weddings had now been postponed. We never thought we would ever have said this, but it was the best news we could have had. Crockwell offered to re-book us for free for dates available between Oct 2020 and June 2021, which we thought was extremely reasonable.
After many frantic calls we managed to secure a new date by the following morning of 5th June 2021. We had managed to also keep all of our original suppliers. We felt elated and extremely grateful to the team at Crockwell for saving our special day.
Despite the detrimental impact Coronavirus is having on all their businesses, everyone has been so kind, accommodating and really worked together. We really couldn’t have picked a better venue and team of suppliers.
Your wedding day should be one of the best days of your life and after everything we have been through, this could not be more true.
Jamie and Matt’s Story
We were due to get married on 14th May 2020 at Crockwell Farm. With all the uncertainty following the Coronavirus we were advised to postpone our wedding and we postponed on 19th March to the new date of 14th September 2020.
Although we were very upset and disappointed we knew it was for the best and actually felt less stressed knowing we wouldn’t have to second guess if our May wedding would go ahead and if all our loved ones could attend.
Crockwell have been so accommodating and it’s been so nice to know they are just at the end of the phone. We love Crockwell so much and couldn’t imagine getting married anywhere else, it ticks all our boxes and all the staff have always been so friendly and supportive of our plans. My heart also goes out to them in these uncertain times as this is their livelihood and they have such an beautiful venue and amazing team.
We have some amazing suppliers who have been very accommodating by rescheduling to our new date. We are continuing to plan but cautiously and leaving some things to nearer the time as we want to wait until the government restrictions are lifted.
Jenny and Ross’s Story
Our wedding was scheduled for the 13th June and we decided to postpone in mid-March after receiving an email from the Registry Office to say that we were only allowing 5 guests to each ceremony. We had been discussing this previously anyway as we were worried about the health and safety of our guests.
We got in touch with Crockwell and as they had been made aware of the email from the registry office so were already contacting all couples booked in for June with details of free postponement.
The team have been so helpful, providing alternative dates and placing a date on hold for us. As our new date is mid-season and a weekday they have even dropped the price considerably, as we were due to have a Saturday wedding in June. They must have been dealing with stressed out brides all day, but were friendly and professional as ever and even apologised for the Coronavirus, although even the biggest ever Bridezilla could not hold them responsible!
We now have our new date at the beginning of October so have been in touch with all of our suppliers and our guests to let them know. It actually puts things into perspective a little bit – it’s all very well for the invitations to have the ribbon perfectly arranged, but all that really matters is that we can share this special day with our friends and family, with love and good health.
Annabel
View all Annabel’s articles
Annabel is the founder of Love My Dress. She lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, two daughters Eska and Leanora and three dogs. She is passionate about photography, supporting women in business and in life, and is in her element being surrounded by nature and the countryside.