Balbirnie House breaks the in-house wedding booking record! Again!

It's with a measure of total disbelief that I'm typing this morning! Because in context and timing, what I'm about to detail is something which has never happened before at Balbirnie House, and that's saying something! 

Traditionally, our very busiest time of the year for incoming wedding enquiries, starts on the 27th December. It's the same every year, and it happens due to the fact that so many couples get engaged over Christmas. This then continues, and we always have 3 very, very busy weeks of new enquiries. It can be a very frustrating process for couples who only wish, for example, a Saturday in the next 18 months, because these dates will already be pre-booked by other clients. 

January each year? Surf's Up! 

We maintain meticulous records for all incoming new client enquiries. 

Hospitality with a capital H. And if we make new history, we celebrate! 

Original image below ⬇️ via Rob Thomson / Lifetime Photography: 

And on the subject of in-house records, back in 2012 I personally met 89 prospective future wedding clients in a row, who all then subsequently placed a future booking into the Balbirnie House future Special Events diary. I said back then that we'll never see that particular record surpassed, and it certainly still stands today! No need to engrave new steak knives!

So here we are today. We are absolutely over-the-moon to confirm that we have a new monthly record. Much to the accumulating surprise of our wedding planning team! 

And we kept going! 

During August 2020 we took brand new bookings for 26 future weddings. Staggering, but there it is. 

This has never happened before in history, let alone happened in summer. To see this unfolding circumstance occur when we don't even know when we can resume with providing the backdrop for non-social-distancing weddings, it really is an astonishing circumstance. 

Why and how has it happened? Five thoughts on this. 

Firstly, there are many hotels which totally mis-managed the total chaos of the Lockdown for their wedding clients, March 2020 onwards. Subsequently therefore, reputations tarnished in the small world of online recognition for hospitality and consistency. We can only look back now on the amazing work that our wedding planning team put into doing every single thing in our capability, to go a country mile and all the rest to work with our weddings clients in such a caring, thoughtful, structured and cohesive way. It was literally, the moving of a Hospitality mountain, and it continues today with a rolling process of review for all clients, 12 weeks in advance. Some of our wedding clients moved eg from April 2020, to August 2020, then October 2020, and onwards further. Underlined, the 26 figure above is not for re-scheduled clients, it's only for brand new clients. 

Secondly, in what is very clearly now an accelerating set of catastrophic circumstances across the span of Scotland's entire hospitality sector, those clients who are seeking to book a wedding venue in say 2022 or 2023, are very much seeking measures of comfort and faith, that their intended wedding venue will still be in business. We don't have a crystal ball for the future of the global pandemic, but Balbirnie House is certainly fully re-financed today, and the same as all wedding venues, we're very patiently waiting for new government updates. 

Thirdly, many wedding venues have sadly not been able to afford to re-open, and do not envisage re-opening. We have had many enquiries from couples who have been told that their wedding venue elsewhere is in that unfortunate status, and their originally intended wedding cannot therefore proceed. 

Fourthly, our new 2020 wedding literature has such a range of offering and value, it has taken a few months of settling in, for prospective new clients to realise what happened. Balbirnie House was the recipient last year of the Haute Grandeur award, for Best Destination Wedding Hotel, in the global category. Our management team have therefore felt it more important than ever before, to do all we can to offer value, in conjunction with all aspects of every client journey, intended fully in such a caring, helpful and thoughtful way. This is beyond the remit of 'simply planning a wedding day', extending to help clients visualise the possibilities, and prepare for the many emotives, additionally these days into elements of sensory perception. 

Fifthly, as news of Balbirnie's continued 14th time annual success and status as Scotland's Wedding Hotel of the Year, and double 2018/ 2019 global Best in World awards has progressed through our literature and history, many prospective clients are automatically ruling out other potential wedding destinations, as this aspect of romance is certainly now absolutely unique to Balbirnie House. 

So, a huge congratulations all round for Balbirnie's brigade, a new commemorative photo commissioned for our wedding planning team, and our sincere gratitude to the 26 couples who booked in August and will be getting married in the future. 

All best wishes, 

Nicholas / MD Balbirnie House