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Choosing the right kind of Christmas party for your organisation

I have noticed that Christmas cards and decorations are starting to sneak in to the shops in Leicester this week. It may seem a little early to some of you to be thinking about Christmas but knowing how much effort it takes to organise a Christmas party you really can’t start soon enough. If you are in charge of organising the office Christmas party then you will know that there are a number of different types and styles of party to choose from.

Full Corporate Party

Bigger companies with a lot of employees will usually look at hiring a venue for their Christmas party. We here at The City Rooms have numerous companies who hire out our ballroom over the festive season, larger companies even make use of our dining room and bar too! Having multiple rooms at your disposal means that you can set up different areas at your party. Some people will choose to have a quiet room, a games room or even a grotto!

Shared Party                                                 

At a shared Christmas party you will usually be able to book a number of seats or tables along with other companies. Shared Christmas parties work great for smaller companies who don’t need to hire out a whole venue. The host venue will usually provide a meal, dancing and all sorts of festive entertainment.

Here at The City Rooms we run a number of shared Christmas parties as well as hiring out ballroom and dining room. Give us a call or email info@thecityrooms.co.uk to discuss your requirements.

Gluten Free Weddings in Leicester

We encounter many brides and grooms here at The City Rooms and all of them have unique and individual wedding requirements. One thing that has been requested more and more over the past couple of years is a gluten free wedding menu. This usually stems from the bride or groom having Celiac disease or some level of wheat intolerance. Whilst individual meals can be prepared for those with special dietary requirements it is becoming more popular for whole menus to be gluten free. After all it isn’t really fair that the bride or groom spend the day looking at food they cannot eat! And no newlywed wants to spend their honeymoon feeling poorly because they ate a certain type of bread by accident!

Food that is ‘free from’ has a bit of a bad reputation for being dull and tasteless and this may be a concern to the couple or their families. However, there are now many delicious gluten free foods and recipes available and our chefs here at The City Rooms are top of the (sugar free) pops when it comes to catering for those with special dietary needs!

If you are looking for a fantastic wedding venue in the Midlands then give us a call or email info@thecityrooms.co.uk and speak to one of our highly trained members of staff.

Alternative Wedding Guest Book Ideas

Nobody wants their wedding day to end. It’s the biggest and most special day of your life and most couples say that it flies by. This is one of the reasons why choosing a good photographer is very important as they capture those special moments and make them live on even after the day is finished. Another way of doing this is by having a wedding guest book. A guest book usually has a picture of the happy couple on the front and blank pages inside for guests to write congratulatory messages. Whilst this is a very nice tradition we are now finding that our Leicester and Midlands based brides are starting to look for alternative & creative wedding guest book ideas. Here are some of our favourites!

The wedding photo surround: 

This is one of the most popular guest book alternatives at the moment. Visit any art or crafts shop and you will be able to pick up a cardboard surround in almost any colour and size. Most people tend to opt for a white or ivory colour. Simply place the surround on a designated table at your wedding along with a selections of felt tip and marker pens. It is a good idea to get one of your bridesmaids or grooms men to go round and encourage your guests to fill it in. Afterwards, simply put one of your wedding pics in a frame along with the surround and you will have a lovely keepsake!

The wedding typewriter:

If you love vintage and are having a vintage style wedding then I know that you will absolutely love this idea. Finding an old typewriter is not as hard as you may think especially on sites like e-bay! Typewriters can cost anywhere from£40 to £200 depending on your budget. However, considering the hours of entertainment and the wonderfully bourgeois style messages you will have at the end of the day it is most definitely worth while!

The wedding recipe card:

This is probably one of the most unusual alternative guest books that we have come across. You send out a blank recipe card with your wedding invites and ask your guests to bring the completed cards to the wedding. At the wedding you can either have a folder or a note card holder for guests to place their recipe ideas in. This way you end up with a completely personal and very special recipe book that is sure to help in the lifelong quest for marital bliss!

Click here for our wedding brochure!

If you are looking for a fantastic wedding venue in the Midlands then give us a call or email info@thecityrooms.co.uk and speak to one of our highly trained members of staff.

Wedding Reception Card Holder Ideas

One thing to not miss off your reception decorations list is a card holder or post box. Everyone who comes to your wedding will bring you a card and you need to have somewhere safe to store them during the reception. It is a good idea to choose a card holder that fits in with your overall wedding theme and that will look great when displayed on a table. Don’t feel that you need to spend huge amounts of money buying a special box as you really can use any kind of receptacle from vases to baskets and everything in between.

One top tip that we have in regards to your wedding reception card holder is to remember to allocate someone to take it home with them at the end of the evening! Here are some of our favourite wedding card post boxes!

Click here for our wedding brochure! If you are looking for a fantastic wedding venue in the Midlands then give us a call or email info@thecityrooms.co.uk and speak to one of our highly trained members of staff.

Vintage Wedding Theme Ideas

We love vintage and so do our Leicester brides at the moment! Vintage ‘represents the high quality of a past time”. It’s all about old fashioned quality, glamour, sumptuousness and feminine chic. The symbols of the vintage wedding trend at the moments are things like lace, pastel coloured blooms, ornate frames, pearls and birdcages. We love seeing vintage themed weddings at The City Rooms!  Have a look at our vintage gallery below for ideas! Read the rest of this entry »

Corporate Christmas Party Ideas

I can hear the gasps already! I know…it’s only August and I am already starting to talk about Christmas! Being a super planner who likes to do everything well in advance it is no surprise that my brain is already running along a festive track. Anyone with an ounce of the administrator about them will know that it takes a good few months to pull a really special corporate Christmas party together and so I thought I would share some of my thoughts on how to create the best staff crimbo ‘do’ ever! Read the rest of this entry »

Candy Buffets for Weddings

Candy Buffets for WeddingsWe think that this is the sweetest wedding trend that we have ever seen! The bonbon is back and gummies are going down a treat this season in the world of weddings. What are we referring to? It could only be the colourful candy buffet! The candy buffet is an alternative to traditional wedding favours which are usually placed on the dinner tables at wedding breakfasts. Instead you set up your own pick n mix table and have a right old sugar fest that will keep your guests dancing until the early hours! We have seen many different types of favours being used by brides at our wedding venue here in Leicester but this is definitely our favourite. So forget bride and groom and bring on Hansel and Gretel!

You can order a pre-packed candy buffet from specialist suppliers but where is the fun in that? Here are a few ideas for a DIY candy buffet for your wedding. Read the rest of this entry »

Charity Fundraising Event ideas

Here at The City Rooms we have been involved with organising many different types of charitable events. We have our fantastic Annual Charity Ball coming up so we thought that we would dedicate this post to charity events. We love to see people raising money for a good cause and having a great time to boot. Our venue here in the Midlands has been the setting for many a charity gala, ball and dinner. Charities are always looking for new ways to raise money and awareness of their cause. Here are a few of our charity fundraising event ideas! Read the rest of this entry »

Wedding Birdcage Centrepieces

Just a quick post about an item that we are seeing a lot more of at the moment at our wedding venue in the Midlands. It seems that birdcages are the latest must have table centrepieces. We have seen small ones containing candles, medium sized ones containing flowers and huge ones being used as a sort of post box for the wedding cards.

The wedding birdcage card holder has to be my favourite but you could always use a number of different sized cages to decorate your venue in different ways. Heck, you could even have it as your whole wedding theme! We have had a little looksy online and found a whole host of stunning bird and birdcage themed wedding items. From birdcage wedding cakes to birdcage favours it seems that you can get it all! Here are our top birdcage wedding items….

Wedding Venue Midlands

I adore the birdcage pop up card. I have never really seen anything like it before. It’s something so unique that your guests are sure to be wowed and keep it forever! The place name settings and table plan and also great. You could even name your tables after types of birds! There were a number of beautifully crafted birdcage wedding cakes but we picked this one because it was cute and more fun looking that some of the serious birdcage cake towers we saw!

A theme like this would look stunning in our Grade 1 listed boutique hotel venue in Leicester. Our ballroom just lends itself to the chic and glamorous feel of this lovely theme!

Click here for our wedding brochure! If you are looking for a fantastic wedding venue in the Midlands then give us a call or email info@thecityrooms.co.uk and speak to one of our highly trained members of staff.

Wedding Money Saving Tips – Part 2

Welcome to the second part of our wedding money saving tips feature! If you have missed part one then click here to read it!

Read the rest of this entry »