April Antics!!

Carrying on with a bit of alliteration in my titles!!

Derek and I have created a new ad for the (very few) publications I advertise in. I have just tried to upload it, but have failed aaah!! Will try to upload an image of one of the new Chivari banquet chairs instead.. Smudge is investigating!!

We are soooo busy, and have a few new members to our erection team now to cope with the hectic summer to come. Masses of events all over the country it seems, we will be very busy.

Meanwhile I am spending in anticipation! I am just about to purchase a lovely Indian tent to add to the collection..pictures to follow soon. The 100 Chivari chairs are here and unless we hire more storage, I think there is room for no more new stock. Oh, apart from the 100 seat cushions that I am frantically sewing! They are so pretty (again, pics to follow).

A very exciting web site development, you can now highlight an icon on my price list and see a picture of the item. I am still taking photos of all the stock items, so images will be added all the time.

There is always work to do and the next job is to try and give a rough transport costs guide on the web site, not easy, but we will try! Thanks for looking, more soon....

March madness

Well, It's about time!!

I know I haven't updated my blog for ages, but that doesn't mean to say that there hasn't been frantic activity in Vintage Marquee land! I am in the process of purchasing many metres of matting, a dance floor, 10 lovely old rustic benches,100 lime washed chivari banquet chairs and several new tents!!

Hopefully later in the season I will have have some very pretty small pergola marquees for sale..just a new little side line I am planning!

Also there has been work going on designing new advertising (I really need to promote the company locally as we seem to be delivering marquees all over the country this summer, but have very few bookings in Bath!).

We had a wonderful two weeks in India and I now have a very sweet canvas market stall which will first be seen at the Vintage Fair in Bath at the end of March and then in Frome in April at the Vintage Wedding Fair.

Yaaay, I have managed to upload an image again!! This is John, David, Floss, Ruby and I tidying our store shed!!

January 2012

Happy New Year!
I now have a new Mac (very scary!) and am just learning how to use it. I would post a picture or two, but can't work out how to AAH! Still, I can at least update my blog and let you know all that has been going on in the happy world of Vintage Marquees!
We have had a major tidy and sort out of our stock room, so all is looking much more orderly now. The end of last season was just mad, and all our stock was in and out in such a frenzy, it is great to feel under control at last! Good to do a stock take too (always useful to know how many tables and chairs I have!) and to start re-taking all my library photos. The plan is to have a comprehensive library so that every item on the hire list can be highlighted so the detail can be seen (e.g. just how rustic the trestle tables are etc).
Some exciting new contacts...I have teamed up with Russ who organises the vintage nostalgia show in May at Stockton Park in Wiltshire. (www.vintagenostalgiashow.co.uk) That should be a fantastic event for all vintage enthusiasts. Also in April I am exhibiting at the vintage wedding fair in Frome (www.discovervintage.co.uk).
We are looking into buying a few more marquees, so hopefully we will have one large enough to accommodate 100-120, the most popular size for weddings it seems!
Until next time.....

Hellooo

hello there!
I have neglected my business terribly in the last month, so no blog updates, very slack, but with good reason!
We rolled directly from major wedding work (Jo and Xavier's amazing wedfest! ) the first weekend in September (not to mention Ali's lovely pub garden wedding and Miles and Jennifer's wedding and Henrietta's party for Marco, all just before (an I'll timed, but lovely) two week holiday!
Then we had three days to pack, clean and move house! We moved back to Biddestone (lovely) about a month before the cottage was really liveable! So we have had an interesting few weeks. With some stress and much work it is finally feeling like home and at last I am ready to get my sewing machine out and start curtain making., yippee!
Another handicap work wise has been the death of my laptop! It has totally thrown me! The iPad is lovely...but! So I will make the giant leap to a mac (I think!) v scary. It will probably take me years to get used to.
But I have made some new friends and great contacts through my plans and purchases for the cottage....trying to source woven Kashmiri fabric to cover a sofa, I have met Sanjil who I think will help us with our research into having bespoke marquees made.
Purchasing rugs for the lounge, Wayne, while spraying stain protector on the carpet has said he can also waterproof my old marquees!
I have not been entirely neglectful to Vintage Marquees, I have made a small purchase of another 40 of the lovely old folding chairs. I am always adding to my stock, but our season's end has coincided with much work this year on the home front, so we need to have a major sort out of our storage unit and a major stock take too. I really have no idea how much of anything I have now!
Lots of work on the Web site planned too. (brace yourself Derek!) with a picture library of the hire items if we can make it happen!
So a huge thank you to John, David, Rodders and all the great uni boys who have helped us through the summer. It has been really hard work, but good fun too and we have met so many lovely people and worked at so many unique events.
Lots of bookings and enquiries already for next year, so looking forward to a dynamic 2012.
We have a new home phone number 01249716119, and of course the email address is always a good way to contact me.
Less waffle next time x

11pm seems to be blog time!
Our last really hectic day of the season today! Wool!

Bev, Daisy, Holly and had to be up at 6.30 today to travel to Harptree Court near Wells.
The event was Jo and Xaxier's wedfest! Jo combines exuberant creativity with detailed organisation and created a wonderful mini festival for their wedding celebrations. The Brixworth was bedecked with decorated lamp shades and old photo frames, candle lanterns covered with butterflies and strings of old photos. We filled huge hampers with wonderful picnics and guests sat on picnic rugs or at trestle tables. Jo's mum made lovely gingham runners for the old trestles ( I must see if she wants to sell them!). The vintage marquee was the 'hedgerow bar' with galvanised baths full of chilled wine and cider. I wish we hadn't been working so hard, we would have had more time to admire everything! But I will try to post a few photos next time.

We are somehow going to go away on holiday tomorrow!! But before that John has to get back from Bath (he has gone to get Daisy who doesn't feel well.. Obviously something she has eaten!!?) then tomorrow there are four tents to dismantle before the hurricane winds arrive!
I hope that during our absence (at it has to be said, the trickiest time) the rest of the carpeting will be finished in the cottage, the decorating will be completed too, the kitchen will be made, the kitchen floor finished...(am I a little optimistic?)

Being unfit parents we are leaving a 21yr old, an 18 yr old and Daisy (15 or 20, depending!) and I am actually feeling very guilty about it. But it will be fun and games when we return, four days of frantic house packing and cleaning and then we move into the cottage. Which incidentally will have no cooker, one sink (the tiny corner one in the girls bathroom!) and a fridge in the shed!

But come October, well, the end of October, let's be realistic! Life just might be settling down to some sort of normality!
one small parting fact, Vintage Marquees has provided tents for 43 events this season!!!
I feel I have earned my new iPad which I am playing on now!

September 2nd, can you believe it!!??
And we have two more hectic weekends, then just the odd booking or two this year.
A few catering events over the winter and lots of planning and web site updating for next year.
Since the last post I really can't remember what I've done!! Mainly spun in circles between cottage, tents, and general chaos!
Some lovely events though...We had Freya and Victor's wedding which was very special. A fabulous bohemian event, complete with a stunning yurt which made our beautiful Big Top look rather ordinary! Every event is so exciting and so special. Freya and Victor cleverly covered all angles by having a tea party (provided by yours truly!) followed later on by their own home cooked curries etc and eaten in the yurt with everyone being very chilled on the floor cushions etc. It all worked really well and the Big Top (meant to be a bit posher!! than the others) has never looked so ethnic, with Indian wall hangings to boot!

The following weekend I provided about 80 sets of vintage china, table cloths and wedding favours for Laura's wedding in the Abbey Gardens in Malmesbury. I was washing and sorting china for the rest of the week!

The photo shows the pretty wedding favours, small heart shaped soaps in organza bags. There really is no end to our talents!!haha!

This weekend we migrated to Amersham in Buckinghamshire (the longest drive I have ever done!!) Very brave!! My mini was packed to the gills with Bev, Daisy and I, as well as 120 chocolate brownies, several hundred cheesy biscuits, pate, cheeses, lantern crooks, etc, etc! Purdy organised an extravaganza of a party for Charlie and Becky who were 21 and 18. An absoulutely amazing party in their totally stunning garden. Cleverly I forgot the camera, but again, the Big Top did look fab, expecially late at night with all the lanterns lit and fairy lights twinkling around the pool...

Sadly there is always the slight thrill when I actually remember my password to sign on to the blog!! Little things!!...Well, my manic summer might just be nearing its end now...phew! I have 7 more events (and the small matter of finishing work on the cottage and moving in) in the next 3 weeks, then THAT IS IT!!!
Already I have such an exciting (and indulgent..and expensive!!) project planned.. I have this idea to have a corner sofa made and cover it in kelims! I have found Shakeel who sells his beautiful Kelims from Kashmir and next week I will be working with Anne from the Sofa Workshop in Bath and cutting the fabric for this very exciting sofa!!!(This I hope will be followed by much curtain making etc, etc, oh joy!!)
But on the work front, Shakeel might just have a friend in Jaipur who might help me organise major marquee production. This is the next plan. By early 2012 I hope to have a sales page and be producing pretty traditional style small marquees for sale. Do drop me an e-mail if you would be interested in prices and have style preferences.
Another small update to my ever expanding inventory of hire items. I have now aquired 10 vingageish deck chairs and 9 candelabras. Also two wrought iron chandeliers to hang from the roof of the marquee!! More thrilling new additions to come!