Emails don't always convey personality. My chats with the venue seemed to imply that the owner was less than flexible, and less than friendly. How wrong could I be?
She was lovely. The main issue was that my clients had booked me to provide their desired version of a day, and it was impossible to provide it there. Would have worked elsewhere, but not there, mainly due to space issues.
So, I arrived early, set up the wonderful Prime GO, a Maui GO, and linked them with an XVIVE. Look, no wires.
That already got the venue onside, as well as the visual aspect of a white Maui 5. Sadly, my efforts were fairly pointless, due to the venue layout, but it did mean that I got to chat with guests as they mingled round the bar, plus I got a Roast Beef dinner as well. Very nice, and much appreciated.
The batteries in the Prime didn't do the full four hours claimed, which doesn't amaze me, but I could get mains to top it up easily. The XVIVE made it by the skin of its teeth, but I had a second one on standby. By then we'd got to room turn round, and that was "interesting", mainly due to me trying to pinch time, and space to get set up quickly. Until I'm set up and ready, I'm just a bundle of stress. Once set up, I'm as chilled as can be.
We moved into the limbo between afternoon meal and evening disco, and finally it was time for cake cut and first dance, which we managed easily enough. With an 11am wedding, and an older bride and groom, many of the day guests left around this time, and the evening only ones arrived to fill the void. There were many very young children, and thus many other early departures. The night never really caught fire, but at the end ( half an hour early, and perfectly timed ) there were thanks and compliments from bride, groom, and many guests, so another one for the win column, even though it was hard won at times.