Hi

I'm new to planning and am set to get married in the Hunter in Nov 2010. With me being from the UK its going to be quite a small wedding and im struggling to find great venues for the reception that will hold around 40 guests. I'm also wondering if anyone has any tips to prolong the day as I was hoping to get married early afternoon but ideally want the celebrations to go through to midnight. I know you generally only get 5 hours packages....Any advice is greatly appreciated :-)

Hey Steph,
Congrats! There are some great venues in the Hunter that cater for the smaller wedding actually. If you can get a hold of edition 5 of Your Hunter Valley Wedding Planner magazine over there (it's definitely available) there's an awesome venues guide in the front that details, among other helpful venue info, the minimum and maximum guest requirements for about 50 different venues. Just having a quick look now Sunsets at the Bay, Pepper's Anchorage, Pepper's Guesthouse, Pepper's Convent, Hunter Valley Gardens, The Great Cask Hall, Tuscany Wine Estate and Enzo all stand out as gorgeous options for the smaller wedding. Carecat Cruising caters for 50 guests max so that's an option if you'd like to entertain your guests on a luxury catamaran! But get a hold of the mag if you can cos there's so much venue info in there. As for prolonging the day, I'm not sure. In my experience keeping the alcohol flowing will do a good job at that haha!
dL7

I'm also looking for a small venue for about 30-40 people so this is fantastic info...the chapel at Pepper Creek is also really intimate and beautiful Steph, set in a rose garden and it opens up so you feel like you're outside