When I’m organising events for clients I always ask what is important for them, what memories do they want in years to come? For many, they want their friends and family to have a great time, yes they want a beautiful event but not to the detriment of guest ‘fun’.

In April this year my Mum reached a milestone birthday, not sure she’ll want me to broadcast the age so I better keep that a secret! We have a large family, at the last count I have 7 aunts/uncles + 8 cousins (just on my Mums side) and I won’t even start on the cousins children! We are all over the country and don’t always get the chance to see each other.

My Mum wanted everyone together for a lunch so after some venue searching we confirmed the gorgeous Downhall Hotel in Hertfordshire. I asked the delightful Emma at A Bespoke Design to design an invitation for us which my Mum loved.

With 25 adults + 15 children accepting the invitation we were thrilled that Rebecca reserved the Ibbetsons room which had an adjacent room ideal for the children to ‘hang out’ in! We bought some of our smaller games from Dream Occasions Hire and the children played perfectly until my ex sergeant cousin started teaching the children to use them as missles – honestly some people never grow up!

I asked Ilknur from Mediterranean Occasions to cover the conference chairs and add her lace tie backs.

I knew we didn’t have space for many flowers and with 15 children candles were a NO but I did manage to place some arrangements on the tables, I wanted to keep it elegant but informal as it was family after all.

My Mum goes away a LOT so I had to have a cake that reflected her love of holiday! Sarah from Sugarsponge Cakes did a fab job creating a suitcase cake for us. Calling for ‘cutting’ of the cake was much easier then when I have 200 guests at a wedding!

Good food and service was important to my family and the staff at Downhall outdid themselves, the attention to detail was not unnoticed by any of us. The food was delicious, the staff friendly and professional and the ambience perfect. Staff even helped us arrange a photoshoot outside Downhall entrance which was beyond the call of duty. I can’t even begin to reiterate my thanks to them.

We had such a great time, why? Because it gave us a chance to catch up with family within a relaxed atmosphere. Perfect!

So does anyone else have familiy events to organise this year?

I originally posted this in 2009 but thought it was pretty prudent for now as this is when brides are interviewing suppliers for their weddings next year.

As part of their consultation I naturally ask clients if they have a budget, in past years clients would give me a rough budget but I’ve noticed a bit of a trend recently when clients say there is no budget determined. Far from being helpful this makes it very difficult to price what their wedding will cost.

After all there is a huge difference in weddings costing £10k compared to £30k and even more when the wedding is £80k+. Without a broad spectrum of a budget I have no idea as to what they want for their wedding. I pride myself on being an honest wedding planner so when a client gives me a budget I don’t set out to spend every penny or intentionally go over budget so I earn more! In fact my budget breakdowns are pretty accurate and we rarely go over the agreed budget.

Think about it another way, I have suppliers I recommend in each price bracket and I only recommend those the client can afford. There is nothing worse then seeing and falling in love with something only to discover it’s out of your budget. For example the bands I use can range from £700 – £4,000. Is there a big difference between them? To be honest yes, my top bands are fantastic but I only recommend them IF the client can afford it.

The same can be said of flowers, you could enter a meeting with a florist saying there is no budget, the florist will then quote giving you everything you wanted, you receive the quote and fall off your chair because you don’t want to spend that much so ask them to cut down. Wouldn’t it have been easier to say this is my budget in the first place?

So, the moral of the story is not every supplier is trying to spend ALL your money. We are only trying to give you the wedding or party you desire but without knowing what you want to spend, expectations are rarely met.

Please be honest with us!

Yesterday I popped along to the BBC Essex Radio studio to chat with Etholle about weddings and Halloween. I’ve been on BBC Essex many times over the years but I especially love Etholles show as we have a lot of fun, maybe we just like a gossip like most women!

There were some interesting callers throughout the show including one lady whose daughter was having a Halloween at Hogwarts themed wedding, my two favourites things, wonder if my invite is in the post?

I promised listeners to post some of my advice and tips on Halloween on my blog so here it is. If you want to listen to the show you can do so via i-player  

DÉCOR INSIDE

• Create or buy silhouettes for the windows
• Use the webbing to drape on mirrors, picture frames, banisters – basically anywhere it can stretch and hang
• Buy cheesecloth from somewhere like Amazon  , attach to the ceiling by tape. Then start cutting the cloth into strips, finally rip & tear. The effect is similar to ancient cloth disintegrating over the years.
• Cover furniture with white sheets to give the effect of the house is ‘unlived in’
• Fill a variety of clear pots & jugs with spooky spiky plants or vegetables then fill with water and use food colouring to give the effect of ‘specimen’ jars
• Fill a vase with black organza before filling with water, and place a little light inside (most florists will have them) then use something like calla lilies or roses, you can’t get black but you can get a very dark burgundy. Speak to your florist to create something spooky for you. You could add a few black feather as well.
• Or if orange is more your theme use a pumpkin and place orange chrysanthemums or similar inside.

DÉCOR OUTSIDE

• Create a graveyard in your front garden. Paint old bits of wood or cardboard and write RIP on them. If you have luminous paint then even better. Position in the garden and cover with spider webbing and fake spiders. Perhaps play spooky music you can download via Spooky Soundtrack 
• Line the graveyard with lanterns and lit pumpkins or you could hang small pumpkins from shepherds crooks

 GAMES

• Create a giant pumpkin on the wall by sticking lots of orange balloons to foam board. Fill balloons with sweets and confetti before blowing them up. The children then have to pop the balloons using little pins or darts. – Martha Stewart
• Apple bobbing, this classic is always popular
• Flour sweets – do a mound of flour, put sweet on top, beavers have to ‘cut away’ part of the flour until it then collapses. That person picks out sweet with his teeth.
• Tell a spooky story and use sound effects & turn lights to a low setting
• Donuts on a string – hang ring donuts from the ceiling using string, the children have to eat the donuts without using their hands and without breaking the strong.

Credits

Window Silhouette – Make it With Me

Pumpkin Balloons, Specimen Jars, Cheese Webbing – Martha Stewart

Graveyard & Mummies – Better Homes & Gardens  

Calla Lillies – Mark Bothwell

Q. We are having 200 guests for a marquee wedding, we did this to keep it more relaxed but I’m now wondering if we will need some formality and order on the day?

I have co-ordinated a lot of marquee weddings and highly advise you either have a co-ordinator or toastmaster or ideally both! A marquee does not have a dedicated person to ensure the whole event is running smoothly, in short there is no-one to take control. To explain the difference a co-ordinator will decorate your venue, manage the suppliers, manage the schedule and make announcements when requested. A toastmaster tends to dress in formal wear and instantly is recognisable by guests as a person of authority. They can arrange your receiving line, announce your guests, introduce the speakers etc.

At last I can now bring you all the remaining images from the retirement party I planned in July, more images from the table settings can be found here. I apologise for the delay but what with an event for the UKAWP on Friday, a wedding at Kelmarsh Hall on Saturday and a christening on Sunday it has been rather busy.

I hope you enjoy the images, if you are planning a party why not hire Dream Occasions for a creative edge?

This is the first time in 8 years I had an excuse to hire in a boat and anchors for an event, along with all the other props it made a huge difference in the marquee. Most items were from Event Prop Hire.

I used Wedding Creative who ordered some light blue netting and draped on the ceiling with blue organza, this made the whole marquee feel like a party, not a wedding.

The caterers for the day were Chimneys, Suffolk. Each table had a mini cheese board for after dinner. The service on the day was wonderful. I hope you like the tiny ships that Perfectly Tempered made for the event?

The evening ended with fireworks and the bespoke ”GORN SAILING’

Credits

My thanks to Nick Kontou for some wonderful photography

As promised I can now bring you some of the wonderful images from a nautical style retirement party in July. I was contacted by Philip who wanted me to organise his retirement party, I planned his daughters wedding in 2008 and although both events had been at the family home in Norfolk, Philip wanted to ensure this time the marquee was very different to an elegant wedding. I had such fun planning his party, Philip just let me loose on the design trusting it would be perfect on the day.

Today I’m going to show you the table setting, florist Julia Knights did a fantastic job, she used props on all the tables including light houses, lanterns, shells, netting. The end result was perfect for our theme.

Credits

Nick Kontou photography

Julia Knights 01493 780 248

Q. We have finally chosen our venue for our wedding next summer but I’m really stuck on what colour/theme. It seems whenever conversation comes up regarding the wedding it’s the first thing people say ‘whats your theme then’? Ahhh, I feel like screaming I DON’T KNOW!

For some brides choosing a theme/colour is so easy and something they have been thinking about secretly for years. But for others, it takes a little investigation to find a style that is right for you. First thing first, go back to the venue and look at the walls, floor and general décor – you don’t want to pick a theme of lilac in a red gothic building. Then speak with the venue about what colours looks great in their building. Finally start looking at interior magazines as well as wedding magazines to see what fabrics, colours, accessories and styles you like/dislike. Start cutting the ones you like out and stick to an A3 card. Take this to a DIY shop and collect paint swatches to find out what colours work well together. Hopefully after this process you have a colour and theme to work with!

At the end of 2009 I was contacted by Philip who wanted me to organise his retirement party, I planned his daughters wedding in 2008 and although both events had been at the family home in Norfolk, Philip wanted to ensure this time the marquee was very different to an elegant wedding. I had such fun planning his party, the family are wonderful and it is always great when you already know the ‘lay of the land’ and can just get on with the planning. We decided on a theme of sailing as this is a hobby of his, and once that decision was made, Philip just let me loose on the design trusting it would be perfect on the day. I have so many pictures to show you but as a taster here are 3 to get us started. I will post more over next couple of weeks.

Photo Credits

Nick Kontou

In June I organised a 10th anniversary party for Fenella and Andy, we decided on a Rat Pack – New York theme. The party was held in their home in Essex. It was a pleasure working with Fenella and her family and on the day everyone had a lot of fun.

The food was provided by Magpie Catering who produced some wonderful bowl food and mini puddings, the lemon tarts were very popular!

We used a lot of stock from Dream Occasions Hire in the garden and marquee.

The entertainment was provided by Dean Ager who has a ratpack act and provided a disco in the evening.

Credit

Thanks to Nick Kontou for the wonderful photography, look out for some more of his work in a nautical party we organised in July.

Tomorrow will be ‘Thanksgiving Day’ mainly celebrated in America and Canada. But what is ‘Thanksgiving’? In essence it is a harvest festival when people give thanks for the harvest, now people use the holiday to give thanks to everything and everyone positive in their life. It tends to be a large celebration with friends and family, and the food? Well turkey of course!

If you are holding a thanksgiving dinner this year then we hope the below board will inspire you.

Thanksgiving Ideas

Photo credits: Flag via Wikimedia , all other images Martha Stewart