Venues: Fowey Hotel and Marina Villa

Yesterday was official round one of visiting possible wedding locations in Fowey. First up was the Fowey Hotel--Alex and my top pick from viewing them online (and, of course, growing up around them for Alex).

The walk up there was beautiful--just up the road from the Crisp house--and Candace gave us their wedding packet, showed us the restaurant and honeymoon suite. The Fowey Hotel just got their wedding license a few months ago so they've only had one wedding so far. We liked it, but feel like there are more downsides than up: only 70 people max, must book out all the rooms if we want an evening wedding, OK menu selection, and the room must be re-set for dancing later in the evening.

What we're keeping in mind: the honeymoon suite. The corner room has one of the best views in Fowey with a balcony for two.

Next up was the Marina Villa, where Andrea had already briefly spoken to the manager, James. We had a lovely chat with James, viewed the restaurant and balconies and got a little excited about the purple decor.

As Marina Villa is much smaller, we weren't too surprised that their maximum number of people was 40. Still, after witnessing J&E's civil ceremony (small, short and to the point) a smaller ceremony followed by a big party somewhere else could be a possibility. Also, we may be able to get a discount on room prices for guests in the nicest hotel in Fowey.

It is Fowey Regatta Week, however, so wedding ideas are dropped in between floral dances and carnival. We also want to look at a few more venues to see if we can find a place that'll hold our potential guest list of just over 100 people: Fowey Hall, the Yacht Club, the Sailing Club and the Eden Project. Ideas are brewing and hopefully we can have some chats this weekend about picking a venue--fingers crossed!

A Good Reason

Last week I wrote about how Alex and I have been dreaming about getting legally hitched along the Thames River at London's famous City Hall. I also wrote that it would take a very good reason for us not to get married there. Turns out there is a very good reason: London City Hall doesn't have a wedding license.

Alex & City Hall, before we knew we couldn't get married there.

This fact checking came about last week as I started a preliminary budget for our UK wedding. Alex was home and she was been interested to know how much 'the legal bit' costs. So we Googled it. Googled again. And then Googled some more trying to find any helpful information.

Finally, we rang the civil partnership number on one of the official London sites and spoke with a lovely lady at the Registrar in Islington (a borough of London) about our inquiry regarding London City Hall. After Alex explained that we meant the City Hall on the Thames, 'you know, the famous one,' she rang us back a few hours later, 'after extensive research' she said, to tell us that she was 99% sure that London City Hall didn't have a wedding license--i.e. we couldn't get legally hitched there.

Ultimately bummed, we still thanked her profusely. If our online research was at all telling of the bureaucratic mess of London wedding licenses, she'd been through a lot to get us that answer.

In the interim, Alex and I had changed modes and started looking at (non-legal) wedding locations in Cornwall to consider where we might hold a separate, more intimate ceremony as well as the dancing. Turns out most of the locations in Fowey are smaller than we had thought or been (in our heads) planning for.

As it is right now, we're left with lots of questions to be answered and without a clear picture on where any of this celebratory dancing may take place. Still, the woman at the borough of Islington was very nice (and they actually hold civil ceremonies at her office) and we've got time in August to look around Fowey for a place to hold the dancing. Since we both have intense loads of academic work at the moment, maybe putting off the big chunks of planning until then isn't such a bad idea. It won't stop us dreaming though...

Legally Hitched

(In a big, booming voice)
Behold, London City Hall:

Tower Bridge (left), City Hall (right)

On my way to a friend's house last night, I was keeping an eye out for my directional landmark, Tower Bridge--the world's *cough* England's *cough* most famous bridge (What can I say? It's not the Golden Gate.)--and had simply forgotten that London's also well-known, helmet-shaped City Hall is practically right next to it. I've seen City Hall many times before, but mostly from the opposite side of the river and I am usually in the midst of making some architectural joke about it. Last night, however, I just melted into mush and dialed Alex's mobile.

'Guess where I'm walking by,' I told her.

'Umm...London Bridge?' she replied from her study-induced state.

'City Hall,' I said.

'Oh! [but in that really cute adorable mushy kind of way] Really?' came her response.

'Yeah. I suddenly realized that might be where we get married...' I said.

Having talked about getting 'legally hitched' before the big party, Alex and I have so far come up with London City Hall as our ceremonial pick. Given last night's response, I think it might have to be a pretty good reason not to get legally hitched there, a picturesque wedding along the Thames.