Whirlwind

Hello!

I was meant to blog yesterday and tell you all about our weekend trip to visit two venues in West Sussex.  Which I suppose, as if I was telling a story, I could still do in cronological order and the reason for my cryptic-ness will become clear....

So we got up early on Sunday morning, one of our rare mornings off as Scarlett was in Bromley and we headed down to the beautiful countryside in Sussex.  We headed first to Fitzleroi Farm Barn and were met by Mark.  The venue was lovely, everything I had hoped it would be.  But, there were a few things we weren't so keen on - no permanent dancefloor, carpeted floor, one door = quite dark in there and one side of the courtyard was their family home.  It did have things going for it, slightly cheaper, big kitchens.  It was nice and Mark was very helpful and gave us a few insider tips which was nice.

We left there at 11:00 and had an hour to kill before heading to Grittenham Barn.  We passed a little church on a hill, All Hallows, Tillington which looked lovely.  However, we knew it was only going to be necessary if we used Fitzleroi as they didn't have a wedding licence and had stated quite clearly that they had no intention of doing so.

Carried on to Midhurst where we glugged down a cup of tea in a little cafe and headed back to Grittenham.  I think I knew almost as soon as we pulled up and I saw the huge mirrorball suspended from the ceiling that this may be, 'The One'.  We were met by Paul who was really lovely and down to earth.  He seemed really quite enthusiastic about weddings in general. 

The barn itself is over two levels, a large main part and a smaller lower part.  He told us how the lower part can be used as a chillout area in the evening (like the sound of that) with the provision of sofas and chairs.  The view from the barn was gorgeous, you could see the lake and gardens and the South Downs.  Windows on both sides meant it was so light in there, with the sun streaming in one side.  I was innapropriately dressed to see the lake where we can have a drinks reception so I think we will be making another visit down there.

The kitchen was small although we were assured that there are other kitchens the caterers can access via a back door.  Curtains can be pulled at various parts of the barn to allow a band to set up, ready for a big reveal in the evening!  You can decorate how you like.  Paul can provide lights and a sound system meaning that we could save money on a DJ by just having an iPod plugged into it.  I tell you, you have to check out his website, he has a lighting company and they do such amazing things - parties in lit up woods and projections on marquees!  I can't find his website, I've left all our Grittenham details at home, but I'll post it later!

So basically, we came to a decision pretty quickly that it was The One.  Although it's a bit more than Fitzleroi and we have to take extra things into consideration; no tables or chairs (which we can get from the caterer) and extra for the Registrar (which we would've had to do for Fitzleroi anyway, plus a venue if not a church....) we could just really see ourselves getting married and having a great time there.

One problem.  Deposit.  Chatted it over with my parents, none of us have a grand lying around.  Mum mentioned it to my Grandparents and they've offered to lend us the money for our deposit!  Am so pleased and made up and EXCITED!!!  So anyway, I'm off to give them a call.  I'll list some websites later so you can see what this place looks like.

Name change

As you may, or probably may not, have noticed, I've changed the name of my blog.  Reflection of Me was a bit emo for my liking and well, there's nothing wrong with a bit of French and a revamp for the New Year.

I'm yet to find a really cool blog skin to really change the blog and keep it more in line with the new theme (wedding!) but I think the font is the colour scheme for the wedding anyway.

So, I had lots of things to tell you all about over the weekend, and now it's Monday morning and I'm at work I've completely forgotten all of it!

Mainly it was to say that we're viewing our first venue on Sunday, the Fitzleroi Farm Barn.  I have no idea what to expect, but at £3k it's the top of our budget for venue alone.  Whilst we could hire somewhere else for about that the bonus of Fitzleroi is that they don't insist you use their caterers (they prefer you to but don't charge if you do use someone else) and they are opposed to corkage.  So that ticks both of our main boxes. 

I think our only bugbear is that it's about an hour away from here.  There are some lovely hotels in the area, and its near to Chichester and Arundel.  It's just where to get married as they're no licensed for civil ceremonies, so we might take a quick look at the churches in the area too.

Here's a picture of the interior.  It seems to be just what we want.  We'll wait and see, my only worry is that people are going to turn round and say "You can't book the first place you look at," which is fair enough.  It's not like we can book it anyway as we have zero for a deposit!  We'll try and line some other places up perhaps, wondering if we can also look at Grittenham Barn on Sunday afternoon as mum has Scarlett for the day.

Anyway, Happy Monday to anyone who drops by!

My first wedding mood board - what a geek!!