The six month mark is here - YAY!  Check back here for your original wedding guidelines.

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Whilst six months feels like a long time away, we can promise you it will fly by and we also appreciate that at this stage of the wedding planning, things start to gear up a little bit. But worry not - we are here to help with final planning stages and give you lots of advice.

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Below we have tried to condense everything down into sections so you work your way through them easily. Of course, not everything may be applicable to your wedding or you may be super organised and have done bits already!

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Day in Detail Meeting

Around 2-3 months before your special day, we host a Day in Detail Meeting with you. This meeting tends to be around two hours long and is when you meet your dedicated wedding co-ordinator who will work with you to organise the finer details of your wedding and will be with you on the day to oversee everything. 

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We will take lots of notes in the meeting and within a week, we will send you over a written wedding plan and other documents to plan the day such as table layouts and any other forms needed. We can use this information to then contact your other suppliers to confirm timings.

 

We will send you an invitation to arrange your meeting around four to six months before the wedding. Due to our busy wedding schedule, we normally arrange the meeting to take place midweek within office hours and will send you a few options to work with (alternatively if you have a few options that could work for you, please do send them through). A questionnaire will be sent to you to fill out, which we can use to organise the meeting and gives you the chance to tell us what you'd like to happen on your day. We ask for this to be filled in and completed around a week before the meeting so we have time to look through it.

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You don't have to fill it out all in one go but when you have finished, please do click complete so we know it is done! For help on how to fill it out and to help you answer some questions please read the below articles, which should give you some guidance.

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Your Wedding Items

You will be invited over to Dodmoor House the day before your wedding to drop off all your wedding items. This includes the decorations you want us to put out for you, any drinks you may be providing and even your outfits for the wedding morning.

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We will send you a wedding items form when we send the link to the questionnaire, where you can tell us everything we can expect you to bring for your wedding. It would be really helpful if we could see the most up to date copy of this list a week before your planning meeting so we can bring up any questions if needed. If you would like to make a start on the list early you can download it here!

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At the end of the night, we use this list to check everything back into our storage area so that we can ensure we have everything ready to give you back the morning after the wedding. 

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Please note if you are providing confetti within your wedding items, this must be dried or real petals only please. We can't allow paper confetti, even if it's biodegradable. Please also make your guests aware of this, in case they decide to provide their own.

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Timings

Throughout the meeting we will go through the timings for the day so you get a clear idea of how the day will flow.

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Guests usually arrive no earlier than an hour before the ceremony and if your ceremony is 1pm or after then the bar will be open an hour before for guests to grab a pre-wedding drink! All other timings follow from your ceremony time and can vary slightly based on your guest numbers and the time you may want even guests to arrive.  

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To have a look at some different timelines for the day please click here.

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 Table Plans

Based on your guest numbers there is a range of different table plans you may be able to choose from. We appreciate that every wedding is different and offer different options should you wish to change things up a little bit!

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Both us and your caterers will need a working copy of your table plan around two weeks before the wedding. If you could please let us know of any children requiring highchairs and booster seats, allergies and menu choices if you have them as well as the orientation of where your guests are sitting. 

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To view all the table plans available please click here. If you wanted to discuss an option which isn't on here please feel free to email us to discuss. Please also always let us know if you are considering a live musician during the meal, as the space to allow this would depend on your table layout. Due to the room being full with the trestle layout, you could not fit a live musician in the room if you're at maximum numbers. Please contact us for more details about this!

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Drinks

We are sure by this stage of your wedding journey, you have read up on the Unlimited Drinks Packages we offer, which currently start from just £17 per head and best of all, there's no limit on how much your guests drink during this time!

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We host open evenings regularly so that you can come and taste a variety of the wines and cocktails we offer to help make your decisions a bit easier! If you know the choices you want for your drinks package, please fill this out in your day in detail questionnaire but if you need any further guidance, we can happily discuss this with you during the meeting.

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Alternatively, if you would like to supply your own drinks, our no corkage period begins at the end of your ceremony and lasts until the end of your meal/speeches (the same length of time as the packages). We have a drinks calculator to help you work out how much to bring with you. Remember we will supply all the glassware, ice and staff to serve everything (we will chop up any of your garnishes you bring for you too)!

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Catering​

Food is such a big part of your wedding day and your caterers are probably the most important supplier to you! Therefore we like to work quite closely with them to make the day run as smoothly as possible.

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If your caterers have not been to Dodmoor House before, please don't worry, we love having new faces here! As we host a lot of weddings, site visits for them can be tricky to arrange but we are always at the other end of the phone. We suggest you send over the Terms and Conditions and our Outside Catering Checklist to your caterers (you do not need to do this if they have been here in the last year), so they return this to you before the Day in Detail meeting. 

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Please remember that although we provide the glassware for the entire day, your caterers will need to supply the cutlery, crockery and linen for the meal tables, as well as linen for any cake table or additional evening tables in the Courtyard Barn.

 

To look at the linen requirements for your desired table plan please click here. We understand not all caterers can provide your linen so we have also included the details of some local companies who can help on this page too. 

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You will also need to ensure that your caterers provide the staff for laying up of the tables, service and clearing of the food and rubbish disposal.

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We will always confirm the linen requirements and arrange a drop off and collection time on your behalf as well as confirming the timings of your wedding day with the caterers after the Day in Detail Meeting.

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It is helpful for you to tell both the caterers and us of any guests' dietary requirements and children's ages (if you label these on your working table plan you can send the same one to both us to save you more work)!

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It is no problem to have a different caterer in the day and the evening, there are so many wonderful informal choices. Please ensure that your evening caterer will be able to provide enough staff to serve/clear away food and remove all rubbish, if this is not possible we may be able to help with additional staffing at an extra charge, please just let us know if you would like to discuss this further.

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Music

Hopefully by now you have your evening entertainment sorted, be that a band or DJ, an acoustic singer or a playlist you will play through our speaker system (or DIY DJ package). You may have already let us know who you have booked, and we would send them our terms and conditions to check and sign ahead of your booking, but if not, now is a good time to get this done! You can download our T&C's here. 

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At your planning meeting we will discuss timings for the day, which will include set times for your musicians or DJ. We would then also email them to confirm these timings ahead of the wedding, so we are all on the same page!

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Dodmoor DIY DJ system​

While our speakers are of sufficient quality for background music, we would strongly recommend that you ask your DJ/band to provide their own speakers in the evening, while you are also welcome to book our DIY DJ system, with includes a PA system and coloured/disco lighting.

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You can see more details here - DIY DJ  

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Bands and DJs​

We regularly welcome a range of DJs and bands to Dodmoor House for some great evening parties!

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You should be aware that, in accordance with our public licence to minimise disturbance to our neighbours, a noise limiter has been fitted into the two main barns.

 

You are welcome to book any of the bands, DJs or singers on our recommended list, who can all work well at the venue. We would just ask that all singers/bands finish their final live set by 11pm (but they can then play a DJ set until the close).

 

If you wish to book any other band, DJ or singer, please ensure in advance they can comply with the following requirements of our entertainment licence:

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:: We have a noise limiter system set at a maximum of 94 decibels

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:: We ask all bands not on our recommended list to provide - and use - an electronic drum kit to ensure they can stay within this limit

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Please note that our entertainment licence does not allow any band to play at Dodmoor House unless they are able to comply with these requirements.

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We also ask that you do not use any smoke effects, strobe lighting or foam/glitter/confetti machines or devices.

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We are always happy to discuss your ideas or to talk directly to your band, singer or DJ in advance before you book them – please just call us on 01327 341736 or email us at weddings@dodmoorhouse.co.uk

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Bands tend to play two one-hour sets during the evening and we ask them to finish their final set by 11pm with disco music playing until the end of the night (with the Catesby Barn doors closed after 11pm).

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DJs and solo singers take about 40-60 minutes to set up, while larger bands can take up to 90 minutes to get ready, so these times need to be allowed for in the planning of the evening timings.

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Hire @ Dodmoor

We offer a huge range of items for you to hire for your wedding day, covering everything from arches to table numbers and welcome signs to sweet walls! To have a look at the full range please click here.

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If there is anything you'd like to hire, please just email us over a list of what you would like. We will then send over a confirmation to you and ask for a 25% deposit to confirm the booking and the remaining balance is due two months before your wedding day. 

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Hotel Allocation

You have the option to set up an allocation at the Mercure Daventry Court Hotel (subject to their availability). If you haven't done so already, we suggest setting up this allocation with them prior to sending out your wedding invitations so you can pop the code and instructions on them. For all the details about the allocations please click here.

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Around three weeks before the wedding, we ask that you get in contact with the hotel for a rooming list of the guests that have booked onto your allocation. This means we can see how many people have booked on and book the transport for them at the end of night to take them back after the wedding. 

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When you receive the rooming list, please do double check that the occupancy for each room is correct as we book the transport based on the number of people and not the number of rooms. 

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