When Your Sister's Wedding Opens the Season
May arrived with the marquee going up in the field next to the garden, exactly where Nancy said it should go eighteen months ago when she first asked if she could book all four properties for her wedding.
I've hosted dozens of weddings over the past seven years. I know the timeline, the suppliers, the moments when couples panic about weather or catering or whether they've ordered enough chairs. But watching Garden Weddings position that marquee in our field for my own sister's wedding - that hit differently.
This is our first wedding of 2026. Nancy wanted the late May bank holiday before the season properly starts, when the countryside's still that fresh spring green. All four properties. Seventy-two people across Westfield Granary, Corner Farm, The Yard, Bogg Hall Barn and The Wagon Shed. Her wedding guests scattered across buildings in three locations - Westfield Farm, our family home, with Westfield Granary onsite where the ceremony and reception are happening, plus the other accommodation a few miles away for guests who wanted their own quieter space.
The professional part of me knows exactly what makes this work. The sister part keeps noticing things I've somehow never seen before - like how the field sits perfectly positioned next to the garden, creating that natural flow from ceremony to celebration space.
What a Full Site Booking Actually Means
When couples ask about booking the whole venue, they're usually trying to work out if they can afford it or if it's excessive. Nancy asked a different question: "Can we actually make this ours?"
That's what five properties gives you. Not just capacity for seventy two overnight guests, but distinct spaces that serve different purposes across a wedding weekend. Her university friends at The Yard with the swim spa they've already claimed for Friday night. His family at Corner Farm - the Grade II listed farmhouse that his parents immediately fell in love with. The wedding party at Bogg Hall Barn because she wanted them in the nicest rooms. Her closest friends at Westfield Granary, our original building in Sherburn, giving them their own separate base away from the main celebration site.
Garden Weddings arrived on Tuesday to start the marquee setup in the field. I've worked with them for several seasons - they understand how to position structures on farmland, how to work with our specific site, what works in this Yorkshire weather. The catering tent went up alongside the marquee, giving Willows Catering their own professional space to work from rather than trying to use our property kitchens.
That's the thing about using suppliers who know the venue. Well, not just know it - they understand how the space moves, where guests naturally flow from buildings, garden, to field and how to make a marquee feel like it belongs in that landscape rather than just sits there.
The DIY Decision
Nancy's doing what more couples are choosing - taking the framework of professional suppliers and adding their own details. Willows Catering are handling the food because attempting to self-cater for one hundred and twenty people would be madness. But she's organised everything else herself. The flowers, the styling, the timeline, the small touches that make it specifically hers.
This is where I'm seeing the venue through her eyes instead of through my hosting checklist. She's using a festoon terrace that becomes this natural gathering point between the marquee and the garden - that's where she's getting married. The garden gazebo will be the backdrop for the ceremony then the reception venue in a fabulous pole marquee. I've seen this setup dozens of times over seven years, but watching it come together for Nancy makes me notice the details differently.
Her friends are arriving Thursday to help set up. That's the advantage of having everyone staying on site - the wedding doesn't start Saturday afternoon, it starts when the first guests arrive and the whole weekend becomes part of the celebration. Tables to dress, chairs to arrange, lighting to position in the marquee. The kind of work that feels impossible if you're trying to do it the morning of the wedding, but becomes part of the anticipation when you've got two full days and people who want to help.
The Local Supplier Network
Willows Catering have worked here enough times to know exactly how our site operates. They bring their own ovens for the catering tent which is set up alongside the marquee in the field - their own professional kitchen space with everything they need. No navigating property kitchens, no working out what equipment we have or don't have. They arrive with their full setup and position it exactly where it needs to be for service flow into the marquee.
That's something I've watched develop over the seven years we've been hosting weddings. When Mum and I started offering the properties for celebrations eleven years ago, it was mainly family reunions and milestone birthdays. The wedding side came later, once we understood what couples needed. Now we have a network of local businesses who genuinely know these properties, who've solved the specific challenges our site presents, who we trust to deliver what they promise. Garden Weddings, Willows Catering, the local flower grower Nancy's using, the bar service arriving Saturday morning - they've all worked here before.
It changes the stress level completely. Nancy's planned her own wedding, but she's done it with suppliers who've already proved themselves in this exact location.
Being the Venue Owner and the Sister
There's a moment on Thursday when I stopped being the person who runs this business and became the bride's sister helping inflate balloons in the marquee. Sounds small, but it matters. I've spent eleven years maintaining professional boundaries with guests - helpful but not intrusive, available but not overwhelming. With Nancy, there are no boundaries. I'm in the kitchen at Westfield Farm at midnight working out table plans, I'm driving between properties to collect forgotten ribbons, I'm having opinions about flower arrangements that I'd never express to a paying client.
Mum's doing the same thing, oscillating between family matriarch and business owner. She had accommodation here before I joined eleven years ago, but we built Grand Get-Togethers together - expanding from those early properties to four distinct buildings, adding the wedding capability seven years back. Watching it host Nancy's wedding feels like some kind of completion point neither of us quite saw coming.
The weather forecast changed three times this week. Each time, I felt that familiar flutter of anxiety that every venue owner knows - the fear that rain will ruin what couples have spent months planning. Except this time it's personal. It's Nancy standing at the edge of the field yesterday looking at the sky, trying to decide about a backup plan. Garden Weddings have already positioned the marquee to work as either dining space or full ceremony venue if needed. That's the professional safety net. But my sister wanting sunshine for her outdoor ceremony - that's just hoping, like everyone else.
What May Weddings Look Like
First wedding of the season means the countryside's doing its best work. The fields are still that bright green that fades by midsummer. The hawthorn's flowering along the lanes - that's where Nancy got the idea for her colour scheme, watching it come into bloom during her April visits for wedding planning.
May in Yorkshire isn't guaranteed sunshine, but it's guaranteed beauty. Nancy's guests arriving from London, Devon and Cardiff are getting the Yorkshire we grew up with - the version that makes sense of why our family's farmed this land for four generations, why we converted these buildings for celebrations, why people travel from across the country for weddings here.
The marquee's up now. White canvas in the field next to the garden, the catering tent positioned alongside ready for Willows to move in tomorrow, bunting strung between the marquee and buildings, chairs being delivered this afternoon. Nancy's got a spreadsheet for Friday and Saturday that I recognise from every organised bride I've hosted over the past seven years. The difference is this one's happening in the buildings where I work every day, for the sister I've known for twenty eighty years, on the farm where we both grew up.
Wedding season's started. And this year, it's starting with ours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can you book all four Grand Get-Togethers properties for a wedding?
A: Yes - booking the full site gives you Westfield Granary. We have additional properties for up to seventy two guests, plus exclusive use of the grounds and field space for your ceremony and reception. Three properties (Corner Farm, The Yard, and The Wagon Shed) are clustered together at one site in Sherburn, while Westfield Granary is a separate standalone property in Sherburn and Bogg Hall Barn four miles away in Ganton. We've been hosting weddings for seven years and understand how to make full venue bookings work for weekend celebrations.
Q: Do you have recommended suppliers for DIY weddings?
A: We work with a network of local suppliers who know our properties - Garden Weddings for marquees, Willows Catering for food, plus florists, bar services, and other professionals who've worked here successfully. They understand our site layout including the field space where marquees are positioned. Caterers typically use a catering tent set up alongside the marquee rather than our property kitchens, which gives them proper professional workspace.
Q: Where do marquees get set up at Grand Get-Togethers?
A: Marquees are positioned in the field next to the garden, creating a natural flow from the garden to the celebration space. This location works beautifully for both ceremonies and receptions, with the field providing the perfect canvas for outdoor celebrations while keeping the marquee close enough to the properties and facilities that guests can easily move between spaces.
Q: What's included when you book Grand Get-Togethers for a wedding?
A: Westfield Granary for 3 nights, outdoor spaces, hot tubs, games rooms, and access to the field for marquee setup. We're self-catered, so you arrange your own food, drink, and any additional services like marquees or catering. This gives you complete control over your wedding style and budget while having luxury accommodation as your foundation.
Q: How far in advance do couples usually book for weddings?
A: Most wedding bookings happen 12-18 months ahead, particularly for peak season dates (May through September). Full venue bookings need even more advance planning since we're blocking all four properties. Nancy booked 18 months out for her May wedding. If you've got a specific date in mind, get in touch early.
Q: What makes May a good month for Yorkshire weddings?
A: May gives you spring countryside at its best - fresh green fields, hawthorn in bloom, longer days without midsummer heat. The landscape's stunning and you're typically ahead of peak wedding season, which means better supplier availability and often better pricing.
About Molly Sadler
Molly runs Grand Get-Togethers with her mother Joan in North Yorkshire, hosting celebrations in four luxury converted farm buildings on their family's land. Eleven years building the business and seven years hosting weddings has taught her what makes group celebrations work - but her sister Nancy's wedding showed her the venue through completely different eyes. If you're considering a DIY wedding with trusted local suppliers and space for everyone to stay together, the conversations start with understanding what you actually need versus what wedding tradition says you should want.
