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“There
will not be a magic day when we wake up and it’s now okay to express ourselves
publicly. We make that day by doing things publicly until it’s simply the way
things are.”
Tammy
Baldwin
For
more info and to make a booking:
Turtle Bay Newcastle |
Caribbean Restaurant & Bar - Turtle Bay UK
I’m very pleased and proud to say that this blog post is in collaboration with Turtle Bay Newcastle – the venue for my best-friend’s Wedding Warm-Up! To determine where to host it, we – the Best Man; Jesse, and I made some enquiries and in talking to Turtle Bay Manager; Abbie, about a booking, they allowed us to come to the restaurant early to decorate the table etc and gave us an extra half an hour at the table (typically you’re given 1.5 hours at your table) in return for some mentions on I’m NOT Disordered and on my social media (@aimes_wilson on Twitter and Instagram - please check them out for the videos from this event!). So, I’ve put together this blog post which is basically a little ‘treasure trove’ of memories, photos, advice, links, and ideas…
Memory #1: When It All Began…
Around two years ago – maybe a bit less – my best-friend
Jack introduced me to his new-ish partner, Spencer, at a meal. When Spencer
left for the bathroom, Jack told me he would be proposing on their six-month Anniversary.
Whilst I immediately knew some people would be unsupportive and would question
the speed of taking that major step and making such a big commitment so soon in
their relationship, these certainly weren’t thoughts that I had. At all. I was
just aware others may have them, and I didn’t want for that to end up upsetting
Jack – or Spencer – in any way. In all honesty, all I want in life; is for the
people I love to be happy. I want them to feel they can be 100% themselves with
me and for Jack to have confided in me (especially something that around only
five others – who were mostly family – knew at the time!) was absolutely a true
honour!
Jack and I still laugh at this memory because when
Spencer came back from the loo, I just had to sit there knowing this enormous
secret, having this awareness that an enormous life event was about to happen
for them both, and being completely unable to say a thing! Now, this is hard enough
for most people, but for a blogger?! For someone who has literally built a
career basically from being open and honest and talking about areas of life and
experiences for over 2.6 million people that might arguably be deemed ‘too personal’
by others…? Of course, it was bloody impossible to not sit there with this very
stupid expression on my face – the one I make when I’m having to bite my tongue
and I’m dying with excitement about something I really want to say but – for whatever
reason – can’t!
Idea/Advice #1: The Venue
Fortunately, for Jesse and I, Jack actually
had a little record of restaurants and bars he’d heard good reviews about and wanted
to visit in Newcastle so we didn’t have to try too hard to think of somewhere
to host the ‘Wedding Warm-Up!’ It also meant we knew for certain that it was somewhere
he’d wanted to come to and – this is especially important when it’s a
particular cuisine e.g. Caribbean! Like, that’s not a type of food that is
always popular, so it’s even more important to ensure the person you’re hosting
the party for, would like that type of food too! So, if you’re hosting for
someone, I’d recommend – if you don’t already know – sneakily asking if there’s
anywhere the person wants to visit and hasn’t been yet or if they have an
entire list of places too! Access to that list could provide inspiration for
venues for numerous occasions!
To book at Turtle Bay: Turtle Bay Newcastle |
Caribbean Restaurant & Bar - Turtle Bay UK
The Dramatic Gift Bags:
Tips & Mistakes!
These gift bags have literally been – or at least
felt like! – my absolute, personal challenge for MONTHS!!!
So, Jesse and I went halves for everything, but because
he lives further away, I had everything delivered to my home so it would be
easier to take them to the venue and so, I was solely responsible for actually putting
the gift bags together, as well as decorating the table...
Our first mistake here, was that we picked out a number
of items for the gift bags and including actual gift bags, without knowing or
having in mind a real colour scheme or agreed aesthetic for the wedding… So,
when that was established – we had to rethink almost everything we’d had listed!
However, in talking about this, it’s also only fair
to recognise the tips that’s come from this – we actually used the Wishlist
function (for tips and directions/instructions on using this: A
Quick and Easy Guide to Creating and Sharing Amazon Wish Lists - Techlicious)
on Amazon here, and it was in a way I had never used before, so I was pleased
to have thought of it and happy that it actually ended up working out so well… What
we did was, I picked out a ton of things for the gift bags from amazon.co.uk (it
was mutually agreed that this was the best site for good value for money in
terms of buying multipacks or like, bulk items) and I added them to a Wishlist
(which I granted Jesse access to by adding his email to it), and then Jesse vetted
things and we worked together to really whittle the list down to the final
items…
Our Actual Amazon UK Purchases:
Team
Groom Wristbands – these, we didn’t use the Groom To Be band, because there
was only one, so we just put one of the other wristbands in each gift bag
Maid
of Honour Sash – for me!
Groom
to Be Sashes – obviously got two of these!
Heart-Shaped
Tea Lights – these came in a pack of 50 so every gift bag had 5 each
Words
of Wisdom Advice Cards – I thought that these were a cute little idea to
make things interactive and so that Spencer and Jack had some super, thoughtful
things to come away with!
Heart-Shaped
Lollipops – these were a pack of 30 so everyone got 3 each!
Stag-Do
Accessories Set – believe it or not, it was cheaper to buy this entire set
than just the Team Groom badges (which is all we wanted from the set!)
Mother
of the Groom Sash – for Jack’s Mum, who came to the party!
Pink
Pens – these were really a necessity because of those Wisdom Cards, and we wanted
people to fill them in at the party so that no one would go home and forget
about them and struggle to get them back to Jack and Spencer
Thank
You Cards – these, we’d thought were like actual cards with an inside and
an envelope so Jesse and I had planned a message to write in each one but they
were actually the size of business cards and were just blank on the one side of
them and had no envelopes so we ended up sticking the stickers we had made via Vistaprint
(I’ll talk more about these next) on the blank side of the cards as a bit of a ‘branded
signature!’
Bubble
Wands – just something a big fun that we thought could make for some cool
photos!
The
gift bags – originally, we had all blues picked out but after some more,
top secret insight into the wedding aesthetics that Jack and Spencer had come
to decide on, we changed things to focus on pink! They ended up being really
big too – especially for the price! – and so we ended up buying additional
things to fill them… when, really, we should’ve just bought smaller bags!
Best
Man Wristband – for Jesse!
Heart-Shaped
Shot Glasses – had to get something like this, didn’t we?! I had actually,
originally tried to put a sticker on each of these but with them being
heart-shaped, there wasn’t really a flat surface for the sticker to lay on!
‘Naughty’
Straws! – another fun bit: lots of people actually ended up using theirs at
the party which was a good idea because it meant some photos featuring them
too!
Heart-Shaped
Sunglasses – again, a fun one that helped create some lovely photos at the party!
Glowsticks
– don’t get me started on these bloody glowsticks!!!! They didn’t come with the
connector on them and there was 100! So, I was putting 10 in each gift bag and
as I was putting the connector on each one, I ended up snapping about five of
them and they started lighting up straight away! So, a few people only got 8 or
9!
Small
Nail Files – these were fun and came in a pack of 20 so everyone got 2 each
and I made sure to mix up the designs so that no one got two the same.
Under
Eye Patches – we thought these were a funny little addition too that were a
bit different and something everyone would need tomorrow when they’re hungover
and look like death!
Flowerheads
– these were for sprinkling across the table and we actually ended up getting
two packs of these because one pack didn’t look big enough and Jesse and I
agreed we’d rather have too many than not enough and we had to consider them
covering a table for ten! My Mum then also had a genius idea for repurposing
them which Spencer and Jack are going to do so we picked them all up for them
to take home with them afterwards.
Heart-Shaped
Confetti – these were interspersed with the flowerheads on the table and
again, we got two packs and we actually did end up with too much of these, but we
had the perfect amount of the flowerheads, and they were a lovely mixture of textures
and colours for the table too!
The Logo/Stickers
Jesse and I decided to create a Facebook Event Page
for the Wedding Warm-Up so that we could communicate with everyone attending in
one fell swoop and weren’t having to send individual messages to each person
etc. it also allowed us to do a ‘poll’ post on the feed where we had people declare
which part (there was another bit after Turtle Bay) of the Warm-Up they
would/could attend. In creating that Page, we knew we’d need a profile photo of
some sort, so I used my absolute favourite comms and marketing design tool: Canva,
and designed a logo! I did the blue floral that – like I said – had been our
original aesthetic but Jack and Spencer liked it (even after focusing on pink!)
so we kept it.
For the gift bags, I used Vistaprint to print
sheets of stickers of the logo (I opted for the ‘custom cutline’ so that it was
cut in the line that followed the design and not just a straight-forward square
or circle. They were also very inexpensive – especially because we only wanted
20 so that we could do two stickers for each of the 10 gift bags and, like I
said, we ended up putting one on the blank side of each thank you card and then
– what I didn’t say was – I then put one sticker on one side of each of the
gift bags too and gave the spares to Jack and Spencer in case they were
creating some sort of memory book or scrapbook about the Wedding or could repurpose
them in some other way.
You can buy/create some stickers yourself with your
own design on Vistaprint: Custom
Sticker Sheet Printing | Vistaprint UK.
Wedding-Themed Conversation Starters
Luckily, it turned out I’d actually met everyone
already (there was a couple there who turned out to be Jack’s Neighbours, and
they had been at the Engagement party!), but I thought I would include this
little section in the blog post because my Mum and almost Step-Dad had met very
few of the people there. And I think not knowing what to say to new people and
finding a conversation starter, can actually be a real cause of Anxiety for a
lot of people and can often lead some people not to enter into a situation or
event where they might have to do that…
ü How
do you know the couple?
ü When
did you first meet them?
ü Are
you more excited for the ceremony or the party after?
ü Have
you been to a wedding at this venue before?
ü How
do you know other people here—any familiar faces yet?
ü Do
you like dressing up for events like this?
ü What’s
your way to recover after a big celebration?
ü Have
you tried the food/drinks yet—any recommendations?
ü So
far—best moment of this party?
My Outfit
Top (currently reduced!): River
Island dressy vest in black | ASOS
Skirt (unsure if exactly the same!): Pieces
high waisted puffball mini skirt in black | ASOS
Thoughts on the Venue:
I’ll be honest, I’m not the most experimental
person when it comes to food! I like what I like! So, I was nervous going to a Caribbean
restaurant, but it was where Jack wanted to go so that’s what mattered. The
actual venue was lovely in terms of aesthetics and décor! It was really trendy
with a ton of good spots for some aesthetically pleasing photos and reels for
Instagram etc! I had mac and cheese, but it was a bit spicy for me, so I stuck to
the sweet potato fries – which were unreal! – and my vodka and coke – which was
well-made too!
Afterwards, literally everyone said they’d had the
best time and had loved the gift bags and my almost Step-Dad asked if it was a
weight-lifted and I hadn’t even realised until that moment but yes, I’d actually
been quite stressed and nervous about the whole thing and that something would
go wrong or someone would be unhappy in some way! So yes, really relieved and
100% calmer now that it’s gone well and I’m just so so so grateful to all the
amazing staff at Turtle Bay for their loveliness and for their help in making
it such a success!
Please
check out the social media for Turtle Bay Restaurants too, give them a follow,
and let them know you came from here!