To recap our venue story thus far: we had had the ‘scary’ conversation with first hotel manager checked off the list, received an email to confirm he’d spoken with our new proposed venue, The Fowey Hotel, given a promise that the second hotel manager would contact us, and then we heard nothing.
I’ll admit, I was too busy trying to write my Masters’ dissertation to freak too much, but it was worrying all the same. Invitations needed to be ordered (we found out the day I was ordering invites that our venue was being sold), the 3 month marker was approaching quickly, and family and friends needed to start booking rooms/flights/trains, etc. There was pressure.
Now this is the part where I tell you how amazing Alex’s parents are: Alex and I are both in graduate programs in London, 4 1/2 hours away by expensive train ride from where her parents live in Cornwall, and where our UK wedding is being held. Her mom works in change agency and her dad is a CEO of a wave energy company, plus they’re remodeling the house. They are busy people. And still, they were the ones who followed up on The Fowey Hotel. Just over a week ago, they walked up their road (this time the hotel is about 30 doors from their house) and met with the manager, Andrea, to discuss the hand-over of contracts.
During their conversation, they ironed out the concerns we had about increased cost and the delights we had in the new venue. As it turns out, The Fowey Hotel was willing to honor our previous contract. They would:
- Keep the same (lower cost) corkage fee (12 GBP/bottle as opposed to 20 GBP)
- The honeymoon suite was ours and booked for
- No inclusion of the extra fee for civil ceremonies
- Strawberries/champagne/afternoon tea could all be provided at the previously estimated cost–plus this is a hotel which DOES afternoon tea as part of its draw for tourists (called a ‘cream tea’ in Cornwall for its inclusion of Cornish Clotted Cream–yum).
In addition to the stipulations of our previous contract, they would, at no extra cost:
- include two pedestal flower arrangements, if we wanted them
- would provide white chair covers for the ceremony seating
- re-arrange the dining room from the ceremony seating to table seating for the afternoon tea
Plus, they thought Andrea thought it was absolutely wonderful we were having a storyteller! (My dear, dear friend from Ireland, Clare Murieann Murphy, will be performing at our wedding!)
My soon-to-be in-laws signed the contract and paid the deposit that afternoon.
As my aunt in California wrote to me in December:
“The sale of the hotel in Fowey may be a blessing in disguise; a change in venue is do-able. You still have time; and really, the ‘happening’ is where you/Alex decide to say ‘I do!’”
And my aunt is so right. Luckily, this venue-getting-sold story has not joined the queue of other venue nightmares I have heard over the last month and a half. Instead, it has been a blessing in disguise. Alex and I now have a grander, bigger venue that will comfortably hold and accommodate all of our guests, still has stunning views of the river and English Channel, and we’ll have one of the best cream teas in town to eat our way through the afternoon. Take that wedding curve ball, and thank you for being so generous.
If you’re curious what this gorgeous hotel looks like, click over to their gallery!
So pretty! All’s well that ends well!
The hotel is beautiful! The “backyard” is going to make for some beautiful pictures.
I wanna do naughty things to your venue. Its THAT beautiful!