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Diary - 33 weeks to go!
Busy busy busy
Date: 21-09-02
A very busy day for us today. Three venues to see by 3 o'clock and they weren't exactly in a logical
order.
A very grand hotel situated on one of the main streets leading into the town centre and backing onto
a large expanse of an open grass area called Parker's Piece. It's a prime location and you pay for it!
Everything about the hotel is grand - the staircases, the function rooms, the bar, and even the hallways
joining everything up. Oh, and the price. I think this was probably the first one where the whole thing
was set up nice, the atmosphere was ok, and you could really see how it all fitted together. The woman
talking us through it was really helpful.
It was expensive (not *too* expensive, but it would've meant going for the cheaper package
options to accommodate all the guests - we're not made of money, y'know!), though - even parking your
car when you're booked into the hotel is £7 a day! - and it just felt like another hotel with a function
room. We go to at least one black-tie sit-down three course meal a year, and, after a while, they just end
up becoming the same old thing year in year out. We want something different. Something with a bit of
character. Which leads us on to.....
Now this has got bags of character. As the name suggests, it is what was the Duxford airfield's Officer's
Mess in times gone by. "Lovingly" restored and opened up for hire. Walking in there was like walking into
a school hall. Creaky wooden floors, high ceilings anda characteristic smell. Not a *bad* smell as such,
just one that provokes memories of childhood assemblies.
We would have had access to all of the 5 or so rooms (what for?), and the bar would be set up for us. We
asked the woman what beer they could do for us, and she responded with "Fosters, John Smiths....".
We asked her again what beer they could do for us and she looked at us blankly. Hmmmm. We walked around
all the rooms, asked the questions, and headed out. This place was not for us. It just didn't invoke the
right feeling.
Moving on.....
Basically this place is a tea room with an orchard to the side. A tea room? Not something that you
immediately search for in the yellow pages or the bridal magazines when planning a wedding reception, but
bare with us on this. When you get into the (probably packed) carpark of this place, a collection of
ramshackle tin-roofed sheds and a small servery greet you and your first thoughts are probably along the
lines of "what's the attraction with this place?".
Walk around the corner, though, and the orchard opens out in front of you. It's pretty big (understatement)
and there are clusters of deck-chairs and small tables around the apple trees. You want history? You want
character? You got it....It was planted in 1868 and a bunch of Cambridge students (bloody schtoadants!)
started a tradition of being served afternoon tea under the blossoming trees (instead of on the front lawn
of the house) around 1897. Rupert Brooke (famous poet for all those going "Whoooooooooo?") lived in the
adjoining house around 1909 and wrote *that* famous poem about it while he was homesick, travelling around
Berlin. He was one of many famous admirers of the place.
At the back of the servery is a small tea room, but adjoining that is the new function room - finished at the
beginning of the year I think (it looks like a building site in the out-of-date photos). They can seat up to
120 people (40 minimum), which is ideal for us. We'd get sole use of the function room all the time and a
roped-off section of the orchard that we can mill around with our drinks when we first turn up (weather
dependant, of course), and we get sole use of the rest of the place after 6 or 7pm (when it shuts to the
public). The room is just ideal (although it did look like a bit of a building site when we saw it), the feel
of the place is just right, and the price is within our budget. They would be perfectly happy to get us barrels
of beer in for us. The two women doing the booking of the function room were just so helpful.
Katherine and I sat around in the orchard talking about it and reading through the info pack after they
had left us, and we just loved the place. The only issue was if it was raining on the day - where would
the photos be taken? The organisers did say that they could give us access to the tea room and we could have
our photos done there if we wanted. Cool.
And if the weather is good enough on the day, we could travel from the town centre to the Orchard by punt.
Oh yes :)
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*The* mill
Date: 16-09-02
Hmmmmm....disappointment. Well, sort of disappointment. I'd spoken to someone last week about
popping in to see them, and been given a time. We turned up at the time and was met by a
breathless manager - apparently the receptionist was ill and they were rushed off their feet.
No mention of our names in the book. Not good.
After a bit of whinging on my part, he said he could meet with us briefly - he was very
apologetic about the mix-up. We were walked around the place and it just didn't give us the
buzz we were expecting (although we had built the expectations up quite high - see previous
entries). I think all the elements were there, but it was just that we couldn't see it in the
format it would be. The room we'd been shown could *just* squeeze in 80 people, but using a
table layout that we're not that fussed on (rectangular tables instead of round). It seemed a
bit dark, but it was set up for a conference (loads of chairs, no tables), so it might look
different when there's tables with white tablecloths shining the light back up.
The function room and bar (where the evening band/disco would be) seemed ok, but it was hard
to tell what it would be like since it had a load of comfy sofas dotted around for the bar.
He did labour the point of their resident DJ as well, even though we don't actually want a DJ.
He wasn't as enthusiastic about us bringing in a band, but said they could accommodate them.
And then some charges were appearing out of thin air. We already knew about the £400 charge to
use the rooms in the evening, but we were told that they "request" (read "demand") that you
have a finger buffet in the evening at a cost of £8.50 per head (minimum) - catering for around
75% of the total number of people. Now that's just not on. Looking at the provisional numbers,
this bumps it up by another £500. Hmmm....
So, sort of disappointment all round. We're not discounting it yet - Katherine's going to be
checking the room out in it's wedding reception format on Friday, and I'm hoping to book some
time to see the bedrooms as well (they couldn't show us any because it was full up).
We made a stab at drawing up a first draft of the guest list as well - we're looking to invite
around 80 people to a sit down meal after the wedding, and then open it up after all the speaches
and stuff for the evening. 127 people for the sit down meal. 127! I never even realised we
knew that many people. 144 in total....I think we're going to have to be a bit
more brutal in drawing up this list. Surprise, surprise, most of the list is built up from
ringers. Tch! Typical!
All in all, not a good day to start the week.
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Wedding fairs and the church
Date: 15-09-02
We went to a wedding fair this afternoon after speaking to one of the people at
our church about us getting married there (we've
been told to email them to arrange a time for a meeting with them, which we've done).
Another friend who's getting married next year has said that "wedding fairs are only good
to show you what you definately do not want at your wedding". And I'd agree.
Katherine said they aren't always that bad (she went to a bigger one in Knebworth the other
week), but it was fairly small, and the collection of cake stands, make-up "artists",
photographers and "entertainers" was fairly crap. Although we did get to sit in the back of
an old Rolls Royce, and a Bently Turbo S. Nice :)
We walked around once, picked up a few leaflets, and left. It was at another venue that was
on the list of ones to check out -
this one. The surroundings were nice (it actually backs onto the river Cam
and you get a complimentary punt if the weather's ok), but it just had the large chain-hotel
feel to it. In fact, the wedding fair was in the room where the reception would be held. Neither of us were
that fussed.
Another one crossed off the list.
Tomorrow should be interesting, though. Quy Mill. The one we drove past yesterday.
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