With the assistance of perfect weather for a marquee wedding, it was quite a weekend! Charlotte and Ross were married on Saturday at St Martin’s Church, Bowness on Windermere. Before the ceremony, the groom and groomsmen went to the Ship Inn to watch the Lions triumph over the Aussies. After the ceremony, back to Belmount Hall for Canapes and Champagne, then into the marquee for the wedding breakfast. Asparagus rolled in smoked salmon, with Hollandaise Sauce, followed by Boeuf en Croute, carved by guests at the tables, with jugs of rich red wine sauce. Apparently the sauce (known in house as ‘Groovy Gravy’) was so delicious that one of the guests, who had been in the past a food correspondent for various magazines, drank the remains of the jug. Pudding was a choice between Jumping Jenny’s famous Sticky Toffee Pudding (simply the best!) and Aunt Grace’s Pavlova Meringue with red berry sauce and whipped cream, voted by a guest who is head chef at a local establishment, as ‘the perfect meringue – cooked slowly’.
Love the feedback!
Dancing and the evening party took place in the Indoor Marquee, although, as the weather was so beautiful, many people spent much of the evening wandering about in the grounds. With a couple of braziers burning, and the trees floodlit, it was a magical evening.
On Sunday, Charlotte’s mum Trisha had arranged a garden party, with a hog roast, to which she had invited 140 guests – a brave undertaking, to say the least.
However, the organisation was immaculate (despite a small crisis when a guest unplugged the power supply to the marquee – and the hog – so that he/she could plug in the television to watch Andy Murray in the Wimbledon Final) and the party 
was the best ever use of Belmount Hall grounds. There was croquet, badminton, and other garden games. Children were running around everywhere, whilst all the guests simply enjoyed a perfect summer’s day party.
A hardcore group of tennis enthusiasts (those who were brave enough) watched Andy Murray beat Djokovic. Union Jacks were waved, there was much cheering, strawberries and cream were served, and maybe a glass or two of fizz.
All in all, quite a weekend!
BELMOUNT HALL 
I was a guest at the wedding of Ross & Charlotte on 6th July
My comments are as follows:
No drinks on arrival had to ask didn’t get any canapés
Starter good
Main course A disaster| Cold over cooked beef cold green beans warm potatoes
Pudding good
One table had to wait half an hour for potatoes when meat was already on plate
Coffee should have been served on table after meal not in the room upstairs
Chris you should consentrate on being a host for the venue,
This is of the opinion of many at the wedding.
The staff had no direction |
Hello, ‘Anonymous’! Whilst reluctant to respond to comments from somebody who wishes to remain anonymous (because it must be assumed that the desire for anonymity means that the critic is not prepared to enter into a debate about justification for the criticisms), I would like to respond, as follows:-
1. After the event (and after he had received the final bill!), the bride’s father commented as follows:- “Thanks for your mail, yes it was a fantastic wedding and the venue could not have been better.
You even arranged the weather making Belmount look even more spetacular, a perfect location.”; “Once again thank you for putting on the most fantastic wedding. You could not have done more.”; “Once again many thanks for everything, we have had some lovely letters from the guests who thoroughly enjoyed themselves.”. I could not have asked for more!
2. Boeuf en Croute. “It is a challenge to provide perfect Boeuf en Croute for a dinner party of eight people, so how one provides it for ninety guests, I have no idea!” was a comment made to me by a wedding client only yesterday. At Ross and Charlotte’s wedding, as a result of a late start, and speeches between the starter and main course over-running, both of which aspects were outside our control, we had to hold the main course for almost an hour. As your criticism is the only criticism of our food after 130+ weddings at Belmount, what can I say but:- ‘you cannot please all of the people all of the time’.
3. Sorry if you didn’t get any drinks or canapes on arrival. Everybody else did!
4. Coffee. This was to be served in the marquee, but because of the delays (outside our control, but not in any sense unusual at large weddings), the decision was taken to serve it in the house, where the evening party was to take place. Otherwise, the evening party would have been further delayed – it would take an hour to serve coffee to almost 100 guests.
5. Our staff were highly praised, as usual.
Anyway, ‘Anonymous’, I do not know why your experience was so different to that of other guests (and we have had no other adverse comments in the month since the wedding), but I can only apologise, and invite you to provide advice as to how we can do it better!
I look forward to hearing from you further!
ATB, Chris