Hansley Beard

June and July and a bit of August– 2 and a half months in the life of an event planner!

People are often asking me “So, are you busy at the moment? Do you have any events or weddings coming up soon?”, to which I always reply – “Yes but I’m working on them now”. Event planning is a complex way of life that involves multi-tasking and versatility on a mass scale. Yes, the event or wedding may be on such and such a date but most of the actual work goes on beforehand and sometimes in the weeks and months afterwards too. Add to that the range of events and projects that may be on the go simultaneously and constantly overlapping in various ways, as well as the everyday tasks of trying to run a business, and you soon find yourself spinning lots of plates in the air. Luckily for me, I quite like plates!

So, I thought it might be a useful exercise to list some of the things I’ve been up to and who I’ve been working with in the last 2 and a half months. So here it is – a rough synopsis of 2 and a half months in the life of an event and wedding planner (but please remember to add all the emails, site visits, meetings and phonecalls that go with it!):

Outdoor Garden wedding:
Last weekend I set up, decorated and managed Alyx and Jonny’s outdoor marquee wedding in York. It was held in Alyx’s parents’ 3-tier garden which goes down to the river Ouse. We’ve been planning it since last year and has involved hundreds of emails going back and forth, organising the creative theme, decor items and purchases, generator, PA hire and outdoor lighting. We’ll be talking more about the wedding and sharing the photos from it, on the blog shortly….

Wedding Venue Search:
J and D were looking for an informal countryside rustic barn setting within about 1 hour of Sheffield. This sent me off looking at more barn and outdoor sites particularly in the Peak District.  Amongst those we visited were Beechenhill Farm near Ashbourne and Foxholes Farm in Bradfield. Foxholes is great as you can rent the whole site and cottages for the weekend and there are no restrictions as to when you need to turn the music off!

Beechenhill Farm is one of the most beautiful barn venues I’ve been to with strong environmental standards, gorgeous country views and near to lots of accommodation for your guests, inlcuding some on-site. The wedding ceremony takes place upstairs and then there’s room downstairs for your reception:

University events:
We recently partnered up with Valerie from Left Luggage Creative Training and Facilitation to run two events for Sheffield Hallam University. One was a guest speaker and dinner evening in Sheffield city centre’s Millennium Galleries:

Guests were entertained by the highly talented classical guitarist Andrew Clegg:

Flowers by Swallows and Damsons:

Lovely desserts served at the Millennium Gallery event:

The next event was a creative day workshop at the beautiful ‘countryside in the city’ venue Kenwood Hall Hotel in Nether Edge, Sheffield:

Both venues were brilliant and all the staff looked after us very well indeed!

Indian Kashmiri Restaurant:
In June we were asked by Azad’s, the new Kashmiri restaurant at Woodburn Road, Darnall, to organise flowers and decor for their opening night. Anna from Swallows and Damsons did me these wonderful arrangements in a very short turnaround time. Thanks Anna!:

Coco Catering:
We helped Coco Catering with the setting up and organisation at one of their Summer wedding barbeques at Whirlow Hall Farm, Sheffield:

40th Birthday Party:
‘E’ recently contacted me to organise her future 40th birthday weekend in the Peak District. This prompted me to visit some beautiful grand youth hostels and cottage complexes in the Peak District. It took me back to the days when I used to organise residential retreat weekends at venues and youth hostels around Scotland. Lots of people nowadays are opting for more informal and relaxed celebrations where they can hang out with friends and family and feel at home. I think this would be my ideal sort of party too!

Dessert Bars and Candy Buffets:
Enquiries to hire our candy buffet jars are increasing, so much so that we decided to buy some new stock and different sized jars and containers. I’ve also been working on some new design concepts for various events.

Breastfeeding Festival:
One of my friends contacted me for some tips and advice as she has been organising Britain’s first national Breastfeeding Festival which has been taking place this week, in Ulverston, Cumbria. We were able to help her look at the project plan, logisitics, venues, speaker and costings.

Historical events:
Our plans are progressing well for next year’s historical events with a circus twist, based around one of my famous Victorian relatives. Watch this space!

Creative Exchange:
We attended the Creative Exchange ‘Through the Looking Glass’ day tour of creative enterprises and met lots of new and inspiring creative people! Thanks to Rachel for the great organisation of a great day!

Reading:
For a bit of light relief I’ve been reading the novel ‘Wedding Babylon - The Confessions of a Wedding Planner’ by Imogen Edwards Jones which follows a week in the life of a wedding planner and is full of funny anecdotes based on true stories!

Check out my vintage blog for what I’ve also been up to in the last 2 and a half months on the Vintage Front!

Posted Sat, 21 Aug, by Jennie Beard in Catering, Celebrations, Corporate Occasions, General, Identity, Sheffield, Venue Decor, Weddings | 0 Comments

Creative Venue Decor ~ Vivienne & Matt’s Spring Wedding

We recently set up and decorated Vivienne and Matt’s wedding reception venue at Walkley Community Centre, Fir St, Sheffield. I worked together with Vivienne and Matt over a period of 6 months, developing their emerging creative theme and deciding how to bring these ideas into being in the practicalities of the room decor, ensuring it created not only the look that they wanted, but also the right feeling and atmosphere. Something that would be a reflection of them and also inspiring for their guests. Vivienne and Matt’s full wedding story will be revealed shortly on our main website. For now, here are Vivienne and Matt’s words about how we went through the creative process and lots of lovely pictures showing the final results….

“We’d heard of Hansley Beard’s work through friends. When we got in touch with Jennie and explained what we needed, she assured us that she could fulfil the brief. Jennie’s approach was firstly to find out all about what we wanted from the wedding, and about our tastes and ideas in general. Jennie is extremely good at asking questions to draw out our own thoughts and preferences. She could inspire our ideas with images and suggested props, without imposing her own style onto ours.”

“We realised that we wanted the decorations to reflect the freshness of springtime, and that green, white and pink would be our colour palette. Jennie would send us out on missions, for example to collect together fabric, pictures and items that we liked and we might want to incorporate into the design. When Jennie then drew all our paraphernalia together and presented our ideas back to us, we started to be able to really conceptualise the wedding decorations. We were delighted to see our ideas coming together and we knew we were on the right track. The next stage was to narrow down the ideas by deciding what we would actually have where, and how many we would need.”

“For instance, together we worked out we would need seven long tables, seven centrepiece trios of bottle-with-table-name-flag, light-jar and vase-of-flowers, all on top of a small central mat and table cloth. Jennie could hire us some of these props, and knew where to source the others so that we didn’t have to do the running around ourselves.”

“Jennie used recycled lemon juice bottles for the flags.”

“As we couldn’t use candles at the venue, Jennie came up with the idea of making light jars out of recycled glass jars, greaseproof paper and LED battery lights.”


“We used two different Amy Butler fabrics (Sweet Jasmine and Happy Dots) for the jam jar tops and also carried this theme through into the mat for the blossom vase, the basket linings and the photobooth backdrop. For the mats on the main tables we used a pretty lime coloured linen from John Lewis.”


“For the flowers we had vases of white ranuculus, green chrysanthenums, white and pink tulips and gysophilia made by Anna from Swallows and Damsons.”

“Our friend Susan also provided Jennie with a big bunch of may blossom for the buffet table vase.”

“Jennie made white tissue paper pom poms and hung them from the light fittings.”

“The flags had different street names on that Matt and I had lived on at different times in our lives and Jennie used lace ribbon on these to fit in with our theme.”

“Jennie’s vintage pearls collection were perfect for decorating our home-made cake and the delicate paper flowers matched my dress.”


“On the day of our wedding, we arrived at the venue shortly after our guests and the party was in full swing. The hall looked fresher and prettier than we’d ever seen it before – the white tablecloths reflected light around the room and the tall vase of blossoms brought the outside in!”

Photo credits:
Photos 1, 8 & 16 ~ Phoenix Photography
Photos 2, 3 & 9 ~ Jennie Beard
Photos 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13 & 14 ~ Dave Sutton Jones
Photos 12, 15 & 17 ~ Bea Marshall of Moogaloo
Brides Bouquet and Buttonholes also by Swallows and Damsons

Posted Sun, 04 Jul, by Jennie Beard in Spring Wedding, Venue Decor | 1 Comments

Cox and Cox Summer Sale!

If you’re looking for wedding and party decor items, then check out Cox and Cox who have just launched their Summer Sale! Here’s a few of the things we bought:

Posted Sat, 03 Jul, by Jennie Beard in Celebrations, Venue Decor | 0 Comments

The Wedding of Vivienne and Matt: Photobooth

We recently had the pleasure of working with Viv and Matt on their wedding in Sheffield. We’ll be showcasing more wedding images on here and on the website soon. For now, here’s a few photos from the wonderful photobooth!










Photos by Bea Marshall of Moogaloo
Fabric Backdrop: Amy Butler’s Sweet Jasmine
Props: Supplied by the Bride & Groom, friends and Hansley Beard

Posted Fri, 14 May, by Jennie Beard in Photobooth, Sheffield, Venue Decor, Venues, Wedding Day Management, Weddings | 0 Comments

Yee Kwan                                 Ice Cream & Sorbet

 
We recently went along to visit Yee Kwan at her ice cream factory in Sheffield and was lucky enough to leave with some tasty samples!

We asked Yee to tell us her story:

Why ice-cream?:

“I have fond memories of my parents taking me to the ice cream parlour in Atkinsons when I was about 5 years old. Me and my sisters would have to choose from a banana split, coke float or knickerbocker glory.  It was so exciting for me!  A trip to Rome with one of my sisters also inspired me, seeing all the wonderful flavours and combinations on display was amazing, the taste and texture was unbelievable. I think most people, particularly children love ice cream, it’s a fun business to be in.  I find it very satisfying for me to see my customers trying my ice cream and seeing their eyes light up and mmmmming and aarrhhing once they’ve tasted it.”

What makes your ice-cream different?:

“My far eastern, spice and fruity ranges are inspired from flavours of the far east.  I haven’t found another ice cream manufacturer that offers the range of flavours that I make. I make all my ice cream on order, so there isn’t vast stockpiles of it sat in the freezer. Generally when a customer places an order, I make it fresh for them that week and deliver it to them within 7 days. It is made in small batches, and the flavours are carefully added and blended by hand so I know that each batch tastes perfect.  My base mix is relatively low in fat and high in taste, the flavour of the ice cream is more prominent, more so than the cream and the sugar. The texture is very smooth and is similar to Italian gelato.  All of my ice creams are gluten free, with the exception of amaretto, biscotti and ferrero roche.”

Tell us more about the different flavours you make:

“My far eastern range has some authentic oriental ice cream flavours, such as black sesame seed, green tea and red bean. These are very popular in the far east.  One of my best sellers is mango & passionfruit ripple which is a great combination. I’ve been quite daring and inventive and played around with other exotic fruits such as guava and lychee, they work really well too, very distinctive flavours that are delicate and perfumed. My spice range has flavours such as cardamon, chocolate & chilli, cinnamon, ginger and star anise.

These work very well on their own as well as accompaniments to other desserts such as tarts and poached fruits. My fruity range is lactose and fat free, they are sorbets that are made using fruit purees so the flavours are intensely delicious.  The lime and lemongrass has freshly squeezed lime juice and zest added, along with pure lemongrass oil - very refreshing, it adds a real zing to your day!”

Is your ice-cream made from natural ingredients?:

“The milk and cream is delivered to me twice a week by MG Mosleys in the Rivelin Valley. I try my best to source all my ingredients locally. A lot of the flavours and ingredients I buy from the local chinese supermarket near Bramall Lane.  There are no artificial preservative, stabilisers or flavours in my products.”

What can you do for weddings and events?:

“I have a beautiful traditional style tricycle with a freezer box that is available for hire.
It can be filled with 3-6 different flavours depending on the numbers of guests you have. I can bring a selection of tubs and waffle cones and also provide a member of staff to serve your guests. There is also the option of having the trike in my Yee Kwan branding which is beautifully designed - a pretty balinese parasol with mother of pearl hearts and little bells makes us stand out.

I can also design an individual menu for customers that will have their names, details of their wedding, flavours on. This can be circulated to guests and it is a great momento of their special day. I also offer a bespoke service to all my customers. If there is a special flavour that they would like for their event I will do my best to re-create it especially for them.”

Can potential clients have a tasting with you first to choose flavours?:

“I am happy for people to come and visit me at my little ice cream factory for free sampling of my products, by appointment only.  I am conveniently based in the centre of town, just behind Devonshire Green.”

Any idea of costs for a wedding or event?:

“To give you an idea of cost - a wedding with 80 guests located within the Yorkshire / Derbyshire region would cost approximately £350 + VAT. This would include the hire of the tricycle for 2 hours, the ice cream, cones and tubs, all staff costs, travel costs, insurances.”

Which of your flavours would you recommend for a vintage style wedding?:

“Flavours such as turkish delight, lavender, violet and ferrero roche ( I know it isn’t vintage, but it’s a real hit for all those chocolate lovers). These could be served in tasty waffle cones or sandwiched between 2 waffle discs to re-create that retro style.  Some pretty decoration would be a must also, maybe some small pieces of turkish delight added, sugared edible flowers or crushed parma violets.  Your guests would never forget something so unusual and unique.”

You can check out more about Yee Kwan’s delicious ice creams and the amazing range of flavours available, on her website, at www.yeekwan.com

Looking forward to a Summer of delicious ice cream!

Posted Mon, 10 May, by Jennie Beard in Catering, Ice Cream, Weddings | 0 Comments

Ethical Wedding Day Tips:

10. If you’ve organised everything in-house, appoint a team of friends to sort the recycling (e.g. glass bottles) and take it down to their local recycling bins the next day. It’s so easy not to bother with things like this when you’re all tired at the end of the day, but if you organise it beforehand it’s more likely to get done.

Posted Thu, 15 Apr, by Jennie Beard in Ethical Weddings, Wedding Day Management | 0 Comments

Blush Cupcakes website is launched!

A few months ago we featured the wonderful Blush Cupcakes who make delicious cupcakes out of amazing flavours and all in keeping with the seasons!

Check out the new Blush Cupcakes website to see all the lovely possibilities on offer.

They supply cupcakes for weddings, parties and corporate events as well as for special gifts.

We particularly love the gift options and already have a few special people in mind who may be receiving Blush Cupcakes very soon….

Posted Tue, 16 Mar, by Jennie Beard in Cupcakes | 1 Comments

Photos from Madame Zucchini’s Valentine night

We had a fabulous time recently when we went selling chocolate treats from our chocolate basket to all the lovely guests of Madame Zucchini and her talented friends. Here she is in her various incarmations. See if you can also spot Lord Parsnip and the Molly Rogers! If you didn’t get chance to go this time round, keep your ears open and eyes peeled for the next hilariously funny installment coming up in July (not to mention more chocolates!)

Chocolates were from Cocoa
Images by Alice Hardman

Posted Mon, 08 Mar, by Jennie Beard in Entertainment, Sheffield | 0 Comments

Madame Zucchini’s         Valentines Night

There are still tickets left for Madame Zuchini’s Valentines Night!

Where?: Walkley Communty Centre, Fir St, Sheffield

When?: Friday February 12th 8pm.

How much?: £6 or £5 if you bring a vegetable!

Reserve your ticket on 0772 4655527

Hansley Beard will be there supporting Madame Zucchini and selling deluxe chocolates and sweets from
Cocoa

Posted Mon, 01 Feb, by Jennie Beard in Celebrations, Entertainment | 0 Comments

Wedding Day Management       Helpful Hints 8:

9. It’s the end of the night, you’ve all had a wonderful day and all you can think of is taking off your shoes and getting back to your room. It shouldn’t be your concern at this stage, but make sure you’ve delegated some people beforehand to oversee clearing up and ensure that everything goes back to the right place and the right people. It’s surprising how time passes when you’re having fun and so easy to mislay Auntie’s tupperware or that special cake knife that’s been passed down in your family! Of course the venue will usually take care of many things, but again make sure you’ve delegated someone from your party to check things off with them at the end of the night or the next day.

Posted Wed, 13 Jan, by Jennie Beard in Wedding Day Management | 0 Comments