89... 87

Steve and Linda Sillett can’t make it because of a double-booking

91... 89

John and Sue Merrell won’t be able to make it, as Sue (who is a Teaching Assistant) can’t get the time off work.

95... 91

After the tragic death of Martin, Angela’s partner, and Doug and Lesley not being able to get the time off, to fly back from Saudi, we’re now at 91.

Twitter Feed

Thanks to Jo, they’ll be a live Twitter-feed on the day too!

#TweetsBySteveP

The Cake Box Challenge

As we may have mentioned, not content with inviting almost 100 people to wedding itself, and giving them a slice of cake, we’ve got a ‘cake-list’ too – for those who aren't coming, but deserve a piece – that’s another 110 people!

Successfully sending cake through the post is something that has given us some cause for concern, but happily there’s a whole industry out there that can provide bespoke cake boxes to keep the portions in shape during their perilous journey through the postal system.

Having sent away for various samples, we finally settled on a design from confetti.co.uk – and the bonus is that we could also customise them with a message. We ordered them online and they arrived next day.

That was the easy part!
Obviously designed by Ikea, they come ‘flat-packed’ with some basic instructions on how to assemble them. Having tried, and tried again, had a beer, and tried once more, I did manage to get one to look like it should – my personal best being 47 seconds from start to finish!

The thought of having the repeat the exercise 109 times, wasn’t something we were looking forward to, but fortunately, our good friends Jo, Janet and Lee came to the rescue. In return for a bribe of alcohol and a fish-and-chip supper, the five us made light work of the assembly-line of flat-packs and by 8.55pm, we’d got them all done – averaging around 1 minute 20 seconds per box!!! Great stuff!

Our cunning plan is to send out the cake a couple of days before the wedding so that it arrives more-or-less around the time of the wedding itself.


“Simples”!!!!

An Unforgettable Rehearsal

David and Rosi are getting together this Sunday for their first rehearsal of ‘Unforgettable’

Ribbon Time!

With the Keepsakes now collated and assembled, I dropped into Rosi’s to leave them with her for the final touch – a red ribbon. They should all be ready by the time we have the dress-rehearsal.

Rosi’s let me know she’s also sorted out a date with David for the first of their rehearsals of ‘Unforgettable’.

Assembly Line

Ralph brought the final insert for the Keepsake with him today, having delayed the printing as long as he could whilst I tried to find out some last minute detail for the ‘Ceremony’ section. We spent some time collating then inserting the 300 err, inserts into the 50+ brochures with the Bride-and-Groom Quiz.

It’ll go off to Rosi on Thursday to have a ribbon added to each Keepsake – nice!

Now would not be a good time to find a typo!!!

 
Job done!

“Unforgettable”

I nearly forgot to post this! :)

 

Us old ‘uns will remember (just!), the song ‘Unforgettable’ by Nat King Cole. What is less well known is that his daughter, Natalie Cole sang a cover version, years later, where she took the vocal lead, and her dad was over-dubbed onto the recording, creating a duet combining ‘new’ with ‘old’.

In an earlier post, I’d mentioned that thanks to Ralph, a friend of David (not to be confused with Ralph our Best Man), he was working on a version for our wedding and the final result is now ready. It’ll be a duet (for David and Rosi) with piano accompaniment, and it’ll be sung at the Service.

It’s the loveliest song I’ve heard for ages, and just right for our wedding.

For those who can read music, wonder at Ralph’s composition HERE. 

96… 95

Our neighbours opposite – Trevor and Fiona - are coming, but their daughter, Becca, can’t make it.

94… 96

That’s good news: John and Trish, who couldn’t make it originally because John was going to be working away, now isn’t. So we’re back up to 96.

Name Cards for Table

That’s another task sorted. I designed the Name cards for the Wedding Breakfast today. Where you see ‘Guests’, the names will be mail-merged once we have the final list of who’s coming.

Simples!!!

Cake Boxes

We calculate that there are just over 100 people to send cake to, in addition to those that’ll be given a piece on the night. Luckily, we found a good site that supplies personalised cake boxes. I reckon it’ll take a degree in mechanical engineering to assemble them though! Personal best is 48 seconds per box at the mo’ !!!! :)

We plan to box up the cake and post it time for ‘the 100+’ to get theirs on the day of the wedding.

Commissioned sketch of Kelmarsh Hall – Front Elevation

I met Maureen today to pick up her completed sketch of Kelmarsh Hall, together with its doppelganger (we’ll use the doppelganger on the day in case any guests spill beer on it or it’s hit by a firework!)

As far the guests are concerned on the 14th, it IS the real thing (I can’t actually tell the difference!)

We’ll give you all an advanced viewing on the 26th November - the rehearsal day. The plan is that no-one else who’s been invited to the wedding will see it, until our wedding day.

So, just a reminder of our ‘cunning plan’ for the 14th:

- It is put ‘on show’ towards the end of the event (we need to agree where and exactly when)

- Guests are invited to sign the large white mount we’ve had put around it, as they prepare to leave the event

- We would like you, as Best Man/Ushers to encourage as many people as possible to sign. Ideally it’ll be a perfect record of who was there. I’m sure we can utilise the lungs of the Toastmaster to spread the word!

- It’ll take some judgement by you to ensure that as far as possible, the signatures are spaced equally around the frame (this could be tricky, so let’s talk about this on the 26th)

- We’ve purchased some pens (three of them) that are specially designed to write clearly (and dry quickly) on picture mounts. We’ll let you have those on the day

- Ushers: Would one of you be prepared to take charge of the sketch after the event? As lovely as it is, we’re not planning on taking it with us to Oz!

Any comments? email me at StevePalmer@StevePalmer.com

96… 94

Adrian Widrich… (who was originally Adrian Smith, a business colleague of mine from Sainsbury’s)… who is now returning to his original name, as Adrian Smith, won’t be attending with his wife Edith, (and their new arrival, Emily), due to family commitments.

Reserved Seating

Ralph’s sorted out the cards that will sit on the reserved seating for the Service

98… 96

Andrew McMillan (my old mucker from my earliest days at Sainsburys c1974) and his wife Christine, won’t be attending. Andy’s been partially physically disabled since the late 70s, and he feels his mobility’s been getting worse recently. This makes any sort of travel very challenging for him.

Lottery Tickets

OK, as you may know, we’re planning to give everyone a lottery ticket ‘on us’ on the night. Being a Wednesday, it coincides with the mid-week draw. As you also may know, the draw results are shown late on the TV – around 10.30 but the actual draw takes place around 8.30. I therefore have a cunning plan to have the results relayed to us on the night. Then it would a simple matter of asking Ralph or the Toastmaster to announce the results to the congregation…

Perfect!

Almost!

Our original thought was to place the tickets inside the keepsake and ask Best Man and Ushers to draw guests’ attention to it when the keepsake is handed out on arrival. Because of some complexity around date of purchase vs date of the draw, I’m advised that the best time to actually purchase the tickets is the week immediately before the Wedding – easy!

But of course, the keepsakes will all be finished and tied with a ribbon, and I don’t think any of us fancy un-ribboning and re-ribboning! :)

An alternative might be to slip the ticket behind the ribbon… I’m just a tad concerned it might be a bit naff…!

If you have any ideas or thoughts, let me know by email – StevePalmer@StevePalmer.com or give us a call.

Reminder: Don’t click on REPLY in your email, as it won’t reach me

Thank you…