Gosfield Hall Wedding Venue Essex

This review is a tale of two halves which gives an overall experience we had for our wedding in September 2022.

The venue is stunning - that is not in question. The on-the-ground team were amazing and did all they could to make our day special. We had the best two days at Gosfield Hall and a very emotional and beautiful wedding.

Our wedding coordinator, is a credit to Gosfield Hall - her attention to detail, support for us and our guests, humour, and care was exceptional. We hope Gosfield Hall / Country House Weddings recognise this. Others have been exceptional since we booked our wedding in the summer of 2019 (unfortunately, due to Covid, we had to rearrange dates twice), but they have since left the organisation.

However, whilst the on-the-ground team were exceptional, the management of Gosfield Hall left a lot to be desired. Please be cautious if you are looking to book your wedding with them, and ensure you read the terms and conditions thoroughly before you pay any deposit. I recommend you sit and review it with one of their onsite teams to ensure absolute clarity. They will aim to use the terms and conditions against you, if not during the planning stage of your wedding, then post the wedding.

They tried to make us pay nearly £7,000 to move our wedding date from 2021 to 2022 but soon changed their mind once we outlined the legal advice we had been given.

They also, post the wedding, levied a charge for a missing umbrella and a room key (which, in the grand scheme of what we paid for the venue, is minuscule). We had no awareness of the provision of umbrellas and that there was no rain; therefore, no need to use an umbrella during our event seemed lost on the venue management. The room key (which we were aware of) had been returned the following week rather than on the day of check-out.

We recommend you walk the site with your wedding coordinator, asking them to point out what potentially 'missing items' you could be held liable for at the start of your stay.

Without a doubt, the most disappointing aspect of our engagement was the receipt of an email from the venue manager intended for the previous night's wedding party, where charges were levied due to what was claimed to be evidence of smoking in four rooms. The email went on to state the following:

"Unfortunately we are going to have to charge you as we were unable to use the rooms for Friday's wedding as the smell was so strong."

Initially, this was confusing as our wedding was on Friday, and all rooms were fully booked. Furthermore, the groom and best man got ready for the wedding ceremony in one of the rooms that could not be used, and there was no noticeable smell of cigarette smoke which would have been evident to us as non-smokers. We became aware that the venue management of Gosfield Hall is willing to knowingly make false statements to justify the levy charges to clients, so we were not surprised when we received our levies.

We escalated our concerns about their communication and charges to Country House Wedding Directors. Their initial response did not answer our queries, so we followed up and requested a more thorough response. Although these levies were subsequently refunded, and we were offered a complimentary meal and stay, which we declined, we are yet to receive a response to our second communication to them and have now waited three weeks for an answer. We do not believe this will be forthcoming.

So, in summary, beautiful venue with a fantastic on-the-ground team but poor management and leadership who will try to get more monies from you for incorrect, missing items or interpretations of their loosely worded terms and conditions, which means we are unable to recommend this venue.

Please be careful when booking this venue and the other venues they own. They will tell you there Is only one date left and they have loads of viewings booked. You will pay a premium price for then a few months later to see “all remaining dates” reduced. It’s very misleading sales techniques. My advice is to please have a look at the offers they do which they release up to 7 months before. It could save you thousands.

Also when you book they ask if you want to book rooms make sure you say no and add them on after you received your booking confirmation that way you can cancel up to 30 days. If you book at the beginning they say you cannot cancel them. (This is 7 months in advance) I wasn’t told this and was just asked a bunch of questions by a sales lady and then sent these conditions after. Either way get them to send you the terms and conditions before paying any money or answering the questions they ask that way you may not be stuck.

Manager and staff are so rude and very unhelpful.

Beautiful venue and surroundings. A real shame about some of the staff and the poor customer service. They made things so stressful for us the day before, as well as shrugging off a complaint after the wedding. If you're paying to stay at the Rocco (honeymoon) suit just make sure you can actually have a shower the next day!

The stand in manager emailed us and accused us of lying and that she had checked with her staff and it wasn't missing, even though we sent them a picture we took that morning! Customer service is awful.

Most of my day was great and was only let down by the front of house manager that was assigned to us. I would get in a toastmaster to make sure your day goes ok.

Major plus points:

+ Ok value for money considering the quality of the food and being able to have the whole day there (i chose to have my ceremony elsewhere).

+ Bar staff are absolutely fantastic. They get to know your drinks and there was never a wait for the bar.

+ Serving staff were also great.

+ Quality of the food. You couldn't get better.

Negatives:

+ Front of house manager kept on going missing and we knew her timetable better than she did.

+ The bathrooms mostly consists of baths and it takes forever to heat up so no chance for you or your guests to have a nice shower before or after the event.

To be honest our day would have been perfect if we were assigned a better person for the day. Toastmaster would have been a bloody good investment!

Wow what can I say as a mother of the bride. FAB-U-LOUS. Thank you to the person I dealt with and all her staff for showing everyone what a real wedding is all about, soooooooo professional. All our guests commented on the beautiful surrounding the amazing food and staff. God bless you all for making my daughters wedding day so special xx

I stayed in the Grand Salon Suite, which looks lovely on the website. The main twin bedroom is lovely and the twin is ok but the bathroom only has a bath, there is no shower and the toilet flush is loud enough to wake everyone. Not acceptable at the price.

Also another gripe was that the dance floor was very small and the bar closed at 1am on our New Years Eve party!

Some questionable meat served up at he wedding breakfast but on the whole the food was average.

Other than that it is a lovely old building in a great location.

It was a fairy tale wedding, the venue was amazing, the staff were amazing, my room was amazing, the food was amazing! U could not rate it any other than 10/10 I would strongly reccomend! The whole day was perfect.

We were lucky enough to be invited to a work colleagues wedding ...and it was FABULOUS....not only did we have a glorious sunny day the setting was amazing.wonderfully manicured lawns awsome tubs and hanging baskets.

Our meal was delicious the staff were happy and efficient and the accommodation was smart classy and clean....If I were to be married I would not hesitate to book this venue...I do not know the cost...but from my point of view it was 10 out of 10 all round....thanks for the memories

A great venue,location excellent,our personal wedding planner second to non,food good,rooms very good,all in all a great place to geat married untill you get the extras taken out of your £600 retention money.

Be awhere read everything that is sent to you from Gosfield Hall,when you go and review all the opptions avalable take a dictor phone with you and tape everything that is said,we asked for a jug of orange juice a long with the welcome drinks for the only 2 children that were there,cost £10.98 for 2 litres of orange consentrate,£3 at Tesco's.

Nothing was said at the meeting about bottled water on the tables durring the meal,had something been said we would have requested jugs of iced water,cost £71 for 14 half litre bottles.

After speaking to the head office 4 times each time talking to someone different and being told a member of staff will ring us back I am still waiting for the return call..

An excellent place to get married if you do your homework.

a good venue for a wedding but it is not cheap - especially their house wine that starts at c.£30 a bottle!!

Food was very good and all guests loved it.

Rooms are nice, but again expensive so better to stay elsewhere. Its not close to anywhere though so they have a captive market i guess.

Last minute deals are good value (if you can get a date that is reasonable, not always easy) though.