I did not have money to burn, but I wanted to make my second son Joe's 18th birthday one to remember. All I had was a small field next to the house, but I knew someone with disco gear who owed us a favour, I could borrow straw bales, but I couldn't afford to hire a marquee in case it rained.
That was a problem.
As luck would have it, the local marquee company (jftmarqueesandtarpaulins.co.uk) were moving out of hiring small garden sized marquees and they had an old one for sale outside their unit on the local industrial estate - I could just about afford to buy it and thought I might be able to sell it again afterwards, so that was that problem solved.
Needless to say the party was great, loud, raucous, crazy and embarrassing - a total success! The marquee was rolled and folded away and I promised myself I would sell it in the summer, the next year.
Fast forward three years (I still had not found a buyer for the marquee) My first son tied the knot at the register office in 2020, he could finally got the whole family and all his friends together for a reception and a blessing... but money was a big problem still...
"Mum, have you still got that marquee?"
Absolutely! and JFT had got another matching one they wanted to sell too, that was enough space for over 100 guests! This time we called in all our favours and got the disco from Craig Burton of Whitchurch, the bales from Mr Groom at Quina Brook, an actual steam engine from Brian Allison steamsupplies.co.uk in Whixall, two old shop counter display fridges from Muckleton Meats muckletonmeats.com in Minsterley, we built a bar in the garden and laid out the field in mulch paths thanks to Josh Higgins Countryside Services joshhiggins-cs.co.uk, we bought trestle tables ex-hire plus 100x folding chairs, we bought plates and lanterns from folks getting rid of their wedding stuff online, soup tureens, cutlery by the kilo, scoured the charity shops for vintage crockery and crochet blankets, the Shropshire WI ladies wi-shropshire.co.uk lent us a tea urn and made bunting and lots of amazing CAKES.... we got everyone to bring food and drinks instead of gifts etc.
OMG what a wonderful wedding it was, some of the most beautiful and heart-warming speeches I have ever heard and a gorgeous blessing from the couple's best friend....
...and then one of the guests said...
"You know, you should hire this stuff out - these marquees, this furniture, you know people would love that."
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