Hold on, where am I getting married?
Showered and changed into jeans and jumpers, the girls (Jacqui, Kara and I) grabbed the bulging bags by the door, overflowing with ribbons, lace, fabric, candles, and marched over to the main hotel area to assess the soggy situation at hand. On route the groom and co. called and said that whilst they hadn’t located the wellies yet, they had seen blue skies headed our way and sunshine to follow. Standing on squidgy grass, all three of us threw our heads back and searched the grey sky. “Can you see blue sky?” “Oh I can see a cloud breaking up.” “Oooh a ray of sunshine.”
We found the hotel team in the dining room, dashing around taking out all the tables and chairs from the mornings breakfast, clearing the space so we could start to set it up for the reception dinner and jazz band.
The other pressing question was where exactly the ceremony was going to take place. We had decided earlier on in the week that we would have it under an oak tree, which had a wooden deck under the branches, and faced out towards the mountains and horses. Stunning location. However given the ominous clouds, an outside wedding wasn’t exactly a 100% on the cards, and what happened if it rained half way through the ceremony? We stood on the main veranda area and looked down the garden to the oak tree, wishing full sunshine would break through, and pondered on what do to. We had two hours to decide and to fully decorate the chosen area. Time was of the essence. After much deliberation and everyone trying to be a weather forecaster, I decided we would decorate under the oak tree and this would be plan A for the ceremony, and set up a small area on the main veranda which was covered, as plan B. Plus we still had to decorate and set up the dining room for dinner. So there were only a mere three areas to arrange and decorate in record breaking speed. Pippa, our florist, cum witness, and a new official friend of the family, took the lead in getting everything ready and was efficiently running around helping get various things arranged and laid out as per my vision. Jacqui and Kara ran between areas with ribbon and fabrics and we all called out to each other for quick opinions and fast decisions. Scissors were flying, ribbons were being tied on everything, and lanterns and hearts were being hung in the trees and bushes. As a completely un-coordinated, un-rehearsed and unplanned mad dash to make the hotel ready for a wedding in less than 90 minutes, I have to say we all worked around each other with exceptional skill and unexplainable female intuition. The hotel staff moved furniture at lightning speed, and all hands were officially on deck. A special thanks to Grant, who was my hero of the moment and practically climbed trees to get ribbons, tied everywhere. Alison (the general manager) was forever nipping between areas asking what she could do to help and offering everyone teas and coffees, her kindness was appreciated by everyone (and the waiters managed after much tricky sticking to get my handmade “Just Married” sign up above the fire place).
By the time I had to leave and go back to the room, I had run between so many places and worked at such a frantic pase that I was completely confused as to where exactly the ceremony was going to be.
We found the hotel team in the dining room, dashing around taking out all the tables and chairs from the mornings breakfast, clearing the space so we could start to set it up for the reception dinner and jazz band.
The other pressing question was where exactly the ceremony was going to take place. We had decided earlier on in the week that we would have it under an oak tree, which had a wooden deck under the branches, and faced out towards the mountains and horses. Stunning location. However given the ominous clouds, an outside wedding wasn’t exactly a 100% on the cards, and what happened if it rained half way through the ceremony? We stood on the main veranda area and looked down the garden to the oak tree, wishing full sunshine would break through, and pondered on what do to. We had two hours to decide and to fully decorate the chosen area. Time was of the essence. After much deliberation and everyone trying to be a weather forecaster, I decided we would decorate under the oak tree and this would be plan A for the ceremony, and set up a small area on the main veranda which was covered, as plan B. Plus we still had to decorate and set up the dining room for dinner. So there were only a mere three areas to arrange and decorate in record breaking speed. Pippa, our florist, cum witness, and a new official friend of the family, took the lead in getting everything ready and was efficiently running around helping get various things arranged and laid out as per my vision. Jacqui and Kara ran between areas with ribbon and fabrics and we all called out to each other for quick opinions and fast decisions. Scissors were flying, ribbons were being tied on everything, and lanterns and hearts were being hung in the trees and bushes. As a completely un-coordinated, un-rehearsed and unplanned mad dash to make the hotel ready for a wedding in less than 90 minutes, I have to say we all worked around each other with exceptional skill and unexplainable female intuition. The hotel staff moved furniture at lightning speed, and all hands were officially on deck. A special thanks to Grant, who was my hero of the moment and practically climbed trees to get ribbons, tied everywhere. Alison (the general manager) was forever nipping between areas asking what she could do to help and offering everyone teas and coffees, her kindness was appreciated by everyone (and the waiters managed after much tricky sticking to get my handmade “Just Married” sign up above the fire place).
By the time I had to leave and go back to the room, I had run between so many places and worked at such a frantic pase that I was completely confused as to where exactly the ceremony was going to be.
