Free Don't Tell the Groom by Anna Bell Page B

going,’ says the woman.
    â€˜It’s just wonderful. Oh, look at the ceiling!’
    There are chandeliers! This place is so going to be out of my price range.
    â€˜Now, depending on how many guests you have, you can either have the long table – that seats thirty – or, for a biggerwedding, we can move it out and you can have round tables. How many guests were you planning for?’
    â€˜We did have a hundred, but I think eighty is more realistic.’
    â€˜Eighty is fine in here; a hundred gets a little cramped for the sit-down meal. But for the evening anything up to one hundred and fifty is fine. Now, this is probably where the stage would go for a band or a DJ.’
    A swing band would go really well in here. It would just fit the whole tone of the place. Maybe we could have a vintage wedding. I could put my hair in rags the night before to give me a curl and I could get a vintage wedding dress. A vintage
couture
wedding dress. I’m sure that would be lots cheaper than a brand new dress.
    â€˜Are you OK, dear?’ she asks, interrupting my thoughts.
    â€˜Yes, sorry, just planning it in my head.’
    The woman is smiling at me and nodding.
    â€˜Of course, if you want anything like a string quartet during the wedding breakfast then we have the little balcony up there. It also makes for a wonderful photograph if you get the photographer up there and your guests down below.’
    I’m nodding like the nodding dogs I hate. I bet it would also make an excellent point to do a bouquet toss from. Although it could be a bit lethal if it hit someone from that height.
    â€˜It’s perfect,’ I say. ‘But I’m on quite a tight budget, so I think before I get too carried away we should talk costs.’
    â€˜OK, that’s very sensible. Take a seat.’
    There’s something unnatural about sitting at the table. I don’t know whether it is because we’re in a museum where you’re usually barked at if you even breathe on an object, or whether it is because it looks too old and beautiful to disturb. But either way I’m terrified of sitting down, even though the woman told me I could.
    â€˜Right. I’ll just get straight to the figures, then.’
    For once in my life, I had listened to the little voice in my head that sounds an awful lot like Mark, and I’ve brought a notepad and pen. Getting it out, I feel like a journalist as I hold my pen over the pad eagerly.
    â€˜The room hire, which is this room and the museum grounds for the day, is £3,000.’
    Hooray, this sounds like it might be in my price range.
    â€˜Then you’ve got the catering. We’ve got a number of different caterers you can choose from, which range from a cheaper option to the more expensive.’
    â€˜Can you tell me roughly what their costs are per head?’
    â€˜Yes, the cheapest option is about £35 per head and the most expensive is £50.’
    I start to take deep breaths, because this is actually affordable. Now, I admit maths has never been my strong point.That’s usually where Mark comes in handy. But I think we may be able to afford it, if we don’t buy anything else and we have no entertainment and no wine. But people would like that, right? It could be a theme wedding, the theme being no fun.
    If only I hadn’t gambled away the money then we could have afforded to have had a lovely venue like this which is half the cost of the other places and with tons more charm and character. I know that I can’t go back in time and change what I did, but right now I’m furious with myself.
    â€˜Are you OK?’
    The woman has a very concerned look on her face. I’m not sure whether she can see actual steam coming out of my ears.
    â€˜That all sounds very reasonable. It’s just I’m still not sure that we’re going to be able to afford it. I don’t suppose …’
    No, I can’t do it. I