And what does a typical wedding consultation look like? We asked our colleague Petra Gatek from the wedding agency White Agency, which handles our meetings in London.
Where
do the meetings take place?
The
meetings generally take place in the center of London over a nice cup of coffee
or traditional English tea.
London is a sprawling city and our clients appreciate that meeting times and
places are flexible - our meetings can take place anywhere in the city, on
weekdays or over the weekend. We often meet clients near their offices. My
favorite place to meet is a café in Covent Garden, where I can reserve a quiet
table where we can go over everything uninterrupted.
Is it possible to arrange everything through you and then show up at the
chateau just before the wedding, or is it necessary to come to the Czech
Republic at least once beforehand?
It’s
absolutely no problem to plan the entire wedding to the last detail in London,
and the couple can then come to the chateau just two days before the actual
wedding. It depends on the actual concept of the wedding and how busy the
client is – we can meet just once or twice and work out the rest of the details
by e-mail or phone. However, some people prefer to plan everything out in
person, and in that case, we’ll usually have 5 or 6 meetings before the
wedding. We take care of all the formalities and make arrangements with the registry
office beforehand; we then go with the clients to the registry office just
before the wedding.
Are the couples that you meet with primarily from London, or do they come from
other areas as well?
Meetings
are not limited only to couples from London. Because it’s so easy to get here
from other English cities, we also meet with clients from all over England
(such as Manchester, Brighton or nearby Surrey). It often happens that I meet
with only one-half of the couple while they’re in London on business because
they live far away – such as in Northern Ireland.
Can you tell us briefly what you talk about at the meeting?
At the
first consultation, I first introduce Chateau Mcely and its partnership with
our wedding agency. Then I present the options for weddings at the chateau, our
wedding services, a typical timetable for the wedding
day, and an overview of how our cooperative planning can work. We have a wide
range of photos and videos available to help show couples what a Chateau Mcely
wedding is like.
An
important part of the first meeting is for us to understand and discuss the
couple’s ideas and expectations for their wedding. On the basis of our initial
non-binding consultation, we make a recommendation for the appropriate wedding
package, work up a preliminary budget, and often come up with ideas for the
wedding concept as well.
