Arriving from the church in a Rolls Royce Silver Phantom, Kristy and Marc Bowles are all set to enjoy a sumptuous wedding breakfast here at Fallowfields Country House Hotel.

Marc whispers sweet nothings to a demure Kristy

Fortunately the rain has ceased, so a group photo can be taken - the professional photographer is up in one of Fallowfield's bedrooms, taking the phot down on the group.

Today's menu:

Crab infused risotto, lime and coriander oil, Fallowfields asparagus, egg yolk and spinach ravioli

Elderflower sorbet

Braised blade of beef, champ potato and creamed cabbage, seasonal vegetables and a diamond noir sauce

or

Morel and wild garic risotto cake fresh goats cheese and rosemary, seasonal vegetables

Lemon torte, raspberry sorbet

The wedding cake

Four of the gorgeous bridesmaids

Roy Austin, Toast master and Master of Ceremonies for the day.

2.35 Guest starting to arrive now and so the canapes are ready to go.

2.30 Getting close now to the arrival of the bride Kristy so the bubbly is being poured

2.03 p.m. Fabrice, our Restaurant Manger here for 5 years [always a stickler for detail] gives a little last minute instruction to Julie [Our Maitre d'] of 4 years

2 p.m. The flowers have arrived and the tables are now set

1 p.m. Message from florist - flowers are on their way - some of my people will miss their break to await the florist

1245 p.m. The tables are looking beautiful. We are all ready [our mis en place] is complete - however the florist has not yet delivered the flowers - not our problem but one feels somewhat helpess. An hour and a half to go, so let's keep our fingers crossed.

Well...it is 11 a.m. and hardly a storm but it is drizzling. The forecast promises the rain will have blown over by this afternoon - all well and good for Kristy and Marc who celebrate their wedding here in Oxfordshire later today. Part of the Fallowfields Country House Hotel team is here getting all set up for the day ahead.

Below we see the emerging trend to have colour coordinated sashes on the guest's wedding chairs. I love this as, it is not a particularly expensive option but does so much to set off the room.

Champagne is of course an important part of any wedding everywhere, and below glasses are being polished and set up ready to receive their celebratory contents a bit later.

Our kitchen garden has had a very good asparagus season this year.

A pork roast is being planned for later this evening and so the kitchen is hard at work baking fresh baps during the morning. We do not like to buy these in as fresh baked is sooo much better, and says something about the way we care about food and the quality of everything we do here.

We would like to thank everyone at Fallowfields for helping to make our day very special, it had been a long awaited day but well worth waiting for. From start to finish we were treated like one of the family and staying the extra day really made a difference because we were able to enjoy the beautiful setting and fantastic food and wine! The staff made everyone welcome and couldn't do enough to help throughout the day. We look forward to a return visit in the future.
 
Thank you once again for everything.
 
Tina & Ian

Wedding - Friday 26th February 2010

Dear James, Claire, Michelle, Fabrice et al

Having now arrived home, Vera and I would like to thank you for a splendid celebration last Saturday. Of course the weather helped but the quality of your food and service, and the splendid venue, made the day.

Without exception, everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Kind Regards

Fred & Vera 

 Our beautiful Bride today is Leanne, and what a day she chose for her wedding with us - one of the warmest days so far this year. Here we see Leanne at the garden door.

Taken from one of our bedrooms, looking down on our croquet lawn and our farm paddocks in the background. Here we see Leanne with her husband Keith and a fabulous couple they make too.

Leanne's two bridesmaids, Laura and Courtenay

Delightful table decorations - a superb centre piece for a wonderful meal.

Sunday 9^th May, Dr Evans and his wife Brenda celebrated with a Birthday & Anniversary Party Lunch for 71 guests.

They celebrated his 80^th Birthday & their 51^st Wedding Anniversary.

They called in to see me on Wednesday to say how pleased they were with everything.

They also told me they are going on another cycling holiday in France, which they have done for the past 10 years.

What a recommendation for keeping fit, I must get my bike out and dust it down!

Our congratulations to both delightful couples and very best wishes for the future.

Saturday , 8^th May, Bernard and his wife brought 46 guests to a Birthday lunch to celebrate Bernard’s ‘Special Birthday’.

He was surrounded by family and friends to make his day so special for him.

Bernard phoned me on Monday morning to say how delighted he was and his wife called in with a lovely card that afternoon.

We would like to thank everyone at Fallowfields for helping to make our day very special, it had been a long awaited day but well worth waiting for. From start to finish we were treated like one of the family and staying the extra day really made a difference because we were able to enjoy the beautiful setting and fantastic food and wine! The staff made everyone welcome and couldn't do enough to help throughout the day. We look forward to a return visit in the future.
 
Thank you once again for everything.
 
Tina & Ian

Wedding - Friday 26th February 2010

Dear Lynn,

We just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you for taking such lovely care of us on Saturday.

Both Bernard and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as did our guests.  We have received lots of lovely comments and thought it would be nice to pass them on to you and your team.

You will remember that we were collecting for the 'Air Ambulance Charity; we are delighted with the total amount of Five Hundred and sixty four pounds.

Once again many thanks, Kind regards from Edna and Bernard Coggins.

Dear Lynn, Fabrice and the Team,

Thank you for making our wedding day very special. We are so pleased with how it all went.  There were many compliments about the delicious food and the venue itself.

Kind regards, Sheila and David Roberts.