Down Hall Hotel & Spa Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 rating
5.0 out of 5 rating
312 reviews
99% recommend it
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![Rasha]()
Rasha E. Sent on 08/09/2024A wonderful venue for our special day
Down Hall was our chosen venue for our wedding day in August - we had a wonderful day and the team did a great job looking after us and our guests.
We worked with Zoe as our wedding coordinator who was fantastic and responsive to our requests and communication as we planned the wedding in a short space of time in 5 months!
The chef was great and modified the menu to suit our special fusion wedding. The results were amazing with all our guests commenting on how wonderful the food was (my worst nightmare averted of guests feeling hungry or having a poor food experience!).
The whole experience with Down Hall was great. The hotel was very busy for the weekend over the summer which did not affect our wedding day itself as had a team dedicated to us. We also had a family afternoon tea arranged the day before instead of a rehearsal dinner which was also amazing with great service in our private room.
We hope to return for our first anniversary! -
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![Ana]()
Ana Sent on 05/11/2023Micro-management required!
The summary I would give our wedding is that the venue is stunning however the wedding coordinators and bar staff failed on several occasions to deliver the wedding we had planned or paid for.
I really did not want to micro-mange my own wedding but this meant things didn’t go to plan. Luckily as we had evidence in writing we did receive compensation for this however that doesn’t change what happened on the day.
Here’s what happened …
Planning Issues
We emailed our final planning information 2 days prior to our final wedding planning meeting. We then had our final planning meeting with Tracy who said everything was okay and on-track. 10 days later she then admitted she had not read the documents at the time of the final planning meeting and had now found a problem. There was a problem, which was my misunderstanding, and we resolved this however this is a great example of the level of service that we received.
We had asked (thankfully via email) if we could have a musician outside during reception drinks and were told we were so we booked one. When we then visited Down Hall we were told we were not allowed a musician. As we could provide the email from them saying we could have a musician they allowed us to have one but I would recommend to any potential couples to get all communication in writing as you may need to provide what you have been told!
These are just two of several fustrating interactions we had during planning!
Time Management
The time management of the wedding coordinators is terrible. We were left waiting on every occasion that we met with them, sometimes up to 45minutes with no idea what was going on. On our wedding day we were left waiting in the reception room for 20minutes wondering again how long we would be waiting with many things to do!
Wedding Ceremony Music
We provided a detailed run-though of the wedding ceremony and when music was meant to be played (nothing complicated, pre-wedding, entrance, signing and exit songs).
- The pre-wedding ceremony music was not setup by the wedding coordinator as promised and was playing through the ipad and not speakers when the Groom arrived.
- Tracy then proceeded mid-way through the ceremony to randomly start playing the second signing music song before realising she was drowning out proceedings and switching it off.
- The Ceremony came to an end and everyone was asked to stand and out their hands together (this took quite a while as my Grandpa is disabled) despite this delay and being given a script in advance Tracy then totally missed starting the exit music until we were 3/4 of the way down the aisle.
The team did offer us compensation for this.
Horsebox Bar
We had paid £500 to reserve the terrace and horsebox bar. When we asked the Food & Beverage team to open the horsebox bar back up after the meal they had to apologise and say that there was a mix up and no staff had been booked and this was not possible.
After the wedding we then complained to the Revenue Manager who claimed that this was agreed with us and this was reflected on the function sheet which we received prior to the wedding … this was a totally untrue!
We then (rather embarrassingly for them) sent them their own function sheet and highlighted the line which said “horsebox bar and terrace after meal service”. After agreeing that both the contract and function sheet said this should be open they offered us compensation. Once again showing the importance of getting everything confirmed in writing.
Prosecco
We brought our own drink and did corkage. During the post wedding drinks I went to the horsebox bar to get a Prosecco to then be told that was the last glass. I was surprised given how much we had brought. I found two bottles in the dining room and took them to the horsebox bar. These were drunk and then guests started buying their own drinks as a result of being told this was finished.
I was then very disappointed to be handed back 8 bottles of Prosecco when we checked out. When I complained about this the Revenue Manger said the guests were drinking G&T which does not answer the complaint at all and again reflects the level of service we received.
Summary
In summary, the venue is stunning however from reading previous reviews it appears that a completely new wedding team are at Down Hall. I would only recommend this as a place to get married if you are going to micro-manage your wedding coordinator, get everything in writing, and don’t trust the function sheet as this is not guarantee things will happen. -
Freya Sent on 22/04/2022
The best wedding day ever
Down hall were amazing for mine & my new husbands wedding day! The whole day went so well and it was so so organised I couldn’t of felt in safer hands! Our wedding was cancelled twice due to the pandemic, and down hall were so accommodating in moving us we couldn’t complain! The only thing that went wrong was the music when I walked down the aisle temporarily stopped twice, I was so nervous for the day, I wanted the ground to swallow me up. But it wasn’t anyones fault it was just a technical glitch! But otherwise Becky, Imran & Julie especially we’re SO AMAZING I couldn’t of wished for a better wedding team! Loved it so much I’d do it all over again! And everyone commented on how accommodating & beautiful the venue was and how delicious the food was 😍 Even down the the Easter egg hunt the hotel had on the next morning for the children! It was absolutely perfect! You can tell they have all the experience! Loved it! We can’t wait to come back to stay for afternoon tea, some lush dinner & a spa day 😍 -
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