Kate & Alex

Private home, Cheshire

I was so delighted to be asked to plan Kate and Alex’s wedding, as I had planned Kate’s brother’s gorgeous wedding (October 2019) at Kate’s Cheshire family home. Their original date was September 2020, but like so many other couples, global events seriously put paid to their wedding plans that year. And as some very important guests including the best man were coming from overseas, it was rescheduled.

But before I get into all that, let’s rewind to the beginning of Kate and Alex’s planning! It was obviously important that their day represented them and looked and felt different to what Chris and Simmone had planned the previous year. Choosing a marquee offers couples a blank canvas to create a totally bespoke look and whilst the structure can be similar, how you dress it and use the space can make it feel very different each time.

As I do with all my couples, I found out what was important to Kate and Alex; and the thing that came through strongly was their love of good food and wine. For them the food was going to be a highlight of the day, so I therefore needed to find exactly the right caterer to deliver this. Another important aspect was the music, they wanted the day to be filled with it and to have a few little surprises during the day. And finally, the look of the marquee was key; Kate wanted a refined, elegant and romantic look to their marquee, something which would find me sourcing furniture from the South of England and a bespoke bar being built and a fountain being purchased!

Originally, we were planning a September wedding, with flowers and a colour scheme to fit perfectly with that time of year, but of course that date couldn’t happen, so we re-planned for May 2021. This in itself isn’t straightforward, as all the suppliers have to be available on the same date, as does the church; with the look and feel having to change to reflect the time of year. We ended up repeating that twice more until we finally got to our fourth time lucky date of 19^th March 2022! In the meantime, due to the pandemic the shop where Kate had ordered her dress from had gone out of business and whilst she had the dress, it wasn’t quite as it should have been so then ensued a hunt for a suitable replacement. We then lost a very key supplier… our caterer sadly was also gone! Fortunately I found an amazing alternative who had availability on their date and from then we were good to go!

After all the delays it was quite a moment seeing the marquee finally go up in the garden, all the overseas guests had flown in and the wedding day was set to be glorious, the first one out of the four where it hadn’t rained, so it was certainly meant to be!

As usual I had been on site for a couple of days beforehand overseeing all the marquee set up and it was quite the transformation. Beautiful chandeliers had arrived from Somerset, soft furnishings from Bristol, there were Louis-style dining chairs, a handmade bar that their joiner had crafted all perfectly fitting the elegant look of the marquee and a fountain that Kate and her Mum Jane had dreamed of; to create a fantastic centrepiece for the marquee, especially once the flowers were added!

And we were all set… or were we?

Behind the scenes what the bride and groom didn’t know was one of their musician’s flight had been cancelled from Portugal the night before and he wasn’t going to arrive in time (remember the nightmare it was at the airports as flights got going again!) so a very late substitute had to be found, plus the lead singer of the band’s wife had to have an emergency caesarean the day before and we didn’t know if he would make it.

And then, the church forgot to open its doors on the morning in time for the florist’s arrival to set up; but all that was for me to sort out!!

After all the challenges and delays, it was a day of pure joy, not just for Alex and Kate but for their family and friends, as the sun shone surprisingly warmly for the time of year. Kate looked beautiful, Alex looked handsome and finally this patient couples’ plans came together to create a day filled with love and happiness.

They had everything they wanted including wonderful music. Just a few highlights included a string quartet at church, who later played electric strings as a flash mob during dinner, a pianist playing during dinner, an amazing 9 piece band who also provided a fabulously entertaining Barbershop Quartet who sang rap. The delicious food and attentive service provided the highlight they wanted, with drinks effortlessly flowing and guests commented on how beautiful the marquee looked with the flowers being a real highlight. But it was the people they shared it with which is always what makes it so special, all the guests who had travelled from far and wide and one of my favourite moments was when Kate’s Mum made a heart warming speech, complete with props and a surprise song that had guests in tears.

The day was perfectly captured by the talented photographer who took care to get every detail and fabulous videographer, a wonderful memory of a day they had waited so long for.

But could we let it end there when they had waited so long and gone to all that effort, of course not, myself and the catering team were back the next morning to get the marquee looking ship shape and ready for a lovely relaxed brunch, where guests could relax and share stories and memories from the day before, the perfect end to a perfect weekend, it was definitely worth the wait.

And then I was onto planning her younger sister’s wedding… but that’s another story!