We get a lot of questions, on a regular basis, about what does wedding venue hire at Blackstock Estate include? So we thought it would be a good idea to answer that question! At Blackstock Country Estate, the venue and the catering come together as one package. Your day includes the run of the venue (the make-up room, both barns, the courtyards and the grounds) along with your in-house catering and drinks, all provided by and booked through the venue. It is a barn wedding venue in Hellingly, East Sussex that hosts one wedding at a time, so the place is yours for the day and the main parts of it come from one team.
Image above by Parker Shots
At Blackstock Country Estate, the venue and the catering are part of the same booking, both provided by and booked through the team rather than pieced together from separate providers. A full wedding day includes:
On-site accommodation for your wedding party and close family is also available through the venue; see accommodation at Blackstock Estate for the options.
A full wedding day uses both barns. A Twilight Wedding booking would be an early evening option that uses the Tudor Barn and the grounds rather than both barns, with the ceremony from 4pm and the evening reception in the same barn. The make-up room is available from 11am, and the catering is still included, with canapés, drinks and a choice from the evening buffet menu.
The day starts in the make-up room, which is part of the hire and available from 9am. It gives the wedding party a private room to get ready in on site, so there is no early drive across the county on the morning of the wedding, and the barns are laid out with the tables and chairs while you prepare.
Image above by Anita Watson Photography
The hire covers both barns across the whole day, and the day flows naturally between them. After getting ready, your ceremony takes place in the Tudor Barn or outdoors at the pergola. Guests then head into the Tudor courtyard for drinks and canapés, with views across the 70 acres of the South Downs. The wedding breakfast is served in the Granary Barn, and once that room has been turned around for the evening, everyone returns to the Tudor Barn for the reception and first dance.
The Tudor Barn dates back to the 16th century and keeps its original beams. It is licensed for ceremonies of up to 120 guests and evening receptions for up to 200, so you can hold the legal ceremony on site rather than at a register office or church. The Granary Barn has a sandstone floor, exposed beams and vaulted ceilings, antique cartwheel chandeliers for soft lighting, and floor-to-ceiling glazed windows that open onto a landscaped courtyard. A mezzanine overlooks the main barn, which works well for a relaxed seating area, entertainment or a photo booth.
The Tudor courtyard is where guests gather for drinks and canapés after the ceremony, with views out across the South Downs, and it doubles as the spot for your group photos. The wider grounds are part of the hire too. The estate runs to 70 acres of gardens, meadows, woodland and lakes, which gives your photographer plenty to work with through the day. To reach the lakes and the further corners, there is a golf buggy you can use, weather permitting, so you are not crossing the whole estate on foot.
Image above by Nick Davies
Blackstock Country Estate runs as an exclusive use wedding venue, so no other event takes place alongside yours. The barns, the courtyards and the grounds are reserved for your wedding party for the day, which means no strangers in the background of your photos and no rush to clear out for another booking. If you are weighing up the pros and cons of having a venue to yourselves, the guide on the difference between exclusive use and shared wedding venues is worth a read.
A few parts of the day are yours to organise with your own suppliers. You book the registrar or celebrant who conducts the ceremony. Flowers, photography, a cake and evening entertainment are down to you, and for styling and decoration the venue works with two preferred decorators, Inspiration Decor and Flutterbys. For all of these, Blackstock Country Estate keeps a list of recommended suppliers who know the barns and the grounds, and the team can introduce you if you would like.
Image above by Jessica Bevan Photography
To bring it back to the question we started with, what does wedding venue hire at Blackstock Estate include? At Blackstock Country Estate the venue and the catering come together in one booking: both barns, the courtyards, the grounds and the make-up room, with your in-house catering and drinks, all provided by and booked through the venue, and one wedding at a time so the place is entirely yours. That keeps the day joined up rather than stitched together from a dozen different providers, leaving you to arrange the personal touches like your celebrant, flowers, photography and decoration.
The clearest way to see it for yourself, and to talk through the parts specific to your plans, is to come and look around. You can get in touch with the team by calling 01323 848 006 or book a viewing online to come and see the estate for yourself.