We honestly had the most magical wedding day at Mitton Hall. ☀️💍 - with a big BUT! (Read on...)
The weather was perfect, the venue itself looked incredible, our sax player and singer absolutely made the evening, and for most of the day the atmosphere was everything we hoped it would be. Chester in particular was fantastic throughout and many of the staff were warm, attentive and helpful.
Which is why waking up the following morning and discovering that several wedding cards — containing both sentimental messages and cash gifts from family and friends — appeared to be missing - was genuinely devastating.
Over the days afterwards we tried to piece together what may have happened and were shocked to learn:
the wedding function areas had remained openly accessible overnight, doors fastened wide open throughout the night, there is no CCTV coverage anywhere within the venue,
multiple guests recalled entering the function room overnight and finding nobody present, and several guests independently remembered seeing the postbox key sitting visibly on top of the box throughout the evening, assuming it was decorative.
To be clear, we are not accusing any individual person or member of staff of wrongdoing, and we fully acknowledge the postbox itself belonged to an external supplier. But what has upset us most is the feeling that reasonable overnight safeguarding and security simply did not exist in our opinion.
We completely appreciate that no venue can guarantee against theft, but we do think couples would reasonably expect some combination of:
CCTV,
restricted overnight access,
continuous oversight,
or meaningful security presence,
particularly at a premium wedding venue advertising “24-hour security” (in reality the director at Mitton Hall has confirmed this simply means night porters will be in and out of the room throughout the night).
What makes this hardest is that the wedding itself was genuinely beautiful. We should be looking back on the sunshine, the music, the dancing and the people we love — not trying to work out how cards from our friends and family disappeared overnight.
We’ve reported the matter to the police, although unfortunately without CCTV there appears to be very little practical way of establishing what happened.
We had lengthy email exchanges with the venue, but were disappointed to get replies pointing out clauses in the contract and effectively saying that they did nothing wrong. We lost close to £500 in 7 cards and they didn't offer a thing, I didn't expect them to offer to give the money lost back (how can we prove the amounts other than family and friends given written accounts of what they left in cards) - but a gesture of goodwill, a couple of free stays for example, for the failings of leaving the venue wide open to even the public who could have walked straight in during the night without even having to open a door... but no. Nothing at all.
We’re sharing this simply so future couples can make fully informed decisions and take extra precautions with cards and gifts on their wedding day. If security is important to you please know that there is NO CCTV despite advertising 24 hour security, and at 1am when the music and bar closed no management taking control to say "these items need to be secure because this room will be left accessible to anyone who wishes to enter all night long"We honestly had the most magical wedding day at Mitton Hall. ☀️💍 - with a big BUT! (Read on...)
The weather was perfect, the venue itself looked incredible, our sax player and singer absolutely made the evening, and for most of the day the atmosphere was everything we hoped it would be. Chester in particular was fantastic throughout and many of the staff were warm, attentive and helpful.
Which is why waking up the following morning and discovering that several wedding cards — containing both sentimental messages and cash gifts from family and friends — appeared to be missing - was genuinely devastating.
Over the days afterwards we tried to piece together what may have happened and were shocked to learn:
the wedding function areas had remained openly accessible overnight, doors fastened wide open throughout the night, there is no CCTV coverage anywhere within the venue,
multiple guests recalled entering the function room overnight and finding nobody present, and several guests independently remembered seeing the postbox key sitting visibly on top of the box throughout the evening, assuming it was decorative.
To be clear, we are not accusing any individual person or member of staff of wrongdoing, and we fully acknowledge the postbox itself belonged to an external supplier. But what has upset us most is the feeling that reasonable overnight safeguarding and security simply did not exist in our opinion.
We completely appreciate that no venue can guarantee against theft, but we do think couples would reasonably expect some combination of:
CCTV,
restricted overnight access,
continuous oversight,
or meaningful security presence,
particularly at a premium wedding venue advertising “24-hour security” (in reality the director at Mitton Hall has confirmed this simply means night porters will be in and out of the room throughout the night).
What makes this hardest is that the wedding itself was genuinely beautiful. We should be looking back on the sunshine, the music, the dancing and the people we love — not trying to work out how cards from our friends and family disappeared overnight.
We’ve reported the matter to the police, although unfortunately without CCTV there appears to be very little practical way of establishing what happened.
We had lengthy email exchanges with the venue, but were disappointed to get replies pointing out clauses in the contract and effectively saying that they did nothing wrong. We lost close to £500 in 7 cards and they didn't offer a thing, I didn't expect them to offer to give the money lost back (how can we prove the amounts other than family and friends given written accounts of what they left in cards) - but a gesture of goodwill, a couple of free stays for example, for the failings of leaving the venue wide open to even the public who could have walked straight in during the night without even having to open a door... but no. Nothing at all.
We’re sharing this simply so future couples can make fully informed decisions and take extra precautions with cards and gifts on their wedding day. If security is important to you please know that there is NO CCTV despite advertising 24 hour security, and at 1am when the music and bar closed no management taking control to say "these items need to be secure because this room will be left accessible to anyone who wishes to enter all night long"