We have reported this venue to trading standards.
Our reception took place in the marquee outside. It is not a typical marquee however. It is surrounded by windows, and these windows cannot be removed or opened. On hot days this creates a greenhouse effect in the marquee. There is low ventilation as only one door opens to the side, and the one by the toilet.
On our wedding day, there was a heatwave that reached 32°C. The temperature was absolutely unbearable in the marquee. We and our guests were extremely uncomfortable. It was like sitting in a sauna for 4 hours until the sun went down. We were literally sitting in a greenhouse during a heatwave on our wedding day.
The heatwave was not a surprise though. It was a summer of heatwaves. We told them how concerned we were a week before. They told us everything would be fine, as they had other weddings during this especially hot summer.
The Broome added fans and AC units, however they could not add more without "blowing the system". It was not enough to counter the greenhouse effect. This is not a suitable building for summer weddings that get into the late 20s and above in heat. It is potentially dangerous for any elderly or vulnerable guests.
The Broome either needs to improve the electrical system to take more AC units, or replace the marquee. However, during our complaints, they do not acknowledge that they need to do either. They seem to be pretending the problem doesn't need to be fixed. We can only assume because it would be very expensive to fix or replace the marquee.
For this reason, we don't believe it will be fixed for future guests. If you book this venue for a summer wedding, you will be taking a risk of paying £15,000+ to sit in a greenhouse on a hot day.
Part of the Broome's response: "several members of staff had to sit and take breaks as we were concerned for their safety”.
If a venue is concerned for the safety of their staff, then it of course is not a suitable venue to charge that amount of money for a "perfect" wedding.
The service was also a problem, especially before the wedding. It was very difficult to get hold of the event managers. Most emails went unanswered. We had to save up long lists of unanswered questions and request zoom calls to get them all answered. There was a period of a month where we could not get hold of the wedding staff at all, even by telephone. We didn’t know what was going on.
The staff didn’t seem to be able to take down our requests. Up until 3 days before the wedding, the contract was still a mess with incorrect items. When we complained after the event, we were accused of ¨changing our minds a lot¨. This wasn't correct, the main problem was that the sales team got the details incorrect on multiple occasions. If you are looking for peace of mind and good organisation leading up to your wedding, the Broome is probably also not the place for you.
We also changed some items, but this is part of the normal process of preparing such an expensive wedding.
On the day, there was an exhaustive list of big and small things that either weren’t provided as promised, or just went wrong. The list is too long to put here. We sent this list to the Broome after the event. They didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing.
For the majority of the day, we did not know where the event managers were to let them know the issues. In the end, we had to take control of many of the problems. There was a general sense of uncertainty the whole day, which meant we found it hard to relax.
On the other hand, we have to give credit where it is due. The food was fantastic! Everybody loved it, so hats off to the kitchen staff! Especially the staff working in that hot marquee cooking the meal. No wonder the Broome was concerned for their safety.
The venue itself is also beautiful. The house and the grounds are amazing.