We got married in September ‘24 and had the best day of our lives at Haybales farm! Obviously, that’s because we got married but being in a perfect setting really helped with that feeling. We always wanted to get married outdoors and as soon as we found Haybales we knew it was the place for us.

Finding it, the field itself was a little challenging but between the what three words and a few handmade wedding signs with our names on all of our guests found it fine.

The tipi is gorgeous, perfectly sized for dancing, eating and a bar too. The drinks are typical wedding prices but not crazy either, we are from the midlands so a little more than we would pay at home but most were £6. We had wine on the tables, I would recommend choosing your own if you want something specific otherwise you’ll get pretty basic stuff but that isn’t necessarily a problem.
We wanted to keep the cost down so we did a lot of decorating ourselves, Amy was onsite with us for most of the time and she helped us which was so kind.

The weather unfortunately wasn’t exactly what we ordered, but Will was there offering ideas and solutions. He told us we could move the wedding inside the tipi, which honestly would have looked gorgeous with all the fairy lights. We decided to embrace the fog though and had a slightly atmospheric wedding outside and honestly, no one even noticed the weather it was still a perfect wedding!

This is not their review but;
We had a celebrant to do our wedding in the field, Steve Morris Celebrant, who was amazing and perfect for our wedding!
We got a caterer in that did pizza, potters pizza, who cooked on site for 2 hours, kept everyone happy and fed. The pizza was amazing and fit the theme so well.
We also hired a glamping service, enchanted bell tents, who some of our guests also chose to use too. For those guests who didn’t glamp, Will and Amy allowed us to let our guests camp for free on the field with us so when everyone had set up it was a real festival vibe. There are lots of hotels and b’n’b’s nearby (even a few premier inns for the less expensive option) for those who need a real bed too.
Taxis weren’t too bad either, we were told to book in advance to avoid disappointment as there is only one or two in the local area, but we found calling out to Oakham or Stamford companies worked okay if you were willing to wait a little longer for a lift.

Will and Amy were really lovely and helped with organising all our third parties, things you don’t want to think about on your wedding day like the DJ has arrived, where are the plugs or the toilet hire has arrived, they have it covered. They are both really lovely and helpful and open to ideas. They let us stay from Friday to Sunday to set up and we had a great time. We would definitely recommend it here!

We have never dealt with such an incompetent company. Where to start with what went wrong…

We booked Will and Amy on the understanding that they were renting out their own teepee. We booked 8 months in advance of our wedding. Unfortunately we didn’t get what we expected and Will and Amy subcontracted a teepee from another company, which was just the beginning. They had taken on more than they could handle here by having more than one wedding on the same day.

We were originally told we would have a week long hire, (due to Amy and Will having other full time week day jobs, they said they would install it the weekend before, as they couldn’t do week days). That was fine by us as it gave us time to decorate and install interior furniture. This was unfortunately not put into writing, and closer to the time it was suggested that we had effectively made this up, and told it would be installed on the Wednesday or Thursday before the wedding on the Saturday. A miscommunication here perhaps, but dealt with badly.

Due to our wedding insurance we then found out we only had a set number of days insurance for the teepee so it had to be installed on the Thursday anyway. Perhaps a teepee hire company should have knowledge of things such as wedding insurance for teepees? … or maybe that’s too much to ask from a “professional” company.

Following this, the weather was not on our side, and that day the installation team had to attend to another teepee that needed reinforcing due to the wind. We had hired staff on site to put up other marquees, who had to standby while we waited for contact from Haybales…. We had hardly any contact to update us…. We accept that the weather delayed the installation at this point, but we were left in the dark - if only we had been told truthfully that the teepee was subcontracted at this point… and that “the team on their way”, wasn’t their team, but another company which was out of their hands, and in actual fact, a third company beyond this. The lack of communication at this point was stressful to say the very least. Effectively we felt lied to when we found out that they likely had no real idea of what was going on with the installation due to it being in the hands of two other companies.

As we later found out, the teepee had been subcontracted again, to a *third* company. Of which they directly informed us they received the job that day, on the Thursday we expected it to be installed - and in their words “it’s a good job we had a spare teepee laying around”… We understand this second subcontract was out of the hands of Will and Amy, however none of this was communicated with us, and we were just waiting around all day expecting our teepee to be installed, but no one turned up… we had such limited communication from Haybales, maybe because they were at work in their day jobs.

Eventually we were informed that the team would arrive Friday morning. The teepee arrived at *midday* Friday... This left us decorating and setting up until very late in the evening the day before our wedding, not the evening we envisioned.

Further issues on the day, the festoon lit walkway that we paid extra for - just didn’t turn up. Amy was unable to problem solve on her own, as the doubly subcontracted company came all the way from Cheshire, they presumably couldn’t go back for the lights (if they had even been ordered, who knows) - after Amy was asked about it twice, with no straight answer, she eventually admitted that they hadn’t got the lighting - I suggested that she goes to purchase the lighting from a local DIY shop. She did this. It wasn’t quite the same as expected but it did the job.

The teepee then had major issues with the side zips, two of them needed bodging with clips to keep them closed overnight. No response from Haybales on this. Our wedding planner chased Will and Amy and we were told that a plan was in place to remedy the issue… nothing happened. Surprise surprise, no communication. Overnight the teepee leaked majorly and so in the morning of our wedding my husband to be and family were mopping the dance floor…

Following this they were meant to break down the teepee on the Monday. This was done eventually, two days later on the Wednesday. We asked for confirmation of when the teepee would be taken down, but had no response. This is when we spoke directly to the subcontracted company.

All our other wedding suppliers were exemplary and appalled by our unfortunate selection of teepee company.

Haybales caused us, and myself as a bride, an unimaginable level of stress during the run up to our wedding day.

My husband directly suggested to Will, at the very minimum that a letter of apology to us would be welcome, to explain exactly what happened - including the issues that were out of their hands. Will and Amy did not even bother to do this. A formal apology to us might have avoided this open review, honestly I feel personally insulted and infuriated that they couldn’t even be bothered to do that.

Will stated that they will no longer cross hire. That is one thing they may have learnt, however the way they handled the stress this caused, and the issues that arose - just demonstrates their inability and inexperience within business and customer service. They probably do “ok” when things are straightforward, but faced with an issue, good luck, as they are not able to deal with problems or communicate. As per the headline, don’t give up the day job.

You get married once, and never get that time back, don’t take the risk with Haybales.

What a beautiful wedding and events location. I would highly recommend Haybales farm to anyone, located in Rutland!