Rivervale Barn, Wedding Venue Review

Rivervale Barn

Mill Farm Mill Ln

Yately

Hampshire

GU46 7SS

All wedding venue reviews are written by Brian Parkes LSWPP, a wedding photographer based in Hampshire who covers the venue.

Rivervale Barn is a difficult venue to review, it has some amazing features yet is not without it's problems and I would have to think long and hard before recommending the venue.

On a postive note Rivervale Barn looks stunning, there is no getting away from the fact that this is one of Hampshire's newest and best maintained wedding venues. Both the interior and exterior are immaculately maintained, possibly more so than any other venue.

On paper the layout is perfect, with three distinct and sectioned off areas covering the reception of your guests, service and wedding breakfast. The reception area is converted to your evening disco while you eat and is a nice open space and ideal for this purpose.

The room the services are held in are quite light and airy if a little plain. This could easily be improved with decorative flowers and chair covers to dress the room and should not be taken as a negative point, the room is a blank canvas that will offend none and lend itself to most colour schemes should you wish to dress it.

The section reserved for the wedding the breakfast is really very special, it's a big open space with high ceilings which is accented perfectly by fairy light netting adorning the solid wooden pillars. It's a lovely space with a clean, elegant, yet comfortable feel.

The standard of the build is evident everywhere, solid wood pillars and attention to detail in the fittings and furnishings are everywhere you look. It's a barn with a very contemporary feel, purpose built for weddings and with a lot of potential.

The grounds  are beautiful and contain a large ornamental pond with lots of little areas to give some variety to the backgrounds of your wedding photographs. The grounds are not huge, but of very good quality and fit for purpose. The gardener has chosen well and in the autumn there are some beautiful Reds in the foliage which really add a splash of colour and interest.

In addition to the grounds there is a large courtyard with some coverings to keep the smokers among your party dry in the event of wet weather. The courtyard also doubles as an area that can be used for group photographs when the ground is wet following rain. The grounds themselves do seem to have a clay base and tend to get a little muddy following rain which will rule them out for many brides. This is an important point to consider if you are booking the venue with a view to having your photographs in the grounds or mingling on the lawn.

Being lucky enough to be fed I can also comment that the food was prepared with both skill and thought. Everything was how it should be, flavorsome food in perfect proportions presented very well. Additionally I found the staff to be helpful, well presented and efficient.

Unfortunately as beautiful as the venue plainly is and as much I really wanted to write a glowing review I can't recommend Rivervale Barn to every couple or for every time of year.

The problems at this venue unfortunately lie not with the building, management or staff which could all easily be corrected, but with the policies set down by the owners which unfortunately are unlikely to be. Presently the owners have imposed a number of policies on the venue which left myself and a number of guests feeling a little cold.

The biggest problem I encountered was that after the wedding service, the owners have stipulated that this section of the building is to be cleared and locked, leaving just the 'holding' reception area and wedding breakfast area. This caused a number of issues for the couple and guests at the wedding I attended recently.

Firstly two new mothers both with babies under 3 months old who were using the quiet area to put their babies to sleep in their prams and feed them in relative privacy where asked to leave the room. They had to go back to the very noisy and crowded reception area as there is no quiet baby feeding area to use as an alternative. Even the balcony is cordoned off in the reception area so breastfeeding mothers can not escape up there and the wedding breakfast area is sectioned off until the start of the meal.

Secondly and perhaps more astoundingly, I was told the bride and groom were NOT allowed to use the room for their group photographs, despite their being no other clear space and it actually RAINING outside! We were literally asked to leave the room and with no viable alternative go outside in the rain. We sheltered as best we could in the courtyard on a Grey November day despite there being a perfectly good, large, clear and suitable room lying unused and vacant inside! I still can't quite believe this happened and a number of guests expressed their surprise to me. In all my years of wedding photography at dozens of venues I have never seen a policy like it as most venues bend over backwards to accommodate in bad weather.

As a result of this policy I can not recommend the venue to couples whose friends and families contain babies or small children who may need a nap in their buggy as there is no facility for them to do this.

I can also only recommend the venue for summer weddings. This is very disappointing as potentially the venue is a great wet weather venue, but with the policy as it currently stands there is no wet weather option, particularly with the grounds tending to get a little wet and muddy with their clay base. For very small weddings with few guests it may be possible to conduct the group photographs in the reception room, however with 100 guests at the wedding I attended this was not viable. I would estimate this may start to become plausible with approximately 50 guests, but could become quite unworkable with anymore than this.

Please note the spiral staircases while beautiful, are designed to hold a maximum of 6 people. Personally I would feel uncomfortable putting anymore than 3 people on them as they rock and sway in quite a concerning way with just myself climbing them!

Another policy was that guests must remove their cars from the car park by 10am the following morning. This effectively means guests who are travelling from further afield and have booked into a nearby hotel are excluded from enjoying the facilities at their hotel and from having a nice leisurely breakfast the following morning in order to return to pick up their car in time. I can't therefore recommend the venue should you have guests who are staying in nearby hotels who intend to drive to the venue.

In Summary Rivervale Barn is beautiful and has the potential to be an incredible wedding venue but is let down by some of the policies set down by it's owners. It's a relatively new venue which has only been open 2 years and I'm hoping over time as the venue becomes a little more 'lived in' the owners will relax and these policies will change. Presently it seems not dissimilar to when somebody has bought a top of the range 4x4 vehicle, but won't take it off road in case it gets dirty, They look amazing but they just aren't being used to their full potential.

Ultimately this venue will tick the boxes of a lot of couples and if you can live within the strict policies laid down it is a beautiful venue to hold your wedding in. However for a barn type wedding I would presently recommend Bury Court Barn over Rivervale Barn which is not dissimilar in appearance but has a much more relaxed feel and more accommodating policies. For Elegant grounds I would favour Tylney Hall which offer more variety and a number of wet weather options.

Please don't misunderstand me, this is not a 'bad' review as such. If you will not have any very young children at your wedding and are planning a summer wedding and are happy with the risk of rain throwing a spanner in the works this venue may be for you. If not however, while certainly a beautiful venue, it may not be a good 'fit' with you and your needs.

Update May 2012 - I've learnt from a couple who came to see me today that the owners have relaxed the rules slightly and that they will now allow the couple (just the couple) to have pictures in the room where the service is held. Unfortunately this relaxation of the rules still does not seem to apply to the family group photographs.

This slight relaxation of the rules is an improvement on the original policy, however in my personal opinion still doesn't go far enough to ensure a smooth running day and happy memories in the event of bad weather. This is such a shame as the venue itself and the facilities available give it the potential to be an excellent wet wedding venue which it is currently falling short of. Over the following years I hope these policies are relaxed further so the venue can reach the full potential that is most certainly has.

Nov 2010 - May 2012