Exbury Gardens and Steam Railway

Exbury Gardens and Steam Railway (http://www.exbury.co.uk/website/weddings.aspx) is a magical place in the New Forest National Park, the gardens are beautiful with lots of little corners to take some amazing photos (whicis very important to me). But the thing that has drawn me to this venue is the Wedding Belle. The Wedding Belle is a  20 minute tour of the Gardens by Steam. It takes you to some special gardens that can only be accessed by rail including Northern Lake & the Domesday Yew, the American Gardens, and the Rock Garden. The train can play the music of your choice on the jorney, and can be decorated with flowers and ribbons to make it extra special. The front of the train has the bride and groom's personal headerboard, for the ultimate unique photo. The rooms are all beautiful and the menus sound delicious. I would  have a civil ceremony in The five arrows gallery which is a beautiful building built in the 1930's (almost the 1920's for my theme???) and then the reception in either the Engine Shed, Mr Eddy's Tearooms or The Tennis Court Tea Gardens. The train ride comes included with the Engine Shed but is only £4pp from the Tea Gardens/Tearooms. The Engine Shed is a genuine working site which is such a unique and beautiful space, whilst the Tea Gardens is an outside area (only for a summer wedding) that's adjacent to the Sundial Garden, an exotic oasis within the woodland gardens, and the Tearooms are in a beautiful country themed space with with rustic beams and stone-clad flooring. (The tearooms could be the perfect venue to accomadate my afternoon tea idea.) It's not the cheapest venue but it is one of the most beautiful and unique. The areas I've chosen to consider cater for weddings of 30-100 people. But for a larger wedding there are many other options. Click here for a map.