Bijou Weddings Avaliações 

Now called Harper Weddings, venue Notley Abbey…
Where to start? Well…should have probably listened to the reviews we saw about the wedding company, especially before their name got changed…

The venue is, of course, stunning. So was our first impression, with the carefully selected canapés and an eye for detail, which they seemed to have. Unfortunately, the communication throughout the planning, but on our wedding day as well, was terrible. One person said one thing, the next another, different prices depending on where you look in your planner, lack on organisation on the actual day,… loads of extra stress for us because of it. The person supposed to do the “planning” for us was either fired or quit about half way through the process, leaving us with a new person. This “planner” was not present on our big day either, which lead to a huge lack of organisation and structure. She was new so a lot of things she did not know, and it seemed like no information was given to her prior to taking over.

On our big day, a sign was left outside when it was supposed to have been moved to the ceremony room; “slippery floor” signs were in the ceremony room when guests entered and would have been left there throughout the ceremony if our family did not demand to have them moved; my husband was told off on our actual wedding day for not organising the seating cards which we were never told we should do, they did mess up the seating slightly; we did not even have a trial run; one canapé was wrong, the cake was brought out ages too late without anyone informing us the cake was now there, same with the sandwiches. Due to this, many sandwiches were leftover, we saw the next day they had been wrapped up and looked like they were prepared for staff to take home.

The breakfast was not worth half the money they charge. Cheap cold cuts, like salami (I have never seen a salami this pink in my life) and cheeses, some jam and bread,… I’ve had better breakfasts at a budget hotel.
To top it all off, they had no first aider and the first aid box was empty, my husband was hassled to sign an accident form for an incident he did not witness (prior to our ceremony) as notley would “not be held liable” for anything (of course he did not sign it as he did not witness what had happened).

Due to our amazing family & friends we had an awesome day regardless, the food was good and the lady, who seems to be the one making sure the canapés and such are in order, has a great eye for detail and was absolutely awesome throughout, (unfortunately I forgot her name, she was serving the canapés on the day as well as when we came to view the venue),and the venue is gorgeous.

However, if you do choose to get married there, hire your own wedding planner and get everything in writing from the start; and, if you can, book it for the next day as well as one of our guests got basically woken up and kicked out of his room at 9AM, we were rushed out too, as the next couple was arriving at 11.
Personally, if I had enough money to book the venue for the day prior and the day after, as well as hire my own staff, getting married there again would be an option, otherwise I think I’d rather not. Too much added stress throughout the planning process and on the day, unhelpful and even rude staff, overcharging for drinks as well as the food (breakfast in particular),…gorgeous venue though! Worth the hassle? Personally, I’m not sure…

Due to covid, we finally had our wedding in 2022.

The evening manager had a vile personality and could not handle guests appropriately; she was vulgar to one of my guests and aggressive to me in front of guests.

I raised this with Bijou after the wedding, and their response was to ignore my feedback, blame my guest and claim I apologised for the guest's behaviour. Bijou [now Harper weddings] do not care about you before, during and after.

To top it off when my insurer recommended that I reopen my claim after losing 8k to Bijou [because Bijou wouldn't let us have a Saturday wedding as we’d originally booked, as Bijou wouldn't accommodate a move to a new Saturday date unless we cancelled, rebooked and forfeit a cancellation % cost], I asked Bijou after the wedding for a letter to confirm the 8k cost paid to move the wedding. Maddie from the team responded:

‘As explained previously, we are confused about your requests for further documentation. You have now mentioned insurance which explains a little about what you are hoping to achieve.

I must explain that we do not consider that you will have a valid claim on your wedding insurance. You asked to move your wedding date (you were not forced to by COVID, and a wedding could have taken place on your original date). We agreed a deal between us to move your wedding, which was implemented. You then had your wedding on your new date, as agreed.

There is no insurable loss in this scenario. You are of course welcome to ask your insurers but we cannot provide any documentation that might be used to represent the situation in any way other than in the paragraph above, which is how it happened.

Wishing you both all the best for the future,

Maddie’

Are Bijou staff suddenly an insurer? The original wedding with the restrictions would have allowed 15 guests only [AND Bijou wanted us to pay the FULL original cost for 80 people to host only 15!].

Guess what, Maddie & Bijou? I just received the 8k from my insurer.

one of the worst experiences of my life, I had a hope that things had changed with this company when I saw it was now called Harper wedding venues, but its still bijou weddings they changed the name to try and avoid the bad publicity and scam more people. I was ripped off in excess of £15000 by this company and in particular Jo Cuttmore-Scott. avoid at all costs

Bijou are an absolutely HORRENDOUS company with no morals whatsoever. Please never use any of their venues - a shame because they are beautiful but the management is shocking. Jo Cutmore-Scott in particular. All these positive reviews have clearly been written by the people who work there!! Don’t be fooled.

Firstly, Cain Manor is STUNNING. it's exactly what i had in mind when I imagined my dream wedding. What's super important to remember though is that this isn't just a wedding venue, it's a sole use wedding experience ran by Bijou (now Harper) weddings.
This is why my review is more balanced and hopefully constructive rather than slating. This uniqye business has its its pros and cons - the online planner for example is fantastic. However, you're not just committing to the beautiful venue, you're also committing to Harper's somewhat stringent T&C's. Their job is to make life easier, which in most instances they did, however i would advise others looking at this venue to do their homework and make sure they know exactly what they are agreeing to before they commit. There were a fair few "extra" costs i.e. circa £600 for a dance floor that we hadn't thought about, we'd assumed things like this to be included. Maybe we were a bit naive. We got our dance floor externally in the end for a much cheaper price but had to jump through a few bureaucratic hoops and do a bit of planning on our side to make this happen. if you're happy to pay the extra costs, your life will be easier, and also worth noting is that this venue is so beautiful that you may feel you don't need any extras. We had our florist do room dressing etc which worked out best all round.
Another issue was use of their DJ, I understand from a insurance point of view this is easier all round, but yet again at a cost of around £600 again. The DJ we used was half this price, but again a bit of bureaucracy to jump through with his PAT testing etc. Spot the theme here.
On the day the team were wonderful, the food exquisite and overall my wedding day was everything I needed it to be. Harper were prompt with my refund and are currently helping me to investigate a missing wedding gift. Everyone on the team has been lovely, especially when I had the odd frustration; they came across as very understanding. Maddie on the planning team and Freya and Antoine on the day all deserve a special mention - they were fantastic.

One more point that my guests commented on was how small the bar hatch is, and how they had to wait to get drinks. Horseboxes, beer trikes are available but this is at extra cost.
Overall I'd say 4/5. Thank you Harper/Bijou.

Jemma and Michael

***In response to the individual below who had something to say on 8 October 22, I do not work for Harper weddings. I am a genuine happy customer and find it disappointing that some people have nothing better to do than try to rain on someone else's happiness. Do you honestly think someone who works for them would write such a balanced review?

My partner (now husband) and I recently got married at Cain Manor at the end of June, and I can honestly say it was the best day of our lives so far. I don't have any experience of the other Bijou venues, but getting married at Cain Manor after a 3 year agonising, tortuous wait was so worth it all in the end. The Bijou staff and particularly Jo did all they could to relieve at least some of the hurt we were going through. Nobody was ready for what happened in 2020, us and the venue included. We were devestated that our plans had been destroyed and we had no idea if we were ever going to get married. Whilst some decisions from the venue were frustrating initially in 2020, they were working with a system they had in place at the time -something they acknowledged was not helpful. Switching dates was easy however and the venue helped wherever they could.

We could have married in 2021 but it was far too stressful, for me in particular as I was not prepared to have masks in my wedding photos. I was determined not to be reminded of that years later and I certainly was not going to have a wedding whilst any restricitions were in place.

At one point I genuinely thought it would never happen for us. But we waited, and waited some more, planning when we could. Ann and Maddie were great, giving us help when we needed it, even if it was very last minute or we changed our minds.

Then..our day finally came and it was perfect. It felt surreal, as I had thought I'd be wedding planning for the rest of my life! Our ceremony was amazing, the food was delicious, the staff who waited on us were first class. The managers on site were excellent. We even got a beautiful sunset in the evening. I was emotionally overwhelmed with how perfect it was.

.. The only small thing is the cut cake in the evening was served without forks to eat it with initially. But apart from a tiny detail, I can't fault them. They were attentive all day and made sure we were ready for each important section. Filling out the wedding planner was stressful at times but I'm so glad we did it, it made the whole day flow with ease. To all the staff who served us on our wedding day you were all wonderful, and I can't thank you enough for your professionalism. A huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders since the wedding and we are on cloud 9. THANK YOU!

Charlotte :)

We got married at Notley Abbey in May 2022. We should have got married in May 2021 but due to covid we obviously postponed. This was an easy and straight forward process and despite only being able to postpone to a Sunday-Thursday wedding, this didn’t bother us as we were able to get married on our original date, just on a Sunday! The staff from the very first meeting to the very end of the wedding day were absolutely brilliant, they couldn’t do enough for us and for that we are truly grateful. I would like to say a special thank you to Barbara. I don’t know how our day would have gone if it wasn’t for her. She is so well organised and knows exactly what she’s doing, she looked after us from the minute we both arrived and everything was absolutely perfect. We wish we could do it all over again.

Cannot praise or thank Notley Abbey enough! We had the most perfect wedding day 28.04.2022. The venue and staff were flawless and honestly it was the best day of our lives!! ❤️
They made the planning so easy with the online planner which had everything we needed to know and do and a messaging service so they were always available to answer any (my many) questions.
Our original date was May 2021 but obviously we postponed and even that was straight forward and easy in our experience.
Honestly the most perfect day ❤️

I booked my wedding at Notley Abbey for the summer of 2021 in early 2020, just before the world went a little bit crazy.

I must admit i saw some of the bad reviews on here and was a bit worried about what i had let myself in for, but i genuinely have nothing bad to say about my experience with them.

My whole experience with the team at Notley was positive, from the planners to the staff doing the tasting, to the lovely ladies working as our event managers on the day. I can't believe how well we were looked after on the actual day, the service was second to none and like nothing I had ever experienced before.

We had our wedding at Cain Manor in August this year.
It was our 3rd attempt, with two previous dates cancelled due to covid.
We had decided this time whatever the restrictions we were going to go for it, so when all restrictions were lifted just before we couldn't believe our luck.

The day was amazing, 5 star. Great food and drink, friendly staff, can't fault any of it. The grounds at Cain Manor are stunning (wedding photos look brilliant) and looked even better than we remembered two years ago when we booked.

We ran over on the speeches but the staff did well making the time back with the turn round of the room for the evening entertainment.

We had a DJ in the evening with light up dancefloor, and a hog roast and I can honestly say it is the only wedding I have been to were people were up dancing from first dance to the end of the evening!

So glad we picked Bijou, THANK YOU BIJOU!

Best wedding ever (even if we are a little bias)

I can see from the below reviews this will be controversial, but I had my wedding at Notley abbey in July & it really was fantastic from start to finish. The staff went above & beyond to make sure we had a great day.
This was our 3rd date & was moved free of charge to a higher season date. Perhaps the incidents below have meant they are treating customers better.

Treat their customers absolutely disgusting, The bouncers think they can just drag people out for no reason

NOTHING SHORT OF THEIVES. WHO CANCELS SOMEBODY'S WEDDING AND STEALS THE MONEY.

READ THE REVIEWS

We just wanted to leave a review to summarise our experience of planning our wedding at Notley Abbey during the pandemic.

We booked our wedding for July 2021 back in November 2019. Then the pandemic hit, and we heard the negative headlines about Bijou in the media last spring. We decided to reach out to Bijou for reassurance that our wedding would be protected if the pandemic were to continue into 2021(!) and if the negative press was true. They were so reassuring, and answered all of questions with complete credibility. We felt completely confident with them, and have done throughout our planning.

A few months ago, we reached out to Bijou to request a back up date for 2022. They let us choose any Sunday-Thursday in 2022 as our reserve date, with the option to move to a Friday/Saturday if it was still available with 9 months to go. We were more than happy with this option - there were no additional costs involved (in fact slightly cheaper by arranging on a Sunday instead of the Saturday we had planned for this year!).

Very recently we decided to officially postpone to our back up date on a Sunday in 2022, and they were again so helpful and reassuring in this process. We feel we have been treated so much fairly and kinder than other couples we know who had been trying to plan weddings during the pandemic.

They have been faultless throughout the whole process and so kind and quick to respond to any queries or concerns we've had. We really look forward to our wedding day next year, fingers crossed!

I am a Bijou bride so I felt compelled to write about my genuinely positive experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We had booked to be married at Notley Abbey in June 2021.

We viewed the venue in Jan 2020 (before any concerns about COVID). The viewing and booking experience was faultless. The team were supportive, allowed us to do three viewings of the venue - so we could bring various family members before making such a big decision- and each time we were given excellent service.

All our dealings were with Bijou wedding planners with 10+ years of experience which immediately made me feel at ease. The venue was also stunning, spotlessly clean, and retained the charm we were looking for.

Then COVID hit, and naturally my partner and I were concerned. As someone who doesn't like uncertainty and seeing friends and family who sadly had to move their weddings we took the early decision in Oct 2020 to postpone.

Bijou allowed us to postpone to any Sun-Thurs date in 2022. While we would have preferred a Friday (like we booked originally) we still felt the flexibility shown by the venue was fair. The Financial Director took the time to speak with my partner for close to an hour to alleviate his concerns about financials, our useless wedding insurance, and all other questions we had.

There was no charge for us to re-book our date, and once we made the decision to postpone they quickly and professionally altered all of our arrangements for us.

Friends of ours at other venues (NOT Bijou owned) were not allowed that luxury - and were only allowed to postpone by a few months leading to multiple postponements. Whereas Bijou let us postpone for 16 months so we (hopefully) only have to postpone once.

My friend who is marrying at another venue (again NOT Bijou) was charged 10% extra on top of venue and F&B charges to move her wedding to the following year. In light of these experiences, we felt Bijou gave us very fair options at no extra cost.

Don't get me wrong postponing a wedding is heartbreaking. There have been tears, disappointment and sadness. But in my view, from my actual experience, Bijou have been accommodating and supportive during this turbulent time. When I compare the service and flexibility Bijou offered us, compared to other brides at other venues, I do feel that Bijou took care of us.

I am looking forward to our wedding in 2022 at Notley, and hope my experience helps other brides when weighing up their options.

Whilst in such a time its nice to hear of peoples positive experiences, and wanting companies to come out well. If you booked a wedding on a Saturday in July 2020 and paid £16k towards said date, prior to Covid, to then be told you could have your wedding at that cost but with just 15 people only or take a sunday to Thursday October 2020 to march 2021 would yo be happy?

I personally spoke to 18 other other venues in Surrey and Hampshire who either gave a full refund or re scheduled couples to like for like dates. They were like for like dates available at Cain Manor but we were not given that option. We were also then chased for further payments of £6k despite it being very clear the wedding could not go ahead.

Our experience has been horrific and still not a penny refunded.

We attended Cain Manor today to meet our celebrant and have a general look around to get excited again. We were given a warm welcome and a gorgeous hamper. It’s a tricky time for everyone and as the staff said, they can’t wait to get back to doing what we love, hosting weddings! I’m extremely happy, I feel supported by the staff and keeping my fingers crossed for a more positive 2021!

My daughter got married yesterday at Botleys manor I cannot express how amazing all the staff have been in making this happen in such difficult times.
When the original wedding had to be cancelled in April of this year we were naturally devastated , however through fantastic communication , working together we created the most memorable day for our daughter
Thank you all for making her dream come true .

This company has a long history of shocking behaviour. My wife and I were married through Bijou 10 years ago. As part of the cost, we were promised a wedding administrator who would deal with our queries. We had issues over our concerns not being heard by our wedding administrator, so asked for a meeting. They cancelled the wedding saying my wife was 'Bridezilla', two weeks from the wedding day and threatened to keep our money. As there was no way to reorganise another venue in the timeframe, we had to beg them to reconsider and then we had to wait four days for them to confirm that if we were good kids and didn't cause any more trouble, we could indeed have our wedding. They totally ruined our special day. I see that today the same directors are present at the company. I'm surprised that they are still in business.

Apalling company my daughter paid 24,000 of total cost over 28,000 for wedding. They tried to extort the final payment for a wedding that clearly could not go ahead in July 2020 but we refused to pay. After the CMA have colluded with Bijou they are offering a refund of 2,124 saying we should pay towards Bijou costs. A contribution to the costs of providing wedding planning services, including the costs of staff wages and expenses, IT support and vehicles involved in that planning,
A contribution to the costs of venue repair and renewal.
A contribution to the costs of venue cleaning and gardening.
What other services provision are you ever expected to pay for these costs when the service has not been provided. Do not beleive the good reviews on here I beleive they have been done by friends & family of Bijou or customers who have been coerced to put a good review on by Bijou.