So it’s been a while since we heard from Marry Me Ink’s blogging bride Jo.. She’s been uber busy at tattoo conventions (See her Instagram feed for it all!) and just general wedding planning. This edition is all about the venue!! (And oh my, it’s a good one!)
It has been a while… For which I am sorry! Life kind of ran away with me and I struggled to find a moment to collect and organise my thoughts. Once I had organised my thoughts, my Macbook decided to spectacularly end it’s own life and I lost all of my (somewhat chaotic) ramblings for the second instalment of ‘Blogging Bride’.
However, I am here now. And I have some new stories to share with you.
Thinking back to when I wrote the first instalment and reading back over what I wrote, it seems aeons ago that I began this journey from single gal to bride to be.
I suppose it seems obvious to say that planning a wedding can seem an incredibly daunting task when absolutely nothing has been arranged yet. So I started with the most basic task of deciding where and when we would tie the knot. Knowing full well that neither of us worship the sun, in fact I am about as pale as they come, we decided that a winter wedding would not only provide the cosy warmth of a Christmas party in the country, but more importantly would almost halve the cost of our venue!
We looked at Orchardleigh House near Frome, but to be honest it was a little grandiose for our needs and we wanted somewhere we could feel intimate with our guests. A friend suggested that we visit Cleeve House, built in 1857 and just a stones throw from my parents home in Devizes, in the middle of beautiful countryside with rolling hills and gorgeous views it sounded perfect.
Leigh and myself drove over to meet my Mum at Cleeve House and instantly we fell in love with it. It was like looking at the fairytale castle of a gothic princess from the outside. Inside a fire roared in a gigantic fireplace in the ‘great hall’ and that cosy Christmas feeling was almost overwhelming. I think we took all of 3 seconds to decide and confirm.
What nobody tells you though, is the absurd amount of money it costs to get a registrar to come to your venue. To us, the legal bit is insignificant in comparison to the celebration so we decided that a quick in and out job at the local registry office the day before would suffice. That being said, we realised that people will be expecting a ceremony of some kind during the party, so we have opted for a family friend to perform a humanist ceremony with a hand binding and a little tattoo on our ring fingers done by a close friend to mark the occasion. A humanist ceremony can pretty much consist of whatever you want it to, which leaves us with lots of scope to come up with fun ways to tie the knot in front of all our friends and family.
Since we picked the venue everything else has started to fall nicely into place, we chose our caterer – Mr. Roast Potato. This was based on having tried his food at a local food market and loving it. He’s local, he uses local produce and he was super keen to get involved with the vintage vibe we have going. We are not having a formal sit down meal, simply three options of beef chilli, fish gumbo and a vegan stew which will be served up on top of roast potatoes. I can’t think of a better meal to line our stomachs ready for a night of cocktails and mulled cider!
I will go into a little more detail about our food and drinks arrangements next time, as well as the entertainment we have planned… all around this vintage circus theme we have adopted. Let me just say for now that I doubt anyone will be bored, even for one second of the day!
MORE importantly and what you probably really want to know… have I chosen what I am weariung? Is it a dress? And is it black?
Well the answer is yes… to one of those questions. I can’t divulge too much in case Leigh reads this blog. I will say this… I have chosen gold patent Dr.Martens to compliment the look… and I can’t wait to wear them!
UNTIL NEXT TIME..
LOVE. x
