Hopton Court Estate

After struggling to find a venue for us, Hopton Court just felt right from the first viewing. As soon as I saw a picture of the orangery I wanted to get married there, it is such a beautiful and unique backdrop. So unique in fact you won’t find another orangery like this one, as it turns out it’s far prettier than it was efficient! Hopton is a historic venue with all of the character and elegance but non of the stuffiness. The venue has been maintained impeccably to retain its original charm, and the grounds are so beautiful that we didn’t even feel the need to decorate with exception to having DIY flower buckets from the locally grown ‘Shropshire flowers’. We had lovely compliments from our guests, some said they had never been to such a naturally beautiful venue, others complimented how unique it was. If the photography is important to you, you will not regret booking this venue, the scenes are straight out of a movie, and you are spoilt for choice with locations on the grounds. An amazing option is for guests to stay overnight in the walled garden, with the power and water; so any keen campers or van goers can stay overnight, we had a few guests do this and had no complaints! Rhys was fantastic to work with, very personal and experienced, he had so much enthusiasm for our wedding from the outset which put us at ease immediately, (those who are in the daunting early days of wedding planning will appreciate this!) I like to think that we were fairly chilled as a couple, but again this was influenced by how easy Rhys and Hopton made the whole process, they respected all of our decisions, there was no pressure to go a certain way or use a particular vendor. They do have a list of suppliers that they can recommend from experience but by no means do they hard sell, which was wonderful and allowed us to find exactly what we wanted and within our own budget, that felt like us. We had no problems booking suppliers, several had worked with the venue before, and were happy to work there again. With the wedding boom post pandemic we felt that many venues were churning out cookie cutter weddings which takes away from the importance your wedding day should hold. As a private couple, a must for us was that the venue would be ours only for the day, and this ticked all of the boxes, private and tucked away from the public eye, so we were relaxed and free to be ourselves. We had the venue for 3 days and we were able to book any day that was available, even though it was a Friday, the venue could have made more money from a couple looking to get married on the Saturday, but their integrity was such that we asked first so it was ours. Having seen the venue in all seasons, there is no bad time to get married there. In spring and summer the flowers are magical, and the grounds transition to a stunning autumnal venue. When the nights draw in there are lights in the orangery that are a beautiful and warm romantic addition on a cold winter evening. We can’t quite believe that any of it was real, and it’s still settling in that we are in fact husband and wife, but the day was absolutely magical and I only wish the day had gone on for longer, at least we have the photographs to come. I’d recommend this venue to anyone looking for a beautiful venue but wanting to make the day their own. Everybody should feel as we did, that our wedding was special and one to remember. We have loved working with Rhys and Hopton and we are so glad to have had our wedding with them, we wish the team all the best!

After meeting and confirming my date with Rhys, I then went to contract and within a few days was told that my date had been sold to someone else without any prior warning. Hopton court refused to accept any responsibility for their error, their attitude and actions following this was extremely unprofessional. After enquiring with several suppliers for my date and venue I am now having to start my wedding planning from scratch. Approach Hopton court with caution.

The day was everything we hoped for and more. We got married in 2008 in the Orangery, had a sit down meal for 34 in the day and a marquee, dance floor, dj and band for the evening. We danced the night away and had a fantastic party that people still talk about now. Thank you Hopton Court