End of the season

Wow!! The end of the season! Yesterday we put up the Brixworth in Surrey for the last hire of the season. And what a season it has been!! A few facts and figures which quite frankly amazed me when I totted them all up...
Nick has driven over 5500 miles delivering and collection for Vintage Marquees this season! He has probably been involved with about three quarters of our bookings, so that is only part of our mileage totals!
We have done twenty three weddings, twenty one parties, seven country fairs, village fetes and vintage shows and I have hired out nine lots of items when the hirer has used other marquees (shock horror!!)
Of the parties, there have been three 18th, three 21st, five 40th, three 50th, one anniversary, two christenings, one 80th and three hires just for a party!!!! And I have worked at eleven of the events mostly catering and working with my girls waitressing and helping to run the show!

This is the pagoda, not a great pic though.

Now for a few months of consolidation before the next season! There are lots of new photos so major web site up dating to be done. I would also like to liase with some local wedding venues with the aim to reduce our mileage next year. Also on the marquee front, I am hoping to buy a 40' x 60' old canvas marquee this weekend, so we would be able to accommodate approximately 200 guests in one marquee!! I also very much hope to find a 30' x 50' marquee. Sadly the Raj was not made quite to our British standards and would not withstand the constant hirings our tents cope with. So I will be selling it I hope. Just call if you are interested! I also have three pretty pergoda tents which I have imported especially to sell. Just call for details!

catching up

I can't believe we are half way through August and have survived the trials and traumas of our soggy summer!! There have been highs and lows this season so far (more lows I think though ). From dragging muddy sodden coir matting across waterlogged fields that are too wet to drive our vans onto, to having to drive round in circles hunting for venues when we have been given the wrong post codes, to trying to launder mountains of filthy table cloths (soaking them in Vanish in the bath!!) ..the list goes on.

Then there have been disputes...big sigh...This is all new to me, this is the first year that there have been 'issues'. I have had several clients who have not accepted liability for damaged goods and therefore I have ended up loosing out. For this reason next years bookings will be accompanied by signed contracts and I am going to have to ask for a refundable damage cover fee so I don't have to send endless  fruitless emails trying to chase payments. I have been too busy and really don't want the hassle of small claims courts. In fact I loathe any unpleasantness and just want to give a great service and have lovely happy customers! (therefore it hurts more when my trust and hard work are ignored and debts are not paid)

Also I will not be sending goods for hire. This I was persuaded to do for Claire in North Yorkshire. With a full address, the delivery company failed to deliver the goods, and somehow I am deemed liable for the items not arriving!!

Now on to brighter things!! Firstly lovely Chris and Gemma who had their wedding reception in our Big Top marquee last May have just had a little baby boy, so HUGE congratulations to you two!!
The second bit of good news is that the Raj marquee is now on home ground!! The container has been released from customs and we are due to collect the tent next week! Very exciting!

And equally exciting..we have almost finished organising our new storage facility. This is wonderful news!! We are moving from a big barn that we had really grown out of (I keep buying more tents!!) to a fabulous space which consists of a big barn (again!) for all the poles, tables and chairs, then a lovely clean room for all the canvases and a third room for all my frippery (vintage china, churns, garden games, lanterns, urns, glasses, cutlery, table linen and so the list goes on!). It is a fantastic space and at last I will be able to invite clients in to look at all my wares!!

till next time and maybe a photo of the Raj!!

Wow! how about this!!
Jo created this ad for her magazine 'Pretty Nostalgic' I love it!
Now for a quick catch up! Another hectic week in marquee land!! A wet wedding in Kent, a (by the sound of it) fabulous boozy party under the Big Top in Corsham, Wilts and a very soggy celebration for British Waterways under the Brixworth in Devizes! Next week we have a wedding, an 18th birthday party and two christenings!

more tomorrow..perhaps...

Wetsuits and wellies

This was the new theme for Nat and Anna's party. So apt given the sopping summer we are having! Amongst all my other paraphernalia Anna hired brollies and hung them from trees but luckily their guests only had to use them to go home! We are struggling valiantly on, the weather making hard work of it all. But Vintsge Marquees (along with all things retro) seem to be increasingly popular and we are struggling to keep up with demand, having about four events on every weekend! Tomorrow we are off to Devizes, erecting a marquee and skittle alley for a British Waterways fun day next to the canal! Then back to Corsham to put up the Big Top for a 50th birthday party, while Nick, Lloyd and Caspar are off to Kent to put up marquees for a wedding at Swarling Manor...we do get about!! And we might yet be famous!!two photo shoots in one week!! We have just collected one of the Vintsge marquees from lovely Pearl Lowe who is writing an article for the Times style magazine, and this week I delivered our little Joey tent for a photo shoot for Country Living magazine. We have an ad in the new Pretty Nostalgic bimonthly magazine...all great, but I have absolutely no clue when we may appear in any of the publications!! Ho hum!!

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!