Final Post (No. 139)

Today was about getting the final tasks sorted.

I popped down to the Post office to drop of the packages containing the wedding cake to all those not attending. Just my luck that it was the day when they had a major systems failure! The result was queues, queues and more queues! Anyway, mission accomplished and about another 100 or so people will get their slice of cake on Thursday.

John dropped in to transport all the drink and other bits and pieces to Kelmarsh Hall. It took two journeys – and he does drive a Volvo Estate!!

From our first post on Saturday, 17 July 2010, we’re all sorted now, and signing off - a mere 139 postings later. See you all at Kelmarsh Hall on Wednesday.

Thanks from both of us, in advance, to all of you who have got us this far – you know who you are, and we couldn’t have done it without you!

xx

Steve and Ann

86… 84

Johnny and Mel have had to pull out because of a serious illness in Johnny’s family.

Spreadsheet Challenge

Roger called me and observed that the food-choice spreadsheet, emailed to you all last week, is a little tricky to print because of the number of pages – it’s certainly not going to sit neatly in your DJ pocket!

I think the work-around is to go into ‘print preview’, then ‘setup’ and then faff around with the ‘scaling’ setting. I adjusted mine from 100% to 50%, widened the margins and got it down to seven pages (from the original 20-something).

Hope this helps!

If anyone else is struggling and can’t resolve it, let me know and I’ll try and help.

Bills, Bills, Bills!

Less than two weeks to go and the reality of the event kicked-in yesterday as we paid most of the outstanding bills!

That certainly took some of the romance out of it – still, it’s only money!!!!

Hen Quiz

Ralph and I spent some time today, working out how we'll run the Hen Quiz (ssshhhhh! - the girls don't know we're the Quiz Masters!)

Steve and Ann get a Title

No, not that sort of title!

I picked up the bespoke drawing of Kelmarsh Hall today from Joy, the Calligrapher. She has added some suitable wording at the top in grey ink - and in a font that closely matches the one used for the invitations.

Nice job Joy!!!

We’ll bring it along to the Rehearsal.

85… 86

That’s good news! Ann’s friend Nicki has got herself a fellah (Richard) and is bringing him to the Wedding!

Ribbons and Music

We popped round to Rosi’s on Friday night to take a look at the three ‘mock-ups’ of the Keepsake with a ribbon surround. One of the designs looked head-and-shoulders better than the others and we should have all ‘ribboned’ so you can see them at the rehearsal! The whole thing looks fantastic!!!

All the music requests are now in from the wedding guests via the web-form and it’s a really nice mix of (mostly) music-from-the-80s. Looks like we have over three hours’ worth.

Ralph will be busy compiling the MP3 playlist and we’ll be trying it out for volume at the rehearsal.

Thanks both!

87... 85

Anthony and Gill, (who did the printing of the outer for the wedding keepsake) have double-booked, and aren’t able to make it.

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.

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.

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!!!

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

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…