Category Archives: Planning

Oh my word! It’s so exciting!! After only hearing snippets of Jo’s antics since her last post in August, her next post is here with all the bits leading up to her and Leigh’s big day.. Which is just this month!! I’ll hand straight over shall I?

Since the last time I posted we have arranged SO many things and the weeks have flown by with barely a second to spare a moment to ourselves! We booked our band, The Hammervilles who perform rocked up versions of classic songs everyone knows which should keep the mood boosted… we have arranged some performers including fire breathers, burlesque, contortionists and a drag act as well as the incredible poet and comedy performer “Muriel Lavender” who is going to act as out circus ringmaster for the entertainment portion of the evening!

The biggest hiccup so far has been the caterer we booked. As well as being utterly useless at responding to messages and calls, After he saw our venue he declared that the terrace was ‘unsafe’ to serve food from and demanded his garish blue and white marquees be set up either side of the entrance to the venue. I couldn’t have that! The main reason we chose Cleeve House was for its beauty and the main approach down the drive has massive impact! As it turned out he just wanted maximum exposure for his business… so we sacked him. Or rather Leigh took great pleasure in sacking him!

Shortly after that we met with a chef called Peter Vaughn who had minor celebrity success with his own TV show a few years ago, he was so enthusiastic about creating a theatrical meal for our wedding by making posh kebabs and exciting finger foods people would enjoy experiencing as much as they would eating… he proposed dry ice and a theatrical presentation as well as the clincher for me… A CHEESE GROTTO TO FINISH! SOLD! As just over twice the price my incredible parents offered to help out and chip in for two thirds of the cost which meant we could afford to have Peter!

Around the same time, we also needed to get our official invites sent out, which I had been hand making for weeks… My computer had lost all its data and I lost our address list so we had to re-contact everyone and ask for addresses again! A bit of a ball ache but it came together easily.

A close friend of mine was getting married on Halloween and she had asked me to be a bridesmaid so it has been really useful to see her approach to everything and how organised she has been throughout this process. She had found an app called Appy Couple and had used it to provide all the guests with info such as times, where to stay and how to find the venues. I had a look and it was amazing, I could create a personalised website for people to visit using our unique wedding code and find all the info they needed on there! I put info on hotels, travel, on our registry, the guest list, a bit of info on the days events and loads of useful things for guests to help things go smoothly!

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