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.