8 Changing the plans – Henrietta’s Wedding
RT and I have always been adamant that we want our wedding to be more than just a day, but an occasion. I’m sure lots of other brides think like this, but what we’re doing to make it happen is start on the Friday night with the American tradition of a rehearsal dinner where all the families and wedding party get together for dinner. Obviously the wedding will be on the Saturday and then on the Sunday we plan to have a big bbq with all the wedding guests and probably RT’s work people, so we’ll be about 125 on that day.
Things were going very smoothly on the planning front until last Saturday when RT and I decided to start a “wedding spreadsheet” detailing everything we need to organise and the cost. It was while we were doing this planning that we started questioning if we were doing the right thing with the marquee. Whilst the setting would be lovely it is bound to be a lot more work and could limit what we could do on the Sunday, plus how relaxed we’d be through the whole weekend. I really want to enjoy the time with friends and family and not be worrying about getting the marquee perfect.
We rang Mum and Paul to tell them what we were thinking, but none of us could think of any alternative venues which would be as special as the marquee or have the kind of atmosphere we wanted to create on the day. Mum and Paul got on the case and went for a drive around. They found a couple of options which they told us about. That night RT and I chatted some more about it and came to the conclusion we’d look at the hotels although we weren’t convinced. We got up on the Sunday morning and bombed up to Oxford (RT’s got a new car so getting him behind the wheel at the moment isn’t a problem!). The first hotel was a disaster and we left there convinced we would be in a marquee, but then we got to the second one. It is absolutely perfect. Within 30 seconds of walking in RT had whispered to me “I really want to have the reception here”. It’s got beautiful gardens for if the weather’s nice, but if it’s not there are is plenty of nice room in the hotel. It has got exactly the atmosphere we would like to create for the wedding. Over the weekend we would take the whole hotel over. It’s got 21 stunning bedrooms for guests and there is a little pub next door that has another 16 lovely rooms so everybody can be together. The most important thing is that they are so flexible, it sounds like everything we want they will do for us ‐ perfect!
One draw back, the weekend we had planned is booked! The next weekend is busy but July 15th is free so we spoke to Rozza the Vicar and he’s free. So there we go, new wedding date and new venue. We are thrilled to bits, I feel like a weight has been lifted off us and we can now plan all the little extras to make the day really special.
One more thing which may change and that is the honeymoon venue, we’d settled on Italy but are now thinking of the Seychelles but that’s a whole other story…
