What's Next?
Welcome to
100 Barrington
First and foremost, we would like to thank you for choosing to hold your wedding here at
100 Barrington. We know how important – and nerve-wracking – this step can be, but we hope that this document will help take some of the pressure off the next few steps.
Lots of buttons here
Who are we?
We are going to be getting to know everything about you over the coming months, so we thought it was only right for you to know who resides at 100 Barrington and might be on the other end of the phone to you at some point.
We are lucky to have a great team of people who work together to make sure that you are taken care of throughout your journey with us.
First and foremost for you, our lovely clients, is Anna, our Bookings Manager who with her team will be your first port of call for pretty much everything here at Barrington Towers.
If you decide to join us for a Wet or Mixed Hire (more on that later), you will meet with Dan, who, in addition to being our Operations Manager is our resident sommelier.
We are all kept clean, tidy and presentable by Maria who heads our housekeeping team and will be the person who you meet, bleary-eyed, the morning after your wedding.
And last but by no means least, we are all looked after by the founder and director of the company, Pippa.
In addition to our resident staff (and often it really does feel like we live here), we also have Tamsyn, India, Lorraine, Steph and Ciara who make up our Duty Management team, and Cosmo who, rather aptly, keeps us all suitably watered from his position of Bar Manager.
Finally, Joe is our main contact for our tech partner who support 100 Barrington; whilst Joe is not technically a member of Barrington staff, he is very much part of the family and someone you will definitely meet between now and your big day.
Event Data Sheet
Our Event Data Sheet (also known as the EDS) can be downloaded by clicking the button below.
This spreadsheet will be your best friend in getting your head around the steps that lie ahead and will make communicating your decisions incredibly straight forward.
Don't panic! We don't expect you to have this all done and dusted all by yourself; we will be inviting you to a meeting with your caterer and someone from our senior team about two weeks before your big day to make sure that all of the Is are crossed and the Ts are crossed. We do, however, suggest that you use this document to help guide your plans and to see what decisions will need to be made.
Your Ceremony
Ceremonies held here fall in to one of two categories: legal civil ceremony (both civil marriage and civil partnership) or a celebration of partnership.
If you chose to hold your legal ceremony here, you will need to book a registrar from the local authority – more on that in a minute. If you chose to hold the legally binding part of your union somewhere else (such as a church or registry office), you can then still hold a “celebration” here, presided over by a celebrant.
Celebrants can be chosen by you to match the style and feel of the ceremony you are looking for. You can see a list of celebrants who we recommend by clicking on the tab below.
Do note that, as a rule, a bare-bones legal ceremony is only 15-20 minutes long; lots of couples choose to add a reading, a speech, a music performance, or a combination of the above to make a fuller ceremony, keeping in mind that a civil ceremony cannot allude to anything religious in any part of the proceedings.
Book Your Registrar
If you are planning on holding your legal ceremony here, you need to book a registrar from the local authority; once you have secured your date with us, this should be job number one as slots book up quickly, especially with dates in high season. 100 Barrington sits within the London borough of Lambeth, and they can be contacted via the button below.
The time you choose to get hitched is, of course, up to you, however, we find that the 1/2/3 p.m. slots give the best rhythm to your day. This will also allow sufficient time for your guests to arrive, and hopefully have had some lunch!
Please note that there are additional fees if your guests arrival is before 2 p.m.
Please don’t forget to bring your ID on the day of your wedding for the Registrar.
Fine Dining or Family Style?
You have now nailed down your venue and confirmed your registrar. Now comes the fun bit: choosing your caterer.
100 Barrington have partnered with a wide selection of catering teams, creating a rolodex that can cater for a wide selection of palates and cuisines. These caterers have been chosen because of their ethos, the quality of what they produce and because they fully understand the idiosyncrasies of our venue and the expectations therein.
Do note that we do not receive any sort of commission for your booking with any of our partners; these are simply individuals and companies in whom we have confidence.
The role of the caterer here at Barrington is not just cooking and plating; they also have considerable additional responsibilities that most catering companies would not expect. As a consequence of this, we only allow the clients to use caterers from outside of our list of pre-approved partners if - through religious or cultural reasons - we do not have a partner that can offer the cuisine that you are looking for.
Two quick notes on non-approved caterers:
1 - Please note that that there is a £475 + VAT surcharge for using a non-approved caterer, payable as £100+VAT for the application and the balance on approval.
2 - We advise that you do not make any payments to non-approved caterers until you have received confirmation that they have completed a successful site visit and have submitted all paperwork and certificates.
Please talk to us as early as possible if you are considering a non-approved caterer - we may be able to steer you in the right direction!
A quick note about meals for others: whilst you are by no means obliged to, it’s customary for meals (main course only) to be provided for the wedding photographer, duty management and security staff at your wedding – adding these six extra meals to your schedule goes down a treat with the staff working for you that day.
Evening Food
Whilst we are hovering around the subject of food, we heartily recommend supplying your guests with some evening sustenance, usually served no earlier than 9 p.m.; this is especially important if you are inviting evening guests.
All of our catering partners offer evening catering packages; these are usually either circulated by waiting staff or a served as an evening buffet. Choosing evening food from a caterer different to your main supplier has additional complications that need to be factored into your planning; please make sure you talk to us before you book a separate caterer.
Your Event Manager
This is a vital role for the day, and a position that comes with a long list of responsibilities here at Barrington, above and beyond what you might normally expect.
First, the good news: when you book through one of our catering partners, they will, by default, offer you an Event Manager as part of the package. All of our partners and their associated Event Managers are experienced, not just in wedding management, but also in managing the specific requirements of our venue. You are more than welcome to enlist a wedding planner or on-the-day coordinator, but your caterer will always allocate a manager from their team who will be here from before the first delivery arrives at 9 a.m. until after the very last collection.
If go with an outside caterer, you must hire a separate Event Manager for your day either through the venue directly or from one of our approved companies.
Santé, prost, salute and cheers!
An exhaustive rundown on the drinks packages that 100 Barrington offers can be found in our bar brochure below, as is this season's drinks menu.
In short, there are three options when it comes to all things liquid, a precis of which are:
Dry Hire
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You supply all of the drinks yourself from your chosen supplier(s)
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Your caterer supplies all of the staff
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You offer complementary drinks to your guests throughout the day and evening
Wet Hire
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100 Barrington takes care of supplying all of the drinks for your day
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We provide all staffing for bar-related activities
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You offer a paid bar in the evening*
Mixed Hire
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You supply all drinks up to and including the point where you leave the dining room; 100 Barrington takes care of the evening
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Your caterer supplies the staff up to and including dinner; we staff the evening
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You offer a paid bar in the evening*
*With the paid bar, you can either have your guests pay for all of their own evening drinks; you can pre-set a tab to kick things off; or you can essentially offer a free bar to your guests, but you pick up the final tab.
Do chat to our bar team before you make any decisions on this - there may be routes and options open to you that you had not considered.
Each of these options comes with a catalogue of further info and Ts & Cs which are all laid out in the drinks brochure below.
Cocktails
As you will have seen in the brochure above, the Barrington Bar Service is constantly evolving to bring in the best of what that season has to offer.
However, one staple of our bar is our cocktail list!
Barrington work with the award-winning The Cocktail Society, to ensure that our bar (or should that be your bar?) is suitably stocked with mouth-watering – and thoroughly Instagrammable – creations.
A very popular option for our Wet and Mixed Hire clients has become known as “the livener”: as you and your guests emerge from the dining space after dinner, you are greeted by the sight of 120 Espresso Martinis laid out along our zinc-topped bar – the perfect lift to transition your beautiful day into an exciting evening.
Your Event Manager
This is a vital role for the day, and a position that comes with a long list of responsibilities here at Barrington, above and beyond what you might normally expect.
First, the good news: when you book through one of our catering partners, they will, by default, offer you an Event Manager as part of the package. All of our partners and their associated Event Managers are experienced, not just in wedding management, but also in managing the specific requirements of our venue. You are more than welcome to enlist a wedding planner or on-the-day coordinator, but your caterer will always allocate a manager from their team who will be here from before the first delivery arrives at 9 a.m. until after the very last collection.
If go with an outside caterer, you must hire a separate Event Manager for your day either through the venue directly or from one of our approved companies.
Babes, toddlers, kids and teens
Whilst we are not set-up to be a child-centric venue, 100 Barrington warmly welcomes children to ceremonies and subsequent meal.
There is an obligation on the parents or allotted guardians to ensure that children are not left unattended at any time and that their behaviour is appropriate: you don’t want a 4-year-old running full speed into a waiter carrying a tray of champagne flutes! This includes babies asleep in strollers and young’uns wandering off to explore.
Children are welcome to stay at your reception up to 22.00, after which time they must depart from the venue.
Exceptions can be made when the children are immediate family of the couple, but this is agreed on a case-by-case basis. In these circumstances, as before, children must be accompanied at all times.
At 100 Barrington, we do not allow those under 18 to consume alcohol, even with the meal. This is a non-negotiable policy. Any person under the age of 18 who is found drinking or being under the influence of alcohol will be asked to leave, along with the adult who is responsible for them.
The final decision for all matters relating to the continued presence of children at an event resides with the Barrington Duty Manager.
On behalf of my wife and me…
Wedding speeches are a lynchpin moment in your special day, so do have a think about the following things:
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Job one: appoint an MC
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Select from amongst your guests someone to welcome everyone, to announce who the next speaker is going to be and who they are to you as a couple.
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Who is going to speak?
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Traditions of who gets to speak and who doesn’t are long gone, so the world really is your oyster. Do keep one eye on your plan for timings when deciding if Great Aunt Sheila really does need to speak, too.
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Do. Not. Try. To. Wing. It.
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Even the most experienced of speakers can get nervous, and that possibility only increases when emotions are high. Whether scripted or bullet points on a card, we do recommend everyone has a plan, if only to make sure they stick to their allotted time!
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For how long will everyone be speaking?
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A tricky one this, and one where we cannot offer too much guidance, save to say that we have never had a complaint that the speeches were too short!
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Will they be using a microphone?
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The answer to this should be a resounding yes!
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When are they going to speak?
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Tradition used to dictate that speeches followed the meal, but this has often resulted in speakers either being too nervous to actually eat their meal or being three-sheets-to-the-wind before they get their hands on a microphone. Have a think about when the best time for each person would be to speak…
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Will everyone be speaking one after another?
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…indeed, there is nothing to stop you breaking up when the various people will offer their warm words to you and your spouse – the schedule above gives you a suggestion but is by no means the only way of doing it.
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Where are they speaking from?
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Two main options here: 1 - from their own seats, with the microphone being taken to the next speaker by your MC, or 2 – from one specific spot. Both options have their benefits, but the main “pro” for everyone going to one spot is that we can have the mic on a stand which avoids mic-technique training for your nearest and dearest.
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Where are they sitting?
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Do make sure that your speakers are not tucked away in the back corner with 24 people to climb over to get out.
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Are they using any tech?
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Some speech givers – and, let’s be honest, it’s usually the best man – decide to bring out a slide show or something of the like. We do recommend that you don’t head down this route, but if you do, please speak to Joe well in advance about hiring one in for the event.
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Are you doing bubbly?
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Are your speeches just speeches, or are they a toast? If they are a toast, are you going to have people use whatever they have in their glass, or are you having something sparking brought out especially? Do have a chat to Dan from Barrington and your Catering Manager about how to best manage this part.
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Access Times
Guest Arrival
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Whole-day hire: 2 p.m.
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Evening only hire: 7 p.m.
Guest Departure
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Fri-Sat: 1 a.m.
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Sun-Thu: Midnight
Staff Arrival
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Whole-day hire: 9 a.m.
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Evening-only hire: 4 p.m.
Staff Departure
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Fri-Sat: 2 a.m.
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Sun-Thu: 1 a.m.
Early Access
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Early guest arrival time is available by arrangement for a supplementary fee.
Late Departure
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Strictly subject to availability and permission by application to the local licensing authority, late departure can be available for a supplementary fee.
Catering
If you have any further questions, please click here or call the office on 020 4542 3434
All terms, conditions, and pricing are correct at time of communication but are subject to change without notice prior to contracts being signed and deposit paid.
In the interest of health and safety or changes in legal parameters, 100 Barrington also reserves the right to make changes to terms and conditions after the contract has been signed.
In these circumstances changes will be communicated to the client as soon as possible.
This brochure does not constitute a quote or contract.
All Photography © 100 Barrington & Josh Gooding