As I do with all weddings, we had our final details meeting about 4 weeks before the wedding and I started my work in taking over the final organisation of the wedding. However, all was not to be that simple. Five days before the wedding, Kelly phoned to tell me that the venue's owners had decided that it was impossible to hold the wedding there and that they were cancelling their venue. As you can imagine, Kelly and her finance Pete were beside themselves.
Emergency meetings were called with the owners and the family and luckily the venue's owners had a second venue in the city which was due to reopen after a refurbishment on the same day as the wedding. This venue was much better suited for a wedding and they agreed to delay their opening and for the couple to use it for their reception.
Now the work really began. I had to reassign the decortations using the items we'd already purchased and work out the logisitics of the day including the speeches and disco as well as contact all of the suppliers to ensure they knew the change of venue.
I asked the couple to print a card which could be inserted into the Order of Services explaining the change of venue with a map so the guests didn't go to the wrong place.
On the day itself, the sun was shining and everyone at the house was calm and relaxed, maybe a bit too calm, but it did give me time to go round and take some photos .
I was waiting for the cupcakes that Kelly's aunt had made to be delivered before I left and when they arrived, I was off to set up the venue!
When I arrived, the venue was let's say 'chaotic'. The problem with using a venue not used to doing weddings is there is little sense of what needs to be done and when. The staff were focusing on the kitchen as there was a large amount of food to be made and nothing had been done which I had expected. The tablecloths were unusable as they were and needed ironing so I managed to get a member of staff to iron them all for me so I could start with laying the tables. Whilst they were doing this I turned my attention to the bar areas.
Kelly was using banqueting roll for the tables in the bar so the red rose petals and candles would stand out, but the venue said it would be too much hassle. Not the attitude I have, if this is what the client wants, it's what they get! So myself and one of their staff painstakingly covered all of the 22 round tables and decorated with candles, confetti and candles, just as Kelly wanted them.
Once the tablecloths were ready I could start in the main room and managed to lay up the tables and set up the cupcakes with enough time for me to get changed before the guests started to arrive.
Kelly and Pete were thrilled with the way the venue looked and realised that there was absolutely no way it would have happened had they not had me to oversee everything. The rest of the day went exactly to plan including the sky lantern release off the roof of the building!
I wish Kelly and Pete a wonderful marriage together and hope it's not as stressful as the final week of the run up to their wedding!
