The Great House at Sonning

We have had a very warm and thorough onboarding process from The Great House by Tilly who works in the events for the location- she has guided us through the organisation of our special day which is due to take place in September.

We have been provided with ample information on timings, coordination, flexibility on vendors and general advice.

We were put off by other venues because of their rigidity around external vendors and food options. With some venues the tendency is to say "that's not possible" whilst the Great House tends to let you customise and finds a work around. We have felt, so far, very confident that our day will be special.

The only negative comment we would make is that initially when we had our tasting, the food was perhaps below what you might expect for a £55 p/head menu- however Tilly accommodated a second tasting (free of charge) with different choices which both lived up to the price tag, and of course, the standards we are hoping to achieve with our day.

The physical setting and décor are lovely: the spacious lawn stretches to the edge of the towpath right beside the Thames (a very nice section of the Thames)- there is a lot of outside seating with enormous owning umbrellas. Inside is a charming modern rural vibe with great lighting everywhere. Lots of parking and relatively easy to get to aside from occasional traffic caused by the early Victorian single lane bridge, which although aesthetically pleasing does create a bit of a bottleneck. There is a quant church nearby that we have decided to attend in order to have our ceremony there.

Overall The Great House are extremely responsive, accommodating and we very much look forward to our wedding there

I just wanted to say, you, Laura & the whole team at the Great House honestly made mine and Mat's Wedding on Saturday - it was incredible for us.?

We are so happy and I just wanted to thank you, to all of you.?

Please pass this onto the relevant managers as you & Laura made the whole process so relaxed, organised & could not have done any more for us both. So I hope you get some form of praise from this, as you both are incredible and an asset to the Great House!

Hi Charlie and Emily,

We just wanted to reach out to both of you to say a massive thank you for all your hard work on providing us with the most perfect day.

It was a really smooth process to get everything planned in and Charlie you were so helpful with sorting all the small details and helped keep me worry free in the planning! The handover to Emily was very easy and the day ran perfectly.

We know there were last minute changes with the table decorations but you managed to sort this all perfectly and the room looked fantastic, the food was delicious and we have had so compliments on the food and the sharing format so please pass this onto the catering team. The winter pimms also worked out so well, especially on a chilly day!

All the staff on the day were very attentive and helpful and helped the day run so well.

A massive thank you again to you both, it was absolutely perfect and we couldn't have wished for anything more.

Our wedding at The Great House was absolutely incredible and would HIGHLY recommend the venue!!! There are no words to really explain how fabulous the staff were in the lead up our wedding and throughout the day. Firstly, Natalie who helped me plan the day and made sure we were able to include all the details we wanted to make our day extra special and perfect. Natalie was absolutely amazing, very efficient - always getting back to me so quickly and always had the answers! She was so incredibly friendly and easy going, exactly what we needed. Jen co-ordinated the entire day, and did the most incredible job! The day would not have been the same without her. Everything ran like clockwork, nothing went wrong - not that I was aware of anyway! It was utter perfection. Jen made sure our special day was just perfection! Clare, who managed the catering staff was so fabulous! She did a great job in managing it all, nothing was too much and she was just so effective and super friendly!! Last but not least the food! It was delicious. I also have to make a special mention to how well they catered for allergies and special dietary requirements. My little girl has several allergies and they managed it all so well. I can’t thank everyone that worked so hard to bring it all together enough. We will never ever forget it! What a beautiful venue with absolutely incredible staff! Thank you all SO much!

The team on the day were incredible, Enya was our team leader and went above and beyond to make sure it went smoothly and we felt looked after which we really did! She helped solve dress problem, took control of the day which is exactly what I needed, the whole bar team were so happy and efficient, I could not ask for more, they really were incredible, all our guests felt well looked after

I will try and keep this succinct, but we had our wedding at the Great House in September 2024 and overall it was one of the best wedding supplier decisions we made! Every detail was so thoughtful and imo they went above and beyond: - There were a few dietary requirements in our guest list, which were catered for without having to compromise on the overall menu (our sole GF guest was approached with her own canapé platter, she was overjoyed to say the least) - I stayed the night before in the clocktower suite with a bridesmaid and our venue coordinator arranged for food to be brought over from the restaurant so that we didn't have to bump into our guests who were also staying over. - They gave me late checkout at the clocktower suite and moved all my things from the suite to the wedding couple room for me. This meant we didn't have to book it for 2 nights, as we didn't have any use for a big suite on the wedding night itself. - There were a number of DIY elements which the venue set up perfectly for us. Especially, our bud vases with faux flowers, which I handed over in boxes with some instructions, but the real detail I left to the venue and they nailed it without needing to check in with me. They also packed everything away at the end of the night and left it to be picked up in the morning. Just generally, the venue is fantastic: - The food was legendary, months later all my family is still raving about it, like I said everyone was catered for but the quality and taste of everything was excellent. We had a complimentary food tasting in November 2023 but you also get to try the canapés if you go to one of their wedding open days. - Being on the river is so special and unique, we made the most of it by chartering a river boat during the cocktail hour. Our photographer took us down the footpath for golden hour photos and they are lovely. - The layout of the venue is perfect for us, there were different places for people to gather or hang out, but you never felt cut off from the party (even when in the igloo, which was another unique touch). - Cocktails were delicious, we chose 4 from the menu (as there's too many for the staff to make otherwise), and they wrote it up on the blackboard for our guests to see. - Might just be our good luck, but my husband's family loves Guinness, and between us booking the venue and the actual wedding date, it finally made its way onto tap in the venue... A happy coincidence, but if it wasn't on tap then the staff would have gone to the other bar to pour then brought it back to us, so no problem really. Only a couple of things went awry: - They were painting the hallway outside my suite and I had a huge wedding dress... The decorator got a telling off by the coordinator so I think this was a miscommunication internally. - The sound system cut out during my aisle walk, and the microphones were cutting out during the speeches. I have been assured that they have/will replace the whole system, and we were compensated for this after our wedding and are satisfied with the outcome. (If you're concerned about this, just ask them!) Overall we were blown away with the thoughtfulness of all the staff we communicated with, it really made the whole process special and stress-free.

I will try and keep this succinct, but we had our wedding at the Great House in September 2024 and overall it was one of the best wedding supplier decisions we made! Every detail was so thoughtful and imo they went above and beyond: - There were a few dietary requirements in our guest list, which were catered for without having to compromise on the overall menu (our sole GF guest was approached with her own canapé platter, she was overjoyed to say the least) - I stayed the night before in the clocktower suite with a bridesmaid and our venue coordinator arranged for food to be brought over from the restaurant so that we didn't have to bump into our guests who were also staying over. - They gave me late checkout at the clocktower suite and moved all my things from the suite to the wedding couple room for me. This meant we didn't have to book it for 2 nights, as we didn't have any use for a big suite on the wedding night itself. - There were a number of DIY elements which the venue set up perfectly for us. Especially, our bud vases with faux flowers, which I handed over in boxes with some instructions, but the real detail I left to the venue and they nailed it without needing to check in with me. They also packed everything away at the end of the night and left it to be picked up in the morning. Just generally, the venue is fantastic: - The food was legendary, months later all my family is still raving about it, like I said everyone was catered for but the quality and taste of everything was excellent. We had a complimentary food tasting in November 2023 but you also get to try the canapés if you go to one of their wedding open days. - Being on the river is so special and unique, we made the most of it by chartering a river boat during the cocktail hour. Our photographer took us down the footpath for golden hour photos and they are lovely. - The layout of the venue is perfect for us, there were different places for people to gather or hang out, but you never felt cut off from the party (even when in the igloo, which was another unique touch). - Cocktails were delicious, we chose 4 from the menu (as there's too many for the staff to make otherwise), and they wrote it up on the blackboard for our guests to see. - Might just be our good luck, but my husband's family loves Guinness, and between us booking the venue and the actual wedding date, it finally made its way onto tap in the venue... A happy coincidence, but if it wasn't on tap then the staff would have gone to the other bar to pour then brought it back to us, so no problem really. Only a couple of things went awry: - They were painting the hallway outside my suite and I had a huge wedding dress... The decorator got a telling off by the coordinator so I think this was a miscommunication internally. - The sound system cut out during my aisle walk, and the microphones were cutting out during the speeches. I have been assured that they have/will replace the whole system, and we were compensated for this after our wedding and are satisfied with the outcome. (If you're concerned about this, just ask them!) Overall we were blown away with the thoughtfulness of all the staff we communicated with, it really made the whole process special and stress-free.