Langdale's Lavish Food Frenzy

Even when its an after party, relish the celebration!

Names: Sally & James from London

Date: Aug 2021 - Spots of sun but a lot of rain

Venue: Langdale Village Hall

Catering: Stonehouse Smokery

Bar: Flair n Funk

Photographer: Tom Jeavons

Music: The Distance & Wedding Jam

Furniture & Lighting: Eden Event Hire

Others: Mountain Goat

In Brief:

Sally & James married near their home in London before bringing their nearest and dearest to the epically beautiful Langdale Valley.

A party was created in the village hall as the central point of a weekend in the Lakes. Every guest got to experience adventures in the area cumulating in a knees up. The hall, although quite small, we brought to life with stunning lighting and potted plants, loads of them.

The food and drink was a huge feature too. A bar popped up serving tasty delights including cocktails. The food included a spectacular feast with pit roasted meats and awesome hot and cold sides from Stonehouse Smokery. Makes my role that much more enjoyable being indulged with these treats!!

After the main the guests had huge cheesecakes then a smorgasbord of locally produced charcuterie and cheeses. It looked and tasted AMAZING!

Food can really make or break an event as I truly believe we are ruled by our stomachs happiness! What do you remember most about an event?

The weather made this an interesting day too. It poured. I mean really poured. Torrential. It didnt stop us though! The couple braved it for pics and the crew got a drenching taking down the lean to. Worth it!

Luckily every guest was made prepared in the couple website beforehand. The Lakes have to be filled somehow right?! Rain doesnt have to ruin a wedding. Make it fun and memorable!

Kind words from the couple:

What was your vision for the wedding and party?

“We had our church service and a formal garden reception in London so with our celebration party which was a week later in the Lake District we really wanted to have a different atmosphere so that it really felt like there was a reason to do it all twice. The celebration was much more informal but we still wanted it to feel special, good food, good drinks, good music, good times.”

What advice would you give others planning a village hall celebration?

“Village halls are great, they have really good facilities often a big kitchen, good toilets, they’ve got good character and they’re at the centre of a community. One of the reasons we chose our particular village hall was that it was really in the thick of a valley community, the community post office is in there and the ladies who manage the bookings and finances were lovely to work with. The hall we chose doesn’t have weddings in there every year (I think we may have even been the first in recent memory) so it required a bit of vision. For us wasn’t just about the venue, it was the location and atmosphere - we had to keep that in mind when visiting and planning what we could do with the place. The charm was that it was a proper up and running village hall, it’s not going to be a polished wedding venue - but that’s the reason we wanted it, it felt a lot more authentic.

When planning your village hall event:

Know what you have to accept and what you can divert from when it comes to decor - I think we took it as far as we could without framing out the whole place in drape. Covering parts we didn’t like would only draw more attention so we focussed on bringing the atmosphere in other ways, which brings us to...

A big white walled room is a lot to work with. We brought in a black backdrop for behind the band and festoon lighting to bring in the walls and ceiling, we added clusters of sofas and rugs to soften the space and create areas for people to mingle. The trestle tables had potted herbs on them to add some height and a nice fragrance. And the dance floor, well that was the whole room so there was no avoiding it!

Seating: specifically on the seating, we had trestle tables for eating at, but not enough for everyone to sit down at once as we wanted to keep things informal and not a big moment where everyone sat down for dinner. What we did do was bring in some sofas and stools for people to gather around. There was one moment when my mother-in-law and sister-in-law were perched on stools at the bar having cocktails spun for them and they said it felt like they were in a proper bar - atmosphere tick!

Outside: in the Lakes it's essential to make sure there’s a cover for your outside area. We went back and forth on this and finally got one - and of course it tipped it down on the day so it came in useful!”

How did Annabel help in the run up and on the day?

“Having Annabel's experienced mind as part of our wedding team was essential to us. We were pretty hands on in the planning, but we’d never done this before and we needed someone to keep us on track, make us think of the things we hadn’t and also provide some independent counsel in the months in the run up when we didn’t even know if what we had planned would even be possible (thanks pano). On the day we didn’t have to do a thing, Annabel was there making sure everything ran smoothly and our guests had everything they needed!”

Would you recommend Annabel to others?

“Yes absolutely!! Annabel is amazing, experienced and calm presence who guided us through what was an anxious but exciting time planning our wedding celebration!”

Would you change anything about your events?

“Nothing! (Well maybe make it less humid and rainy on the day? But we were prepared for it, so it doesn’t matter really).

Really thank you so much for all your help and support on the day, but also in the run up. SO many unknowns and we really appreciated your support and counsel.”