Behind the Venue: Celebrating 20 Years of Weddings at Dodmoor House

Reaching 20 years means the world to us. When we first found Dodmoor House, it was a run-down farmhouse and the farm buildings were falling apart, so it was quite a big risk to buy it, gain planning permission and then spend a couple of years breathing life back into the property and starting to host weddings. We were changing our lives around, moving out of London with a young family and trying to live our dream. So to reach this 20-year milestone shows that it was all worthwhile and how far we have come.

There was still lots of character in the barns, with enormous potential – big doorways, beautiful arches in what has become the ceremony room, and huge beams in the main reception barn. There were also practical points: it was set on 4 acres of grounds, next to a canal, with great transport links and hotels nearby. However, it was really Louise who saw the potential in the courtyard to make it the central point of the venue, giving a homely, warm feel. It’s then been our team of staff, who have expanded over the years, that have made Dodmoor what it really is today.

We bought the property at auction within two weeks of first seeing it on sale, so it was quite a busy (and rather stressful!) time. We then project-managed the entire build with a local team of builders, joiners, plumbers, electricians, roofers, and more. It did mean we could not only keep the budget under control, but also be flexible enough to make decisions along the way – such as putting in an undercover route between the two barns, which we are immensely grateful for now.

The farmhouse itself dates back to the late 1500s and is Grade II listed. The story goes that it was built by a retired naval sea captain who wanted to move as far away from the ocean as possible in the heart of the English countryside. Drawing on that same era, when we were searching for a name for our main barn, the village of Catesby (which is near the venue, and where Mark’s childhood home in Warwickshire is on Catesby Lane) had loose ties to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, led by Sir Robert Catesby and his hired man Guy Fawkes – which came just a few years after the farmhouse was built. So we called it the Catesby Barn.

Dodmoor sits on four acres of grounds in the heart of the Northamptonshire countryside, with the Grand Union Canal running alongside us. We have three beautifully restored barns set around the central courtyard, and we host weddings on an exclusive-use basis for up to 100 guests for a sit-down meal (and up to 180 in the evening). Pretty much every wedding day looks different here, which we love.

Most ceremonies take place in our beautiful Courtyard Barn, which has five glass double doors opening onto the central courtyard and plenty of natural light. We also have some lovely outdoor ceremony areas. Drinks receptions either take place in the central courtyard, our Main Lawn, or inside the heated, candlelit barns during the winter months.

We host wedding breakfasts in the Catesby Barn, or sometimes more informal wedding days (especially in the summer), with guests seated around the venue. At Dodmoor, pretty much anything goes. Either way, your evening party will take place back in the Catesby Barn, which is transformed after the meal with your DJ or band setting up for your first dance, while the courtyard offers a great space nearby for guests to mingle (or a quiet space in the Courtyard Barn) and enjoy drinks from either our downstairs pop-up evening bar or the Main Barn upstairs. Evenings are very flexible, with a range of connected spaces for the whole family to enjoy a great party.

To mark our 20th anniversary, we have also just finished upgrading some of our favourite spaces, including the Honeymoon Suite and the Main Bar, and created a brand-new getting-ready suite in the main house, the Farmhouse Suite (available from 9.30am on a wedding day). The Dodford Room (connected to the Honeymoon Suite) has been upgraded too, now offering a secondary getting-ready space from midday for finishing touches for your partner.

We’ve always wanted to create a family atmosphere at Dodmoor, and we hope that comes across to all the couples getting married here. That’s down to our team, who care so much about the venue that it’s become an important part of their own lives, with many of them getting married here themselves. Carolyn has been with us since our first wedding (when she was a teenager looking for a part-time job) and now looks after all our staff training, as well as being the Queen of Dodmoor weddings. Shona, Sophie and Beci have been coordinating weddings here for more than a decade, too.

We have expanded significantly over the past two decades, hosting many weddings, but we have always ensured that each wedding coordinator runs at most one wedding a week (normally only one a fortnight) so they can focus on each couple properly. We want everyone to feel as though their wedding is the only one that matters to us, and to achieve that personal touch, great planning and attention to detail are key.

Dodmoor is the place to book if you want to feel at home, receive really friendly, personal service, and know that the team here care as much about your wedding as you do. If you want your emails (or WhatsApps) answered quickly, for people to remember who you are, and for you not to get lost as ‘just another wedding’ at a bigger venue that can sometimes feel slightly more impersonal, then we are here to help. We are still very much hands-on, and we want you to be part of the Dodmoor Family too.

We always wanted to be a family-run, friendly and flexible venue, and that’s been at the heart of everything we’ve done in the past 20 years. Back in 2006, there were only a handful of barn venues, and most wedding receptions took place in hotels, which were pretty standard, with ceremonies at set times, in-house caterers, and very little choice or flexibility. We wanted to make sure that weddings could be personal and individual, so that couples can have exactly the day they had always dreamed of, and we help to make that happen.

We try not to say no (if we can avoid it!) or, at least, suggest a great alternative. We host weddings with a formal three-course meal, or weddings with a hog roast and no seating plan at all, and both work really well at Dodmoor. That’s exactly as it should be.

Our first wedding still stands out in our minds! Sean was a professional rugby player, and it was a busy bar night (with a group Haka in the bar at one point!), and Gemma cried when she first saw Dodmoor, even when it was still a building site. They are such a lovely couple, and it’s been wonderful to reconnect with them as part of our 20-year celebrations and see them now happily living in his native Scotland with their family.

We’ve been thrilled to win lots of awards for customer service, including four national wedding industry awards, and have celebrated those with some great nights out, as well as unforgettable annual staff days out, including the 2012 Olympics, Take That and Abba Voyage.

And then there have been the penguins who visited us, the reindeer who couldn’t make it due to the snow (you really couldn’t make that up!), the groom’s father who was in a sixties band and led everyone in singing his biggest hit song together after the meal, and the various fun themed weddings. The sweetest moments of all, though, have been seeing our own team members get married here over the years and being part of their special days, too.