OK, the last one!! Here are Gloria and the girls at the Vintage Hair lounge in one of my little Jester tents at the Vintage Nostalgia Show. They did a roaring trade and made everyone really look the part!!

Now on a roll (and importing CD's on to my Mac at the same time, what sort of techno whizz am I?? joking of course!!) last pics and news for today. Just an image of our Big Top all decked out for Jubilee teas. Vintage Marquees had to step in and provide major canvas coverage at the last minute. Actually our village greens looked really pretty and with fantastic community camaraderie, everyone had a brilliant day and an awful lot of cake!! We are lucky to have two great pubs in the village and major sessions in both have resulted in many us feeling a tad under par for a day or two. We even had a beacon in the village! Ian Smith mowed a wonderful walk up through his fields, lit with candle lanterns as we walked to the top of the hill (so lovely, especially when full of cocktails courtesy of Jim and Louise at the pub!)

Here is my latest purchase (well, apart from another 30 old wooden trestles that I bought today!) This is my gift cart! Available for hire to put outside the wedding marquee..very pretty I think!
I have also bought a hanging floaty thing!! A sort of hanging net tent that is a popular addition to garden parties with children.

How about that!! Not only have I imported the right image, I have also managed to move it to the correct place!! WOO!

Well, it is June 7th, almost mid summer and it is like winter! It is cold and it has rained constantly today, and now gale force winds are battering the windows. Holly (our middle daughter,19 and lucky!) is on holiday from uni and has just spent her first day in Costa Rica.. all great apart from the stinging sunburn as it is SO hot!! mmm, I think the balance is wrong here.. why are the middle aged parents slogging away in wet, rainy England ...because we love it haha!

Well, it really is blog day today, there is just so much to say!! And now to attempt to load more images!!
Aah, here is my pretty market stall. She is now available for hire and perfect to go over a cheese or drinks table. This was her first outing at the Vintage Wedding Fair in Frome and now she has gone down to Devon where she will be at the Decidedly Different Wedding Fayre in Tiverton on 23rd June. This event is run by Tracey and team from Blue Fizz Events and should be a great day.

sad

To all my lovely clients and companies, buddies and friends... I am sad to have to post this blog, but from now on our policy is going to have to change a bit.. Of course we always try to do our utmost to be as helpful and accommodating with all the many changes of plan as each event unfolds...of course this often means more time and effort and cost for us!! Although I try to have accounts settled before every event, often there are outstanding amounts that I have to chase. But we are a small company and working on small margins and recently I have been let down by a client abusing our goodwill. So it is time to toughen up and so from now on we will have to have all payments before the event. If ever this seems unreasonable (for example if we sit down in the middle of a field and refuse to move a marquee until we are paid extra to do it!!)..this is the reason why!
Here is the email I had to send..

Hello Karen,
I imagine you have decided not to respond to my contact and are not planning to pay the balance owed for your wedding hire.

I could go down the route of involving my solicitor etc, but have neither the time or energy.

instead, with great sadness I have decided never now to trust to goodwill and to believe that by putting ourselves out for our clients that they will appreciate our work and pay us accordingly. From now on we will not provide goods or services without full payment first. In your case that would have meant your sister in law giving the boys the full amount in cash before they moved the marquee to the second chosen position. I will be detailing this experience on my blog so future customers understand why, reluctantly, we will not be offering such a generous and helpful service in the future.

Caroline Penny