Time To Talk Timings…

Chris has been very busy over the last few weeks

Time for a little blog whilst I’ve got a spare few minutes, the last few months since our last blog has been one of our busiest periods to date and with the scorching weather I feel it’s time to talk timings .. As we all know everyone wants their wedding to be the biggest day of their life and we also know, no two couples visions are the same.

From a summer wedding to a winter wonderland themed wedding, there are major factors in how an evening’s entertainment can flow, for example a summer wedding when you are hoping for beautiful weather so you can enjoy the day and maximise the venues outside space, this will of course make a difference to how your timings will work… The last thing we would recommend is that you come straight from your wedding breakfast into the evening disco and have your first dance. For example a recent wedding we were privileged to be part of at the beautiful Chilston Park in Kent… This was held in The Orangery, it was a very intimate affair with only 24 very selected guests, for the bride and groom it was all about making the most of the venue and its surroundings and taking it all in, the bride and groom actually had their first dance at 9.30pm with an evening buffet being served at 10pm. From our 20 years of experience we find the 1st dance is best done about 1/2 hour before the evening buffet is served. Of course this isn’t for everyone and we will work with a bride and groom and work out what’s best for them when factoring photographers and videographers etc. etc.

In the last few years we have seen a change in the ‘togs’ and they are now more appreciative and understanding that things can change and timings can be altered.

You then fast forward to a winter wedding and everything will change. Again as an example back in December we were at the gorgeous Brandshatch Place in Kent and our bride and groom had booked one of our Starlight Packages, which includes one of our state of the art discotheques, mood lighting and one of our white starlight led dancefloors. For this new husband and wife it was all about the party, but with this venue, there is a turnaround after the wedding breakfast has taken place, and due to the weather it affected the overall running order of the day. We ideally would be set ready to play background music from 7pm which would give some downtime for evening guests to arrive get settled in and daytime guests to stretch their legs. However this function would be a mad rush to turn the room around as the speeches were slightly longer than normal (there isn’t a normal when it comes to a speech!!) which meant we didn’t actually gain access to the room till 7.30pm. We managed to get everything set for 8.30pm and by now all the evening guests had arrived and we literally went straight into the first dance, which in our eyes is the official start of the party!!

When talking to Brides and Grooms prior to their big day we ask them one question… ‘Ask yourself… When you go out for a night out with friends… Do you start dancing at 7pm??’ The answer is 99.9% of the time is always a resounding ‘NO’… So apply the same logic to a wedding and it’s the same!!!

That’s about it for now as I’m off out to top up the tan on the driving arm as I’m off to the stunning Leeds Castle for our second event of the week in the Maidens Tower.