George and Cristina's Wedding in Meopham, Kent
Elegant Autumn Blue 1 wedding suppliers
G&C
09 Sep, 2018Our Real Wedding
George and I had been together for about two years when we decided to get married, kind of suddenly to be honest.
One day there were just vague talks about doing it, and the next there we were arranging an appointment to give notice of intention!
Finding a venue was the most difficult task out of all those we faced. Some venues were simply too expensive to even consider them - we struggle to believe anyone could and would spend so much just for their hire, but then... apparently it happens - while others were a logistical nightmare.
After a few weeks of telephone enquiries I came across Annabelle at Nurstead Court, in Meopham, Gravesend.
In hindsight, I believe no couple should email venues, under no circumstances, to enquire about hiring. Phone calls proven to be the best way for me to understand what kind of person was going to run the show for us on the day, and whether we would get on with them.
Annabelle did it for me: she was affable, sweet really, and spoke in a calm and soothing way; her representation won me over immediately. We settled on a Sunday wedding because I am Italian and traditionally we marry on Sundays, and also because at that point we had grown itchy about marrying sooner rather than later. Felt as if we'd been waiting for all our lives, and did not want to wait anymore.
Continue reading »An appointment on site was arranged to meet in person Annabelle and her in house caterer, Lee of Biteme catering. My advice is to always go for a venue which can provide you an in house caterer, because those who have one can offer reliability and experience on site, essential things to the smooth running of events such as weddings.
Unless you plan to mobilitate - and pay for! - an army of people to create your dream day, or you can rely on a PA's support, trust the experience of suppliers who already worked with/at the venue. It will save you time, worries, and will avoid many of the common logistic issues encountered in the planning, such as:
1. how the caterer will get to the venue on the day?
2. will someone be there to allow access, and if so at what time exactly?
3. how will s/he adapt to move around in a venue they have never seen before?
4. there won't be any "trials" prior to the day, so how the caterer will plan the running of the tasks to avoid problems?
These might seem petty questions and some could think that well, the caterers will have to figure the answers to them. But in reality the less problems you leave suppliers to sort, the closer to your dreams and idea the day will be!
Otherwise prepare for very stressing times, with thousands phone calls and interrogations by suppliers, whom - rightfully - will be relying upon your input to deliver. Trust me: you don't want that! Your planning as bride and groom should be limited to deciding which venue, the theme, menu, cake flavours and appearance, who sits where and how you will get there. And that is more than enough!
For the brides: when deciding which hair stylist and make-up artist you will hire, go local. Again, you need to take into account that all sort of issues might arise on the very day and locals are a safer bet. Locals are always very happy to go the extra mile to help an "outsider" on her big day, and you will find that in case of defection of suppliers they can arrange to find substitutes in the blink of an eye.
My hair stylist was a lovely lady called Sarah, working ordinarily at the small hair salon just outside Meopham station. She provided me with the contacts of three local make-up artists, among which was the one I chosen for the day, Hollie. They both were amazing and did the impossible to ensure everyone looked fabulous. On the plus side, they were also slightly less expensive than non-locals and offered me peace of mind for being "on-site" already.
In fact, the only few things I left in control of non-local suppliers were those which were not delivered as planned.
We hired online a bakery called The Cake Junction, to create our two tier cake. It was agreed that the top tier would have been a chocolate sponge with raspberry preserve edged with milk chocolate cigarillos, whilst the bottom one would have been a normal sponge with chantilly cream edged in white cigarillos. The bottom tier should have been wide enough to consent the creation of a fresh fruit crescent on one side, so to mirror the crescent on the top tier. That never happened!
The cake arrived and the top tier sat on the bottom just about, leaving half an inch space to work with. Half an inch! The lower tier also had a crack on its top, and the fruit provided to arrange the crescent (not sure WHY they did not provide the cake with it arranged already!) was rotting. An absolutely disgraceful thing to do to a marrying couple, I mean how much a box of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries does cost these days?
So my advice on the cake bit of the story is: be clear that if the agreed design and flavours are not delivered, you will ask - and receive! - a full refund. That is because there won't be repeats, way to amends, and because legally speaking what the parties agreed on forms the contract terms and conditions. Thus, DO read all of them. It might be a bore, but it's a good thing to do in order to avoid bad surprises.
And talking of not so pleasant surprises, I made the biggest mistake ever in not checking who I was hiring for our transport on the day. Our families live respectively in Scotland and Italy; we had them gathered at a hotel near the venue, and needed a transport to ferry them there on the day.
I wanted a classy vehicle, so finally settled my mind onto a sleek black Mercedes-Benz 29 seater. Little did I know that the company who advertised the vehicle did so on behalf of its owners; that means that it was an admin for them, a mediator taking no responsibility over issues. On the day, nothing of the agreed happened: a smaller, different vehicle was sent to collect our guests from the hotel, unknowingly to myself as I was preparing at the venue and did not see it arriving.
At night collection time, a small vehicle for 16 people and one for 8 were sent to us. I had provided a contact number to the owner of the vehicle, whom I had been put in touch with by the "mediator" company. NO one called to tell my contact person that they were sending different vehicles and no one knew better for I was the only one knowing what I had booked.
Upon seeing what was going on, I made a phone call myself (on my wedding day!) and was told that the sleek, classy Mercedes-Benz I paid for had broken down on the morning. That was subsequently revealed as being an "unsustained claim", for when I did ask proof of said breakage none was provided. A full refund was issued of course, but I cannot get over the fact that these people chipped my dream, and that I even had to argue via few e-mails to get it.
My advice is, again, to check terms and condition when hiring transports, to ensure you are hiring directly a company, and not a mediator.
Another mistake was to rely upon a seller from abroad to produce my reception material - menus, seating chart, program of event. NEVER, ever do that! If you do find lovely templates online, be sure you have plenty of time to receive the proofs, have them amended and have enough time to print all!
Despite these three rather unpleasant issues, our day was the most beautiful day ever. Annabelle came to the rescue together with Lee for "the cake issue", the food looked and tasted amazing, the venue was run like a Swiss clock and guests left sated and elated. As ourselves.
I hope my little story will be of help to you out there facing the planning struggle, and if you are a bride looking for pomanders or bridal party bouquets made out of silk flowers - which I made myself, discovering a dormant crafting talent - DO get in touch!
Other suppliers
Other Kent weddings
View all
Old Thorns Hotel & Resort
Tickton Grange Hotel & Restaurant
St Audries Park
More Real Wedding inspiration