Saturday 29 March 2014

My visit to White Horse Weddings

 Today I went to White Horse Weddings to see how the venue is set up, watch the finishing touches being put together and meet a few of the team that put the beauty into each and every wedding.
The Sun was shining and the birds were singing. It was a beautiful day for a wedding. Spring was certainly in the air and it was difficult to believe that we are only half way through March.



The White Horse is surrounded by beautiful county side views. The country side appears endless creating a beautiful background for wedding photographs.
As I was walking around my imagination was going crazy with the endless possibilities and fun you could have with creating a look that was personal to you. Natural and rustic, vintage.. you could even go for the extreme and quirky!



 

 The whole surrounding area is full of beauty and everything from the drive in to the view from the venue is stunning. There is also lots of parking and a great children's adventure playground which will keep the little lovelies entertained.

 As I walked into the venue the team were hard at work perfecting the finishing touches. You could see the amount of detail that goes into each wedding and the care that is taken to ensure every personal touch is perfect.




The venue looked delightful. The flowers and decoration were stunning and the attention to detail was spot on.
I was very impressed with how personal the wedding felt and excited that there was nothing generic. You could see that the time and care had been taken to make the wedding personal to the couple. 



I love these little love heart favours. They double up as place settings too. The fabric used on the jar lids is also used in the bunting and the flowers pick out each of the colours creating a perfect Spring look.





My favourite part of the day was meeting the team. They all have so much passion for what they do and you can tell that by the atmosphere that they create and the way that everyone works. Every single team member was full of enthusiasm and energy and had lots of pride. It was lovely to see.

Firstly I got to meet Laura who is one of the events coordinators. Laura has worked for the venue for over 2 years and has a wonderfully varied role where she gets to see events through from start to finish. Laura works closely with the events manager Jon and has a hands on approach with venue decoration, running the bar and ensuring that every event is run as it should be.
It wasn't long before we were having a good chat about the weddings that had taken place and the ones that stood out. Laura said that Jon has a lot of inspiration for weddings and she really likes it when Brides and Grooms 'to be' bring a selection of ideas with them so that the team can get creative. Her Favourite personal touch was when a couple had LOVE spelt out in Grass letters for their photos. Laura also enjoys that she can call out random dates to Jon and he knows the Bride and Groom that are getting married on that date "Every wedding is personal and a lot of time is spent with each couple so that their wedding is true to them."  Laura would love to go a little outrageous on her wedding day with some wonderful little details that I will keep secret :)
I then got to meet Alex who is the Events supervisor. He loves seeing the enjoyment of each couple planning their wedding and enjoying their Big day and helping the Bride and Groom bring their ideas to life. Alex has had a variety of roles and has worked for The White Horse for 4 years so has seen the wedding side grow into what it is today. We talked about how they had a smaller Marquee to begin with that Jon and Alex worked together to put up and then a year later they got a bigger one. Alex has seen a variety of weddings at the venue including the wedding of his Auntie. His favourite finishing touches are the old fashioned sweet carts but then said with weddings its mainly down to the Bride (I totally agree!! very wise words Alex)


Here's the Chefs!
Today they were cooking for 200 people.
I got to speak to Jason who has been a chef for over 12 years. Jason Knows exactly how to deliver a perfect meal and explains that planning and preparation is the key to success. 
Today they are cooking a chicken pate starter followed by a lamb roast and chocolate fudge cake for dessert. They are also creating an evening buffet. Sounds delicious!!


And Last but certainly not least Jon.
View jonhaines.jpg in slide showJon brought the White Horse in 2009 as he saw the potential for the small country pub to be something to suit customers from all demographics - business, family, young couples, offering a fresh product in contemporary settings.
Jon quickly established that he needed to create an identity for the pub and worked hard promoting and creating the brand The White Horse - Tea Green.
Jon used all forms of media including their own website, social media, and advertising to share and promote the new look and what they had to offer.
During this time there was a downturn in the economy which brought many challenges for the pub sector where as many as 50 pubs a week were closing.
After analysing the business and the local area they decided that a small events company would bring additional revenue and provide the community with a place to host birthdays, christenings and even sadder events such as funeral receptions.
In 2011 they were asked to host their first wedding. This is when Jon realised that there was a niche to provide quality magical weddings without couples having to re-mortgage their house to achieve their ideal day and from then on White Horse Weddings was established.
Since then The White Horse has increased the size of the marquee to accommodate larger weddings and have added a list of strong suppliers to their inventory including DJ's, chair covers, florists, decorators and stationers with the sole aim of providing the Bride and Groom with the best package all tailor made to their requirements sticking firmly to their policy of “Quality, Value and Fun” 

To finish off I wanted to find out what Jon's favourite part of his role is and I must say that This is exactly what I first noticed about White Horse Weddings.

"My favourite part of the job is meeting with the couples and their parents and building a great relationship. We are proud to be flexible in our approach to our couples big days and want to achieve THEIR perfect day and not be: “you have to have this”, “you must do it that way” etc like so many of the larger wedding venues can be. Also seeing the brides face when she sees the marquee dressed on the day makes all the hard work worthwhile"  
    
I really enjoyed my time at The White Horse - Tea Green and felt very welcomed. The atmosphere was full of pride and the work that goes into each wedding is unique and beautiful. It is so nice to see a venue going away from the set expectations and assisting the Bride and Groom to create their day, their way...
I also had a wonderful time sitting in the garden taking notes and listening to peoples reactions to the venue that were very complimentary..

Take a look at the website and don't forget to give them a follow on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with offers and events.

http://www.whitehorseteagreen.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/White-Horse-Tea-Green

https://twitter.com/TheWhiteHorseTG

   

Friday 7 March 2014

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping <3
Last Saturday I took my lovely bridesmaids shopping for their dresses. I have 6 bridesmaids, 4 adults and 2 junior bridesmaids so wanted to try a selection of options to see what looks worked best. I wanted just a casual ideas shop where I could freely get the ladies to try on various styles and lengths so that I could see what look suited them to help narrow down my search.
I chose to take a look on the high street rather than a bridal shop to give me the freedom to basically be a nightmare... try on take off.... try shoe's...try different dresses... swap this swap that...take measurement's... be noisy... so yes high street it was...
I had a good look on-line to see the product ranges that different stores had to offer and found that BHS had a dedicated bridal department and had by far the strongest range of styles so that is where we began our search.
In my head I already knew the style of dress that I wanted so I started with that. I wanted a strapless full length chiffon dress that went to the floor. When they tried it on, it looked lovely but it didn't quite work for the look that I wanted to go for so I picked up a different style that I liked which was a deep V neck chiffon dress which was more of an empire cut.
As soon as they put on the dresses I knew that that was the dress that I wanted them to have and they all really liked it. They all looked really elegant and the shape complimented every one of them (although the dresses needed an extra few inches in the length).


Bridesmaid dresses £95 available in various colours
I then popped out of the changing room to get a pair of shoes for each of them so I could try shoe sizes on them and see what heel height we were looking for.
As I looked through the racks of shoes a strappy pair of gold sandals jumped out at me.... I had been searching for a pair of gold strappy sandals to suit all of the bridesmaids needs for months and had been struggling to find ANYTHING!! so when I saw them I grabbed each of the bridesmaids sizes and quickly got them to try them on. They Fitted and they had every size that I needed in stock. I thought that the sandals were meant to be and swiftly purchased them.
Shoes BHS £23

While I had all of the girls in one place I took all of their measurements so that If I saw any dresses on-line or in any shops then I had all of their measurements to hand to see how each size works out in relation to each companies size guide as a size 10 can vary greatly from one shop to the next.
So the adult bridesmaids were nice and easy...



now for my junior bridesmaids..   
My junior bridesmaids are age 10 and age 12 which is a difficult age to find bridesmaid dresses for. Looking around the shops, bridesmaid dresses either catered for very young or adult age groups.. nothing really in the middle.
The young dresses looked too young and princess like where as the older ones where obviously too big...
The older junior bridesmaid looked very pretty and elegant in the adult dress but they are just not made for a young girls frame. I also wanted them to either match the adults or match each other.
We all had a lovely time and it was very interesting to have a try on and see what styles work. It was funny to see that the dress I had in my mind was not what I wanted and what style would suit the younger girls best.
I now feel that I know exactly what I am looking for. Don't be put off if a shop doesn't have the colour that you would like as finding the style is more important. The bridesmaids tried on a variety of colours none of which were the colour that I was looking for.
I would strongly recommend BHS for their product / price range. The dresses are beautiful and if they had the colour in stock that I wanted and at the length that I needed I would have purchased them there and then.
For the younger ladies I think that a bridal shop would have been the best bet as the cater for the 'junior' age bracket.

We also had a look in;
Monsoon 
TK Maxx
House of Fraser 
Debenhams 

BHS have a 20% off event for card holders at the moment so take a look at their bridal section before it ends :)
http://www.bhs.co.uk/en/bhuk/category/wedding
  
How was your Bridesmaid shopping experience? Where did you go? and where would you recommend?
Share your story below..

The Wedding Assistant