North Norfolk Gems - best Norfolk wedding venues - Voewood
This is the first post in my North Norfolk Gems series - a selection of my favourite local wedding suppliers and venues.Throughout the next few weeks I will be posting articles with photographs and interviews with the business owners of the best North Norfolk wedding venues (in my opinion) and the best wedding suppliers including caterers, florists and musicians. The aim is to make this a resource for couples looking for wedding venues in North Norfolk and the best suppliers in the region to ensure their wedding is the quintessential perfect North Norfolk wedding.
I'm going to kick the series off with one of my favourite buildings in the world - Voewood. Unique, eclectic and unforgettable are just a few words that I would use to describe Voewood. Over the years I have photographed many weddings at Voewood,various model shoots, portrait sessions and taken images for the Voewood website. I love any opportunity to spend time in the building and stunningly landscaped grounds.
Built in 1905 Voewood is a couple of miles outside the Georgian town of Holt and a similar distance from Weybourne village on the beautiful North Norfolk coast.
Today I chatted with Simon Finch, the owner of this fantastic Arts & Crafts house, he told me that in 1909 Country Life magazine described Voewood as 'violently idiosyncratic' and 'far and away the most interesting building in Holt' (the full article can be seen here). I asked Simon what, (apart from the incredible building, grounds, furnishings and artwork!) makes Voewood unique amongst other local wedding venues, he told me that their ethos is that when you hire Voewood it's "your house for the weekend, you can do what you like, we have no silly rules and no hidden extras". When you have your wedding at Voewood, dependent on how long you would like it for, there is one price and the place is yours! How many other Grade 1 listed houses (and Grade 1 listed garden) can you have to yourself and your friends without someone looking over your shoulder all the time?!
Simon told me "The fee includes the full, exclusive use of the house, all rooms, gardens and grounds and the use of all contents. It also includes sundries such as linens, towels, soaps, logs for the house fires, complimentary Wi Fi throughout and heaps more. We seat 100 in the main hall and a further 50 on the adjacent terrace, so 150 in all. Seated parties over 150 may need a marquee which can be placed anywhere in the grounds. Also, there are hard standing facilities for outside catering. The main hall fits 300 approx. for evening reception.Music, including live music must cease by 10.30 pm on the lawns and midnight in the halls. Low level music is permitted after midnight in the music room and surrounding rooms.Voewood sleeps 38 and is set in 11 acres. We are licensed for marriages and you can be married anywhere in the house and grounds. "
Simon has collected fascinating furniture, artwork and curios from all around the world, I've been to Voewood many times socially and professionally and I always find something I hadn't noticed before, from a little painting of a dog by Annie Lennox in the master bedroom to art by Jean Cocteau alongside work by a mass murderer!
One of the many advantages of holding your wedding at Voewood is the freedom it gives you to bring in your own caterers, provide your own bar (self-service usually seems to work well, although many of the caterers also offer a bar service if you think you can't be trusted with free flowing booze!). On the subject of caterers Voewood actually recommend many of the same guys I would recommend too including the fantastic Back to the Garden and Byfords. The local florists - The Passion of Flowers, just down the road in Holt have provided many beautiful creations for the weddings I have photographed at Voewood, check them out, I'll be featuring them in a future North Norfolk Gems article.
Please give me a call if you would like more information about my Voewood wedding photography, as a North Norfolk wedding photographer I'm based only 5 miles down the road!Here's some juicy keywords for the search engines to chew on...wedding photographers in norfolk, voewood wedding photographs, wedding photography at voewood, norfolk norfolk wedding photographers, north norfolk wedding venues, wedding photographers north norfolk.