Of Balls & Chains...

The silly season has started, it's Autumn and the wedding fairs are with us again.

Here is a list of Fairs I will be attending for anyone wishing to come along;

7^th September, Commissioners House Chatham.

14^th September, The Valley-Charlton FC, Charlton.

20^th September; Dorton House, Sevenoaks.

28^th September; The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood.

12^th October; The Holiday Inn (Black Prince) Bexley.

19^th October; The Kent Showground, Detling. This one is the biggest show that I am aware of in the UK, Bigger than the 'National's -at the last count there were 225 exhibitors!!!  We expect, if it goes the way it normally does that there will be over a thousand brides visiting the show and many of them will be waiting before the show opens at 10:30. All these shows fall off after lunch so there will be less of a crunch between 2:30pm and 4pm (when it closes!). There will be at least 6 of us toastmasters there for you to choose from

26^th October; Sundridge Manor, Sundridge Park (Bromley).

25^th January 2009; Brands Hatch Raceway- (the John Fulston Centre).

Should any other fairs become available I will re-post this list. See you there then J

My Apologies for all those who regularly check out this blog to see what's been going on in my world of weddings! There has been so much going on that I have had little time to catch up with my blogging! My last blog was back in December... just where does all that time go!???

OK, it's not that I haven't been doing weddings, there have been lots of them, but I do have other irons in the fire and with all that's going on with economic situation it meant I just didn't have too much free time. I still don't! But the blog must go on. I will do what I can to update the weddings I have done thus far this year and I am starting with what for me is the best wedding I think I have ever done! This is not something you will hear me say often... I have never attended a 'bad' wedding there is simply no such thing and by the same token when people ask "what's the best wedding you've ever been to?" the reply is always the same "The one I 'm doing now!" This particular wedding doesn't stand out for any one particular reason, it really was everything as a whole and while I enjoy every single function I do I had a magnificent time at this one. And it's not as though I had an easy time of it!

Sarah Thayne and Ben Pike were married in the OBE Chapel, St Pauls Cathedral London at 11am on the 19^th July. This is not something just anyone can do, in order to be able to have a service here you must have a family member who has received an MBE or above (OBE, CBE, KCBE etc.) Hats off then to Sarah's family who have no less than three OBEs! It is truly an amazing place to be married in surrounded as you are by many famous names in history – Alexander Fleming, Henry Moore, Arthur Sullivan and of course Nelson, Wellington and Wren to name just a tiny fraction!

I do not normally attend both the church service and the reception, I usually make sure all is ready at the reception venue for the party's arrival but here we had some very special requirements and my 'Sheepdog' skills were in demand. So no car for me today, to the 'Smoke' on the rattler and then a cab from London bridge. I straight away found two very smart Ushers waiting for the wedding guests at the entrance to the Crypt on the south side and we got our heads together on the immediate battle plan. We would have to direct guests to the chapel via a network of corridors into the ceremony and then back out to the chapel gardens and the front steps of the cathedral afterwards for pictures. Never mind distinguishing Guest from Tourist (actually this was easy, the guests were SO smart!J) and keeping the tourists out of our photo's the real task was making sure everyone embarked on the two double-decker London buses that were to take all the guests to Blackfriars pier where we were to board a boat that would ferry us all to Greenwich. Bens Groomsmen, Dan (BM), Greg, David, Warren Alex & James were all Brilliant - Real Pro's 

That's Dan with the Champagne bottle in his hand... at this point there were no glasses!

The Bride & Bridegroom had their own stylish carriage of course! This was where the first of the problems raised its head... Timing just had to be precise! The boat has a 15 minute slot at pier at each end, not a minute more or less! 115 guests and the bridal party all had to be at the pier for the boats arrival at 1:15pm so that it could depart for 1:30. Late on the Friday evening Ben took a call from the bus company saying that they were not going to comply to the agreed timings and would arrive 15 minutes early, load passengers and drop them immediately whether they were all on or not, "take it or leave it!" As if that wasn't bad enough on the day the bus that the Bestman and I was on took the 'scenic' route from St Pauls via Tower Bridge... not the best of ideas really, considering the Saturday lunchtime traffic combined with all the horrendous roadworks going on around the city at the moment! Dan pointed out the tall-masted boat heading towards the bridge as we began to cross it, if we'd have been a minute or two later the bridge would have been opened for the boat to pass and we'd have missed our boat by miles! As it was the journey to Blackfriars, normally a five minute walk from St Pauls, took nearly half an hour! This wonderful Professional company can be found here at thebusclub.com

While all this was going on one lovely young lady was busily 'powdering her nose' at St Pauls and totally missed the buses! Thank goodness for mobile phones, she found out where we all were and caught a black cab to the pier. After some worrying we did in fact arrive in good time to watch the 'Erasmus' lay alongside and we were soon all aboard. Our photographer David Walston took advantage of a couple of poses before boarding and we were very soon on our way to Greenwich and the Painted Hall within the Royal Naval College. It was to take 2½ hours up and down the Thames before alighting at Greenwich Pier so what were we to do?... OK, break out the Champagne of course and a lovely buffet lunch, how civilised is that! Perfect weather too. So we disembark at Greenwich and head for the Painted Hall at approximately 4pm where there is another champagne reception under the colonnades, I am told to prevent guests from entering the hall prematurely so as to heighten the 'WOW' factor and we eventually find our way in at 5 for a 5:30 wedding Breakfast. There is a great military and architectural connection between St Pauls and the Old Royal Naval College, both were designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Nelson Lay in State for three days right where we dined before being taken to (and buried in) the Cathedral. Even the cake had a slightly military feel about it, if you haven't guessed already it was made by the ever popular Choccywoccydoodah .

The hall was saturated with the heady aroma of chocolate from this cake! What a setting to have your wedding breakfast in... superb! After cutting the cake and getting on with the speeches it was then up and out of the Hall down the stairs, along the 'Chalk-walk' and into Queen Mary's Anteroom for the real party! Jazzbomb provided the Atmosphere and by now the guests were well up for a boogie... must have been all that shampoo! J

Now, here's a top tip courtesy of Ben; Ben did not particularly like the choice of wines he was given by his caterers at the ORNC so opted to pop over to la Belle France and buy his own and pay the corkage. Leiths at the ORNC charge corkage by the bottle so Ben bought MAGNUMS thereby halving his potential outlay (a magnum being two standard bottles!) J it's the little victories that make life worth living!

It was a huge day for me, This has to be the longest day I've had working at a wedding. I caught the 09:15 from West Wickham and by the time hailed my carriage (the old Ball and Chain of course J) was not home much before 23:15. I had an absolutely fabulous time and enjoyed every second of it. All the various different people brought in to help with the day were tremendous (with maybe 1 exception, ding-ding) and I only hope they all thought this old Toasty was up to it too!

   A cracking picture of me doing what I do best! What a great backdrop too! Thanks to David Walston for the picture.

I have recently been set upon by a number of lovely ladies wishing to meet with me! It does my ego the world of good and it's not at all spoiled by the fact that they will most likely be bringing their fiancé's with them!   This is, of course to meet up before booking me to assist at the festivities surrounding their big celebration and check me out to see if I really am that good!

I have no objection and will travel a long way to secure a booking but it did make me wonder about advertising those fairs that I'll be attending and what a marvellous opportunity they are for meeting me... I have never promoted the fairs here before and I have no idea why. So here they are- the next few wedding fairs that I will be attending in the spring season. If you have already booked me then do come along and say hello again and if you haven't already booked me then come along and do so!

• February 3^rd The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood, Kent
• February 10^th Dorton House, Sevenoaks
• February 17^th The Commissioners House, Chatham Historic Dockyard
• February 24^th Acacia Hall, Dartford
• March 9^th The Holiday Inn (Black Prince) Bexley
• March 30^th Charlton AFC 'The Valley' Charlton.
• April 6^th Ashford International Hotel Ashford
• April 27^th Kent Showground, Detling

Click on each date to go to the organiser's website to find out more. If you need any further info you can always drop me a line

Some of these shows are pretty big affairs; they are all high quality and bursting with the best services in the industry. At the Detling show for instance, there are over 90 exhibitors and all of them of the highest standard! These are just the fairs I'll be attending, there are many others too and should I decide to do more fairs I'll post them here as I go. The Autumn season of fairs start in September, I'll post those too as soon as I confirm the dates.

It's the 22^nd December and I still have not been shopping... I've got another wedding!

Dean Stevens and Emma Packham at the very lovely National Liberal club otherwise known as Number One Whitehall Place or the Whitehall Place Hotel. It's fabulous here, real quality and high standard of service and cuisine, as you might expect in the heart of London and still good value for your money!

It's unusual for me not to take the car to a function but this was definitely one for the 'rattler'! Hop on at West Wickham station and hop off at Charing Cross and no more than a 5 minute walk either end, £4 ticket and no worries about wheel clamps, parking or congestion charges! Had to be done. But what about the 120 guests??? Dean & Emma have it sussed... two big red busses delivered everyone to the church and the venue!

I've never been to this venue before so arrived nice and early to get a feel for the place and to find out how the staff like to work. I was actually in time to see the bridal party set off to the church which is a bonus for me J The weather was a touch more comfortable than last week but you still didn't want to stay long outside and once the guests all arrived our photographer John Zammit wanted only the bridal party on the embankment gardens allowing the guests to go in and get warm. We shot everyone later on the wonderful Marble spiral stairs. A magnificent staircase it is too, being the largest unsupported spiral staircase in Europe.

The Wedding Breakfast was being served in the Gladstone Library, a magnificent room with chandeliers, tiled columns and millions of books... a scene spoiled only by the fact that someone left a cupboard door open which gives the game away, see the pic.

There were one or two little problems occurred throughout the day which were overcome reasonably easily although caused a few worries. The ushers came in to their own here and were well up to the potential tasks coming their way. This did prove unnecessary but well done anyway lads! At almost every function I go to there seems to be someone who has some kind of connection with me, even if it is just that they've seen me at another wedding or some such. This event however was quite remarkable in the coincidence department! Jeff, the Bridegrooms dad, is Chef at another venue I go to frequently The Beaverwood Lodge in Chislehurst. Most if not all of the guests I chatted to came from West Wickham and then there were at least three people who had seen me at other weddings which is rather nice. The best though is the connection I made with those gentlemen from Beckenham who I met previously in my Alter-Ego... I am a builder by trade and have cause occasionally to buy glass and or mirrors from a place in Beckenham called First Glass! My Goodness, they were all here and I was badgered mercilessly about my bartering and measuring skills! J Good job us Toastmaster/Builders are thick skinned. I am at least in a position here to exact a certain amount of revenge – refer to the dancefloor photo's. I'll be in the shop later for a nice Bronzed mirror for my bathroom, please have my top-toastmaster discount ready chaps! J

 This last Picture was taken from the Embankment just down from the hotel, you can see the Eye quite well from the hotel but only through the trees!

Again, What can I say. Another great wedding day bash in a superb venue, a lovely couple and their wonderful guests.

This lovely little Thanx  came in this morning (2 Feb) click the pic to enlarge... this will hopefully enable you to squint enough to take out the words!

Ten Days before Christmas, no time to do my shopping I've got a wedding... J

It's been raining all week but this morning the sun shines bright! Not brightly enough it seems as it is barely above freezing but this won't put people off. The Bickley Manor hotel in Chiselhurst is a great little venue and real good value for money. Nothing here is too much trouble.

Damian and his 'team' are ready to go and looking good, Emma is upstairs putting the final touches together on her ensemble just to ensure her timing is spot on to be 20minutes late! J Looking gorgeous, as all you brides do, she was stopped on the staircase for some photo's by Vivien Woods then swept into the Ottoman Room for the Civil Ceremony and Swept back out again 20 minutes later a married woman. Reception drinks were served in the Garden room and a fire lit in the reception Hall to warm us up prior to and upon returning from photo's in the garden... it had to be done and done quickly as it is now late afternoon on the 15^th December. The 21^st of December is winter solstice and the shortest day of the year – the light is going to disappear soon so we had to get on with it. I have to say that Emma and Damien's friends and family were brilliant, it was not warm! They all dutifully piled out, were shot and ran back to the warmth of the bar with great efficiency! J

The reception into dinner went very quickly and I paraded the Bride and Bridegroom in to top table then immediately paraded them back up to their wedding cake so we could cut it pronto since it was going to be served as desert. The meal out the way the three chaps delivered their words of wit and wisdom to great waves of both laughter and tears. My job now is to remove everyone from the dining room back upstairs to the bar and garden room so that the staff can spin the room round and get the dance floor set up for Mary. Mary is the young lady in the pictures with the gold tinsel around her neck and was a demon on the dance floor! If I heard it correctly she is a sprightly 91!!! And trust me here, the pictures don't do her justice, that girl can move!

Again, I had a ball, this was another good crowd and a great day. Here are some pictures, just look at that sunset! 

Via Email on New Years Day;

Hi Nigel

Hope you had a very good Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We wanted to express our thanks to you for being the best toastmaster we could have wished for on our wedding day! Everyone said to us how wonderful you were, and you really made the day run smoothly and on time! You took a lot of stress away from us, leaving us to enjoy the day, and not have to worry about things!

I know that you took some photos, and wondered if you could possibly email them over to us, so we can print them off and add them to the albums we are making up.

Once again, thank you so much for everything!

Best wishes

Emma & Damian Corr

  And quite separately...

Hey Nigel!

Merry Merry and happy new year!

Hope you got some time off and had a good time.

Again thank you very much for all your help on our big day, everyone had a really good time, all the feedback we got from everyone was that it was amazing and we think the same.

I know all of us have said that. We were so glad that we took the decision to have you as our toastmaster, you really helped making the whole day just perfect and we cant thank you enough.

What's your home address and where do we leave the feedback for you as discussed? I had a look on your website but couldn’t find it!

All the best!

Damian