Ok, so I am not sure how to start this. All About Me asked if I would be interested in writing a guest blog about my experiences of organising a wedding. Of course I said yes. What bride wouldn’t want to talk about her own wedding? And plus I guess it is a sort of stress therapy sharing all of my experiences with you all whether you are a Bride, Groom or Event Organiser, I hope you can gain some amount of amusement, useful information or ‘what not to do’ from my Blogs.

So I will start with a bit of background information. I am marrying my best friend Sam Mallows. We had our gorgeous baby boy Austen last October and Sam proposed to me shortly after we brought our little bundle of joy home for the first time.

The past year has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for us and our families. When I was 7 months pregnant with Austen I discovered that I had a brain tumour. My surgery was set for 5 months after I gave birth, so on Mothers Day this year, I went into hospital for my first craniotomy. Thankfully my brain tumour was benign and easily removed, so we continued with our wedding preparations shortly after I got out of hospital.

However everything took a bit of a turn for the worse when I got a brain infection, then had a seizure and various other post-op complications that I won’t bore you with now. Anyway, the point is, the wedding preparations have taken a bit of a back seat, and now I am on the road to recovery again, I am full steam ahead.

The only thing that we managed to get organised before I went in for my operation was the venue. There was not really any question about this. Both Sam and I wanted a bit of an alternative wedding. neither of us are very traditional, and we don’t particularly relish the idea of having the spotlight turned on us for the whole day. So what better way to divert attention than making the wedding venue breathtaking! Yes we could have gone down the hotel route. There are plenty of perfectly lovely hotels and wedding venues in Cheshire to choose from. However, we had seen pictures of Tipi weddings before and both of us absolutely loved the idea.

Samantha from All About Me with Austen

We headed to an Open Day at Chester Lakes in Doddleston where All About Me, Marquees and Events were showcasing their Giant Hat Tipis. They had the tents decorated with thousands of fairy lights, really pretty bunting, a dance floor, wooden benches and tables, tea lights, fire pits, a chill out lounge and a bar. It was everything we could have asked for. The fire pit just sealed the deal for me. We had decided on having a winter wedding but I was concerned that it would be a bit chilly in a tent in the middle of a field. But there were heaters and the fire pits gave the tents a lovely cosy, homely feel.

A massive plus point for us was the the All About Me Team were there and answered every question that we had. Sam, James, Dave and Andy were all so easy to talk to, and Austen also gave them his seal of approval which made our minds up for us. They checked their availability and we booked our wedding for November 8th. They can put up the tipis pretty much anywhere we want, but Chester Lakes seemed like the perfect location for us. Just outside of Chester, with lots of hotels nearby for guests to stay in.

Tipi Fire Pits

So now we have a venue, and a date. We just need to organise food, music, invitations, decorations, the ceremony, dresses……………………and we only have 13 weeks left!!! We must be mad. Thankfully Samantha from All About Me is proving to be my lifeline. Will let you know how much progress we have made next week….