A magical wedding day but with few drawbacks
Bunny Hill truly made our wedding day spectacular. If we were basing this review solely from our wedding day, we would score it 5/5 with no hesitation. However, I do feel like I need to base this on the whole of our experience with Bunny Hill to make it a truly rounded review, keeping it as fair and accurate as possible.
We originally booked Bunny Hill a year and four months out from our wedding on 3rd December 2022. Covid restrictions had not long lifted and the pressure of rescheduled covid weddings were clearly placing the team under a lot of pressure. As with all things, communication is key, and it was something that had been lacking throughout. It would take weeks for the team to respond to our queries, which when nearer to our wedding (when time is of the essence) certainly put us under some undue stress. However, since booking we have seen improvements, such as a new email address (yourday@) being implemented for any questions. We feel like this should also have been reflected with the accommodation too with a specific email address (e.g. accommodation@), so that we could direct our guests to ask questions that way.
As a very organised individual, the communication felt chaotic to me – with several individuals of the team often responding at once or not at all, depending on what was being asked. It would perhaps be beneficial for any future bride and grooms to be guided via a ‘wedding timeline’ (e.g. You need this by X date or numbers by X date and so on), as we very much felt like it was guesswork on our part.
When we arrived at Bunny Hill to stay the night before our wedding, everything was set up as planned. It was lovely to speak with James and have a mini rehearsal beforehand, making sure the music we requested was at the right point for me to enter to walk down the aisle and everyone had the correct reserved seating.
As we walked into the accommodation, everything was clean and set to a high standard. There were even chick flick movies in the bridal suite for the night before – a lovely touch for all the girls. Condiments like the complimentary coffee, tea and biscuits were lovely and the kitchen facilities were fabulous too. There’s a couple of things that could be improved upon though, such as implementing a curtain pole and curtain in the bridal suite across the doorway to the common room. This would stop guests (and the groom) from seeing the bride’s dress the night before. It would also allow the couple some privacy and block out the green light that’s placed in the common area, as well as enabling the groom to use the bridal suite facilities the night before if he so chooses.
Speaking of which, there needs to be an area dedicated for the groom/groomsmen, so they can easily avoid the bride on the day itself. This would give them a central area to congregate, making it easier for the bridal party to find their other halves, or to help with guest communication. In terms of the rooms itself, we thought the shower cubicles were slightly on the small side (despite the large bathrooms). We suggest creating roomier shower cubicles for guests who are larger than the average size. In addition, the hook in the bridal suite would be amazing if replicated throughout the property for the rest of the guests.
On our wedding day itself, our co-ordinator James Li was a rockstar from start to finish. He checked in with everyone during their stay and even had an umbrella for me due to the rain and helped carry my very long dress’ train over the stairs and into the barn. If there were issues on the day, we didn’t know about it as everything was handled professionally and the timings were just impeccable. From the registrar interview to walking down the aisle and everything that came after that, James was on-hand to help you no matter the request.
Unfortunately, my dad passed away earlier in 2022. But his memorial was handled so delicately, and the team made sure I was happy with everything. He had his own seat at the front, then his photograph was shifted to the top table to ensure he was very much a part of the day.
One small touch that we just thought was incredible was when the bar staff created their own ‘shot’ as part of our theme. We had a Lord of the Rings wedding theme and the shot that was created (without us even knowing) was called the ‘Sauron Shot’, so that our guests could order it at the bar. This made it all so memorable and even more magical. When I asked James about it, he got myself and the bridesmaids a round of shots, and even did one with us!
So, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you James, Bunny Hill and the H&A team for making our wedding day so magical. We thoroughly enjoyed the day!