My Wedding Venue: The Swan At Streatley

Okay I have some BIG news. Mr. B and I have finally decided on a wedding venue (something we started thinking about last June when we got engaged!). We are getting married next summer so we figured it was high time to start making more solid plans, especially as I have bridesmaids that will be coming across from Canada and will need to arrange their flights nice and early.

It's not that we haven't been looking for venues though - we've searched listings for places in Italy, France, and later Cheshire and Oxfordshire. However each place had hurdles such as unresponsive members of staff or rules about guests not being able to wear stilettos (I'm talking about you, Tatton Park!). However we stumbled across a place completely by chance when we were exploring the local area and consequently booked an appointment with the events team.

So that's how we have ended up picking The Swan At Streatley for our venue, and we are pretty excited about the ceremony and the wedding breakfast. The ceremony itself takes place on a barge (it used to belong to the Magdalen College so there is a nice bit of history attached to it) on the River Thames in West Berkshire. We will be decorating the interior with home-made bunting and fairy lights, but we almost don't need to because of the gorgeous setting.

The Magdalen Barge on the River Thames with a gorgeous willow tree in the background

Another aspect of the day that we have customised is our menu for the wedding breakfast - we are having a barbecue, something that we have been thinking about for the duration of our search. That means we will be able to serve our guests burgers, pork steaks and vegetable kebabs, rather than doling out the traditional prawn cocktail starter and roast dinner main. A BBQ is much more in line with our personalities so this is something we were very happy to arrange with the venue.

Of course, we have plenty more to do in terms of planning, and I'm sure we will need to visit the venue a few more times before the big day. We did bring my parents there this weekend though, just to get their opinion before signing on the dotted line! Here we are soaking up the sunshine on the Streatley to Goring bridge...

Mr B and myself on the bridge near our wedding venue

Expect to hear plenty more about the wedding in the coming months as I'll probably be asking you for some tips. Think along the lines of hair and make up, and maybe even how best to make strings of bunting! Let me know what you think of my wedding venue and any ideas you have to make the day even more special.