A perfect retreat!

Recently, Rowley and I were invited to stay at The Old Swan and Minster Mill in the Cotswolds. Now owned by the De Savary family, these gorgeous old buildings have been sensitively and beautifully restored and with some modern features to suit our desire for home comforts, it is the most wonderful retreat for a country house party, a wedding weekend or simply a night away from city life.

We were met by friendly, welcoming and unpretentious staff who showed us to our room before inviting us for cream tea, our room was lovely with complimentary local beers, fruits and a decanter of home made sloe gin! The uneven floors and expanse of history blended perfectly with the modern shower and flat screen TV to ensure our stay was perfect. A cream tea with butter at perfect temperature may seem a tiny thing to comment on but attention to detail is what this place does best, thoughtful and customer focused is what sprung to mind at every stage of our visit, including the penguin hot water bottle to warm our toes at bedtime!

Amber De Savary spent the morning showing me around officially and talked me through the plans for the Spa and the Great Hall, this will be built over the Windrush River and will have a glass dancefloor so revellers can watch the water under their feet! As we checked out after a long relaxed sleep, a wonderful breakfast of locally sourced produce and a walk through the country lanes, I bumped into famous entrepreneur and owner of the Old Swan and Minster Mill Peter De Savary who was a joy to chat to, he told me some amazing stories about Madonna's wedding in Skibo Castle which the family owned at the time and of a golf club wielding Japanese business man who thought his hot water bottle in his bed was an unwanted animal visitor!

Our stay here will be in our hearts for a long time, I cannot say enough how welcome and relaxed we felt, Rowley told me it was the nicest place he'd ever stayed in and I tend to agree. If you have a big guest list and not sure what to do with all those distant relatives, halve the list and book everyone here for the weekend, get to know your guests again and spend quality time with them. We think weddings should last longer than a day and this the perfect place to do it! Call us if you want to know more about our stay, I'll be promoting this venue well as it's truly wonderful and a breath of fresh air in luxury retreats.

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The Royalist in you

Come on, admit it, you are excited ... the dress, the shoes, the cake, the posed balcony photo .... am I right?

Not everyone reading this can remember (or want to) the last royal wedding in Britain. Even if you can this one seems nicer somehow. Maybe it's because they are young, hip, headstrong or maybe it's because it is Diana's first born and (most of us remember his birth!)

Even those who claim the only exciting thing about the 29th April is the day off must be wondering how Kate might scrub up (not that she needs much work to scrub up!) it's a chance to have a street party, celebrate being part of an ancient institution that is The Royal Family - even if it's just for one day.

If you are thinking of having a street party make sure you follow our top 5 tips to a successful traditional knees up to celebrate the wedding next month :

1 Bunting - plenty of colour and don't forget to include a few union jacks

2 Tea party food - sandwiches, scones and tea cakes (we're British don't you know!)

3 Tea - plenty! Hot and strong and keep it topped up

4 Music - Good British classics, get your dancing shoes on, it's a celebration after all!

5 Fun - it's a day off, in the sun (hopefully) and an excuse to actually like spending time with your neighbours, involve young and old and enjoy!

Tell us if you are having a street party - maybe even send us an invite! I'll be chatting to Radio Solent's Katie Martin on the day's events so do please listen out (turn your radio up at the party!).

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Postie for a day!

Just a short one as it's Friday evening, busy weekend ahead and a night of comic relief to be enjoyed ... but I wanted to share this. There is a growing worry that at weddings some cards are going missing, sometimes by staff and sometimes by guests (shock!)

So why not keep them safe and add a bit of style to your gift table by adding one of these to your purchases list? They can be personalised and after the wedding you can use it as a keepsake box for all those little items you want to keep afterwards! I love these and they are not expensive.

http://www.daisymaycollection.co.uk/

Children are welcome

But they must remain seated and silent at all times ...

This is an actual a sign at our local pub, a lovely country local which we do not frequent for the fear of our 4 year old needing to express her love for quavers or (heaven forbid) our toddler should want to tell us in detail about her impending trip to the bathroom.

What to do with the little people at weddings is a sensitive subject, surely the parents will look after them? Not entirely a reliable assumption, given the uncanny knack many parents have to abandon all sense of control over their offspring at the sight of champagne and a room full of relatives.

My personal pet-hate (besides David Dickinson) are childrens entertainers, ok ok so there may be some good ones out there (please prove me wrong!) but many are not the answer, it's not their role to actually care for your child but just to entertain them, they cannot contain them only suggest they join in, for an hour or so.

So what's the answer?

A Wedding Creche, a good one. Run by qualified and professional
child care experts. They can be there all afternoon, care for any age child and entertain as well.

To me this is the perfect solution and here is a favourite of mine:






Their Website


Get in touch with them soon and say I sent you on the road to promising your little guests a great wedding day!


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A nice treat?

So today I found out a friend was having a difficult time and it made me want to help, or at least send her something that might give her a small smile. It got me thinking about what we do for our friends and if we indeed have time, we sympathise or empathise with them and some of us go out of our way to help on many levels, with busy lives and lack of spare cash this can be hard and we are all guilty of perhaps forgetting those in need (and of course lets not forget it's Red Nose Day this Friday!)

So my thought today is if you had a little bit of spare cash that you could use to cheer someone up, what would you do and why? If it was me I would send a friend flowers every Monday or send a cleaner round to give them a much needed hour or two off the housework (although not sure if this will be taken the wrong way!) or maybe take them to a Spa for the day or out for dinner, but then sometimes the little day to day tasks are the ones that can get us down. Maybe I could order a veg box for them for a few weeks or maybe send them a snack box through the post once a month ....

Then I thought, it doesn't have to be anything that costs money, maybe I could go and visit someone I haven't seen for a while or offer to babysit for them whilst they have a much needed cinema trip. Maybe I would leave a box of homemade biscuits on their doorstep or send them an anonymous 'hello' card through the post, do their filing if in the office with me or even offer to walk the dog (although I have a problem walking my own dog!)

So what would you do? feel free to test any ideas out on me ;-)

If you have a friend or client who is finding it hard to cope with the pressure of organising a wedding, or maybe your daughter or sister is planning hers and you wish she could take the actual wedding day 'off duty' and enjoy it - then do something nice for them and book a wedding planner for the day or a few hours to take the pressure off? We at Isabella Weddings are here to help and want to any way we can.

Just another Manic Monday

So how was your weekend? I had a chance to down tools a bit and enjoy some good family time, the summer is approaching fast and our brides are getting excited about the closeness of their special days.

Of course one lady in particular is feeling the pressure no doubt, our nations sweetheart Kate Middleton, I am so excited about the day and what better way to remember it then to buy some commemorative memorabilia
such as these from John Lewis :





Tell us if you are having a street party, we'd love to come along!

Lastly, after being asked about our recent photo shoot, here is an example of our very serious shoot with Mike from Meonshore Studios, I can't tell you what we were laughing at!


More later ... :-)

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Cake verdict!

Lovely samples, these guys are on our favourite list for sure!

We tried Vanilla, White Choc and Cherry, Choc Fudge, Coconut with Passionfruit and Lemon Zest with Rose Petal Jam.



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Mobile blogging

Hello! I'm testing out my 'mobile' blogging, so I can keep you up to date with what's happening whilst I'm out and about.

I've just received some fantastic cake samples from Maisie Fantasie so am off to enjoy them with a cuppa!


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Location:Hampshire

Kate's Shoes? Maybe!

Maybe she'll wear these by Christian Louboutin - bit bling for a real Princess?

BBC Radio Solent

So yesterday was my latest visit to BBC Radio Solent, I was on the Katie Martin show at 1.40pm (you can listen again here Katie Martin 11th March) and we were chatting again about the Royal Wedding. 50 days to go and everyone is excited - aren't they? I know I am, they are a funky young couple and not so stuffy as some previous Royal Couples (sorry!), they seem to want to be involved and show their independance with their plans which is refreshing and lets hope they have a damn good knees up afterwards! I can't wait to see the dress, the shoes, the styles .... it is so nice to have a British Celebration to enjoy and smile about given the sad news around at the moment.