Some couples believe that a venue has to be IN a hotel or at least have some hotel style room you can use for preparation, however if you only go looking for hotel wedding venues, you’ll be missing out on some great ones, like the Knebworth Barns at Knebworth House. If you want to know what this venue has to offer, read on as Vikki from Your Wedding Friend knows why it should be on your radar!

If you’re looking for a stunning barn venue in the Hertfordshire countryside that just happens to be next to a stunning manor house with the most gorgeous gardens, then Knebworth Barns near Stevenage may be perfect for you. Knebworth House is known for its amazing concerts and events in the grounds of its beautiful house, so the events team have a huge track record in looking after VIP’s.

There are actually four barns to choose from and all are well worth viewing. You can hire rooms in the house for your civil ceremony for up to 80 people as it is fully licensed, and the gardens for drinks receptions, but the bulk of your big day will be spent in the barns for your wedding reception. Guest capacities vary from 60 to 250 people depending on which barn you use and the layout you go for. You’ve got a great deal of flexibility in the bigger barns, especially if you combine them, which is definitely the easiest option for segueing between the different parts of the day. 

Video: Veiled Productions

The Manor barn and Lodge barn work brilliantly for a wedding breakfast and the evening reception respectively. Both are very traditional looking spaces and the Manor barn has elements of farming and rural life in its décor, perfect for a rustic wedding theme. The two spaces are connected by a hallway, so guests enter directly from the car park through an area that is perfect for a welcome display. Of course, how you use each space is up to you but with this particular network of buildings really does lend itself to ease and flexibility.

The Garden Terrace is a more modern space with a beamed ceiling, which when dressed up can look fantastic, it’s not available during normal visiting times though as it is primarily used as the house cafe. The Cobbold barn is similar with lower beamed ceiling as well as being brighter than the larger barns, but with a lower guest capacity it’s more perfectly suited to smaller weddings and receptions. 

The team here will look after you, as you’d expect, and they have a long list of preferred suppliers they can recommend. They offer some yummy traditional menus, which are good value for the type of venue. The hire fee as you might expect is not at the cheap end of the market but in the price you get a one night stay in the nearby Novotel, which is a great extra that you don’t get at many other venues. It’s a good-sized hotel right near the entrance to the grounds of Knebworth House so you can’t get a more convenient room, however being so close to Stevenage, there are lots of other hotels a short taxi ride away.

You should note that Knebworth House have limits on when and for how long you can use the gardens for your photographs, which can be a little limiting, but so long as you stick to your scheduled ceremony time and make the most of the time you’re given in the gardens this shouldn’t be a problem. You still have lots of the grounds around the barns, which are also fantastic and vast, so if you want to do more shots and larger group pictures you’ve got plenty of space to choose from. 

Between the barns is a large courtyard area with picnic bench style seating. For much much bigger events this area can be covered by a large marquee. Such a set-up is very restrictive for the venue and effects other operations, so if you’re looking to do this type of event you need to discuss this with the venue a good amount of time in advance.

There’s a lot to think about with Knebworth Barns. You’ve got flexibility, you can do everything in one place and the Stevenage Novotel is super close, though a bit more than walking distance. If you’re looking for a modern or traditional barn, you need to check out the Knebworth Barns, and the cherry on the cake is the grand house for a smaller wedding ceremony.

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