Weddings at Howfield
A truly romantic venue, Howfield has a Civil Wedding Licence and an individual approach to planning a wedding that you will not find at many other venues. Our emphasis at Howfield is to provide an informal and relaxed environment in which to enjoy your wedding. With no pre-defined package available, our approach is firstly to see if Howfield is the place for you and then to work together to meet your needs. We offer flexibility, both in what we can provide and how we can meet your expectations within a given budget. This flexibility extends to how you wish to use the hotel and grounds, and if you wish to have the hotel for your exclusive use for the duration of your wedding then this can be arranged.
View our Wedding Brochure for 2011
View our Wedding Brochure for 2012
Please note that our wedding brochure for 2010 is available on request.
Special Offer: If you book a wedding for a Wednesday or Thursday in 2010 you will receive a 20% discount off your whole bill.
Layout
The Manor suite is our largest room. It can accommodate up to 80 people for a wedding breakfast, and with an adjacent bar and toilets, is a self-contained room, with access onto a small terrace, which can also accommodate a marquee. The combination of function room and marquee allows for a larger evening event.
In the historic wing of the house, accessed privately by the bridal party along a lavender-lined pathway and beautiful porch is the suite of rooms licensed for weddings. These rooms overlook the gardens, which include a beautiful knot garden and the white and green 1806 garden. Small Civil ceremonies can take place here with a maximum of [to be added] guests.
Wedding guests come with a variety of needs and wishes, and at Howfield we like to look after them all, so if you need a quiet area or entertainment for children, for example during the speeches, this can be arranged. Alternatively if older guests would prefer to sit in a comfy chair and chat away from the party when it’s in full swing, they may appreciate being provided with a quieter room where they can also enjoy some tea or coffee and perhaps a slice of wedding cake.
The extensive grounds mean that a larger marquee could be set up in one of several places, and we are investigating having a gazebo built which could also be licensed for weddings. The grounds provide some beautiful photo opportunities, with the formal walled gardens or the wider grounds, some of which have views of the nearby lakes as a backdrop. Seating areas tucked away in hidden corners also lend a romance and charm to your event.
Bedrooms
There is no dedicated bridal suite at Howfield (although two of our rooms do have canopy beds). You can choose which room you like best, and can also nominate which rooms your various guests stay in. Of our fifteen bedrooms, 3 are single, 3 twin/double and nine are double. Three of the bedrooms have King Size beds and two of the rooms are suitable for families to stay in.
Menu
There is no set wedding menu at Howfield or pre-determined packages. This is your special day and we want you be able to plan the exact wedding that you want. Our team will work with you to create a tailored menu for you and your guests. Our approach to food, both in the restaurant and for weddings is to source as locally as possible and as seasonally as possible. Our usual menu is traditional with a modern twist. For weddings our preference is to build the menu together taking into account your wishes and budget.
Our children’s menu is based on fresh local food with an emphasis on fun and imagination. Alternatively you can opt to have a smaller portion of an adult meal as a child’s meal. We have a wide range of drinks available, again priced to meet your budget.
We are committed to local produce and hope that any menu chosen will reflect this commitment. Being in the “Garden of England” we are fortunate to have a wealth of fresh produce on our doorstep and throughout most of the year. With many excellent farms nearby we aim to source our meat, vegetables and fruit from within a fifteen to twenty mile radius of the hotel. Fresh fish is available from several nearby ports around the East Kent coastline, but we also source fish from the only accredited sustainable fishery in the area at Hastings. You can rest assured, however that the menus we plan with you will be delicious, imaginative and above all fresh.