e first met Ed & Annelies not long after our Wedding Fayre back in March, they had been let down by their original venue and the mobile bar they had booked contacted us after seeing marketing for the Fayre online .
Annelies and Ed came in to meet us at The Brickworks. Now, whilst I can see the potential and have seen it set up many times for a wedding, some people struggle to see past the fact it is a big rectangular brick room. The museum is still an open museum three days a week and the main room in which we hold weddings is also used for some storage. So I kid you not when I tell you the following sentence came out of my mouth. “If you just ignore the seven parasols in the corner over there, and this broken TV will obviously be gone, I’m not really sure what that is over there but also, that won’t be there…and then, imagine all the fairy lights”.
THEY GOT IT! They totally saw the vision. They knew what we were saying. (Still to this day I have no idea what those parasols were for, or where they have gone!).
Mum and I went home, created an individual bespoke package for Annelies and Ed, including a sample Greek menu that they had requested and e-mailed it over.
That was it, Annelies and Ed booked us to host their wedding and the rest as they say, is history!
Five months is not a long time to plan a wedding, especially when one of you is holding down a full-time job, managing umpteen people and doing the paperwork and management of the cake business (Mum) and the other one is baking cakes and dancing around the kitchen to Celine Dion’s greatest hits (me).
So the planning started, Ed & Annelies were so laid back, it was lovely, we went back and forth over e-mail with the things that they wanted and then met with them at The Brickworks to do a run through. We discussed all the things they wanted, how people would come in, would there be a receiving line, welcome drinks, where the band and dance floor would go, how much seating and the configuration of that, where food would be served from, where the cake table would go, where the bar would be built - inside and out (I learnt at the wedding fayre that “the barn doors are 100% big enough to fit a horse box through” is in actual fact, not true - my bad).
They said they would like bales of straw to sit on and sunflowers as a theme running throughout, they would like us to dress the room like we had done for the Wedding Fayre, and that was about it! Dream couple alert!
A few weeks later they came for a cake tasting, now people say you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket but it’s a Wonderberrys basket so in this case that doesn’t apply.
Unfortunately for Ed he somehow managed to lock himself out of the car so they were half an hour late for their tasting, I didn’t mind at all, these things happen, but they brought me wine as an apology - so again…best couple of all time!
Annelies & Ed chose to have all one flavour for their cake - salted caramel! A stellar choice, one of our best sellers but a first for me, I had never made a wedding cake that was all one flavour. (I was SO grateful for this when it came to making it as I had so much to do this was one less thing to worry about!).
A few weeks later they came for their food tasting. Now, I probably shouldn’t admit this: The first time I made the food they would be eating at their wedding, was for the food tasting! I know, most people would practice a million times and perfect it, but that is not my style. 100% more a fly by the seat of my pants and be stressed at the time kind of person!
So that was it, we were pretty much there, as few bits and pieces to sort but for the main part all sorted, as far as they were concerned. Obviously we still had tonnes do to, like ironing a million tablecloths and ordering goodness knows how much stuff but we were under control!
Annelies e-mailed me one day asking if we would be happy to meet at The Brickworks with her parents, they had been to visit the museum when it was open one day and had some questions about how it would work (remember what I said about some people can see what it will look like and some people can’t?!). That was absolutely fine, we would be happy to. We met Annelies and her parents at the museum one day once it was closed and ran through the order of the day, we explained what the venue would look like. Her parents wanted to add a few bits and pieces which were fine with us, Annelies and Ed and we were all sorted.
So we had added some strawberries to be served with dessert and dipping breads and oils to be served on the tables when people arrived. But now it really was go go go!
Now, for the most organised person in the universe, there is one thing my mum can’t organise. Her diary. Does she quadruple book everything? Yes. Does she forget she is delivering a cake and “accidentally” book a holiday for the same time? Yes. Does she book a holiday and not realise that she only gets back two days before the wedding? Yes. Brilliant. Good one Ann.
So mum is on holiday and I am fielding all the stuff here - convenient, don’t you think?! Now the reason she gets away with being the worlds worst diary keeper? She balances it with being the worlds biggest planner.
Most importantly Anneslies and Ed and their families were so happy and the entire wedding ran smoothly for us. Which is wonderful.
Everything is boxed up, labelled, labelled and labelled again. In the right order and ticked off of the to do lists and spreadsheets that we have - did I mention, she loves a spreadsheet?!
So Friday 23rd August 2019 I drive to pick mum and dad up from their holiday early doors, I drop them off and they load up everything that I haven’t been able to take to the brickworks yet. I go to pick up all the food and the last few bits we need…oh yeah and at some point. I need to make the cake!
Somehow we managed to pull it off, without a hitch!!
Whilst it pains me to admit it, mainly because of the excel spreadsheets and labelling. But we won’t tell that to Ann!
Charlotte. Xx