Lucy

My husband and I celebrated our wedding this February 2018 in Polna Zdroj, run by Mrs Magda Trojanowska and her husband. My husband is Polish and I am English and we live in the UK where we carried out the legal marriage registration. We wanted to celebrate the wedding in Poland with our immediate families in a small, cosy, comfortable way. We both love winter and the countryside so we looked for somewhere in the Polish picturesque countryside.

We chose Polna Zdroj because of the fantastic reviews we had read about the venue, the hosts and particularly about the food. We both love food and we read that Polna Zdroj was one of the best Polish wedding venues for the food, all home-cooked by Magda and her crew.

We contacted her via email with details about how we envisioned the wedding, the size of our party and our available dates. She was friendly and communicative from the beginning, gave us all the information we needed, reiterated the details of the style we wanted so we knew she understood, and suggested some available dates including when we'd have most chance of having snow in the beautiful hills in the backdrop. We informed her in the early planning stages of the dietary requirements as 2 guests are vegetarian, this was no problem at all and we were able to select a menu that had fantastic vegetarian options. Her communication via email was fantastic and this was really helpful and reassuring as we were swiftly able to proceed with plans.

We felt the price was very reasonable, and the cost of every item was broken down. So had we wanted to minimise costs it would've been easy to know where this would've been possible.

We had a very small party of 13 people and 1 infant. The venue can hold much larger groups and we could how this is facilitated, with several large function rooms, for hosting ceremonies, meals and evening parties. As we were a small group, we stayed mostly in 1 area - a very cosy and comfortable area below the sleeping area. The room was open plan but there was a "living room" part of the room and a "kitchen/dining room" part of the room. In the "living room", there were sofas, armchairs and dining chairs, more than enough seating for all of us. This seating area surrounded a wood fireplace, this was going when we arrived which gave us a lovely warm welcome. There was wood next to the fireplace which we could add to the fire when we wanted. The decoration was tasteful and rustic, with a beautiful interior stone wall, warms lamps and plants. We took some fantastic wedding shots on the comfy armchairs in this corner!

In the "kitchen/dining room" area, there was a long wooden dining table, perfect in size for our group. There were plenty of mugs glasses of all shapes and sizes, tea and coffee facilities with a variety of teas, a chest freezer and a fridge that we could use, and all other appliances that we needed during our stay. This area was also really nicely decorated, great for wedding venue photos. There were warm lamps throughout the whole room which added to the warm and comfortable feel. We had been offered the option of having more wedding decoration which we didn't opt for, but the venue was so beautiful that it didn't need it. Although the hosts surprised us by decorating the dining table with flowers and candles for the wedding dinner. This was a really generous and thoughtful addition and we are so grateful.

There were both bluetooth and wired connection music players so we were able to play our own music through the speaker system.

They also had their own published book - A Slow Life z widokiem na Sniezke czyli Polna Zdroj - for people to browse through. We had already bought a copy online which was back home and had kept us salivating at the recipes for weeks before. The book gives a history of the hosts, the venue and has tonnes of recipes of all sorts of dishes they serve. Our guests found this to be such a lovely souvenir of the wedding that we bought a copy for each as a gift. Keep in mind that the book is in Polish, but you don't need to be able to read in that language, to get hungry when you are looking at the pictures!

In the "living room" there were double doors that led out onto the balcony that overlooked the valley below and the ruins on the hill opposite us. We had no idea that these ruins were there when we booked the venue and it was a wonderful surprise as it made for a perfect backdrop for our wedding photos out on the balcony wrapped together in a cosy blanket. These ruins were a 2 minute walk from the venue so we all went to explore them together. Magda also recommended a nice walk to us to a nearby stream that took us through the hillside and through the woods which was really picturesque.

Around the back of the property there was a sauna and hot tub that are for guest use, although due to the sub-zero temperatures unfortunately the hot tub wasn't in use. But the sauna was lovely, perfect after a walk in the woods. There was also a tree-house and a zip wire which was great fun, considering there were only adult guests (and an infant) we spent a long time playing on the zip wire!

When we arrived at the venue, Magda sat with us to confirm the timings we wanted for the meals, and the other plans we had. She was very flexible with this and told us that we would have someone on hand until midnight if there was anything we needed. And she gave us emergency contact details if we were to need them in an emergency after that. All of the crew were really helpful and friendly.

There were 4 bedrooms in the venue. There was 1 bridal suite which was beautifully decorated, a very comfortable bed and an en-suite. The other rooms were a combination of 4 or 5 single beds, each room with an en-suite. When we first contacted Magda, we said there was a possibility that there would be 17 guests. She told us that there is a nearby hotel in the area that would be easily accessible for anyone who couldn't stay at the venue with us. In the end, we had fewer guests so could all comfortably stay in the venue. All of our guests said that they were warm and comfortable in their rooms. There were 2 available travel cots to make use which was very helpful for my sister who has a 6month baby.

Now onto the food - incredible! We had a dinner on Friday night, a "wedding breakfast" on Saturday morning, a feast on Saturday night and another big breakfast on Sunday morning and all of it was fantastic. We had pre-selected the menu for the Saturday night wedding dinner. The quantity was amazing, no-one was ever left hungry. The quality was perfect, everything was delicious. And there was so much variety. We had plenty of meat dishes for all of the meat eaters but the there was still so much variety for the vegetarians. We had their signature dessert as our wedding cake - a giant pavlova! My only regret was that I was so full, I couldn't keep enjoying the food. Their catering really did live up to the reviews.

We really couldn't be happier with how everything went and this is so much down to the wonderful hosts and the beautiful venue.  We can only write a personal review on hosting a wedding of 13 at this venue, and we can really say that it is the perfect venue for this. But we can also really imagine that it would be great to host a larger celebration. We look forward to coming back to Polna Zdroj for our 10 year wedding anniversary, for more fun, comfort and fantastic food! Thank you so much to Magda and her team for making our wedding so perfect.