Dear Readers;
Hmm seems I hit almost mid-week before getting to this new weekly assignment. Okay its been busy around here what with Lynne becoming a grandmother Monday morning at 1:46 AM...Ezri Claire - 8lbs 1oz is home for the first time at noon today.
But perhaps also leaving the blog for a few days - to sort through photos and thoughts isn't such a bad thing. First let me say that Mark and Michelle were a lovely couple and they seemed to have a very romantic wedding. Here dancing their first dance to a solo performance by a good friend of theirs.
But I am rushing things aren't I? Guests were greeted at our entrance with the fine wood-working talents of Michelle's Dad. Currently he holds the title for both best sign and best floral arangement around a sign.
Mark and Michelle also had a bus out of Belleville hired for the evening which doubled as a limo very nicely. We have seen this bus here before but never when it stayed for the full evening taking people when they wanted to go where they wanted to go.
But I really am rushing things - the evening isn't over yet! The bride and groom had really hoped for an outside wedding. But the weather bascially sucked and the thought of guests rushing for cover convinced them to have it inside. We helped them make it memorable.
And Jennifer, lets take a look at that head table!
and here it is from another angle - with 13 place settings.
Stephanie at Red Barn Floral had done it again - submerged orchids were an elegant touch to a wedding set-up even more minimalist than last week - which I frankly loved.
That bottle with the plastic champagne cork on top is a bottle of Waupoos Cider requested especially - a product we always enjoy serving. Dinner came from Currahs and according to what we heard they were 'on their game'. The videographers didn't leave a card for us but they did have one idea we hadn't seen before. They set up a speakers corner and as we understand it planned to edit in candid moments/thoughts to the video they were putting together. Sounded like a great idea!
So in spite of inclement weather the evening went well. Always a good indication - many guests were still dancing when Andy Forgie played the last song at 1 AM - really a great evening with some wonderful new ideas and again we were so very happy to have been able to host the event.
In spite of a wonderful evening we did have an issue which truly worried us. We discussed the matter with the bride and groom the next day. There are some local accommodations; 3 places come to mind, that primarily cater to fishermen. Because they cater to fishermen, they have made it clear that 11 PM is as late as they can tolerate noise and disterbunces caused by people coming in late. At the end of an evening its tempting to walk home to these places as they are within walking distance. However they have complained publically, as have the neighbours in between, about our guests walking. The neighbours worry about noise and that someone heading home at night, on foot, might be involved in a traffic accident because the highway is a very busy road and some traffic moves very quickly at night. So, at the start of this season, we had implemented a policy of zero tolerance for all of our guests when it comes to walking. No one is allowed to walk anywhere off the property. They have to find a ride - last Saturday the limo bus could have been used. In spite of the policy and announcements made throughout the evening, some people still walked back to their rooms. We discussed the matter the next day with Mark and Michelle and they inderstood our concerns. However it became clear to us that we did not have any 'teeth' in our policy. So, from now on, if anyone walks off the property the bride and groom will forfiet their wedding deposit - and that is a fair bit more than taxi fare.
Enough of that! It was such a lovely wedding. We did so enjoy pulling it together for Mark and Michelle and can only wish them the very best as they head into the future together.
Cheers then from everyone involved this past weekend, Mekenzie, Ron, Ellen, Lynne, Bethany, Mark, and John
PS - hmmm almost forgot their hurricane lamps - 6 of them on our flower hooks had battery powered candles which flickered brightly all evening