We have a record-breaking calendar year in progress. 191 weddings is currently what our hotel brigade is tasked with delivering in 2022. And we are of course still taking new bookings.
Back in January 2022 we delivered a blog which celebrated new history at Balbirnie House. January is normally always our busiest month for new future wedding bookings, due to the tradition of festive season engagements.
Our previous January monthly record for new bookings was 25, and that statistic had been in place for years. We then arrived at re-opening post pandemic lockdown and into August 2020, and the epic rollercoaster journey we and our many weddings clients were on. Incredibly so in all contexts, August 2020 saw a new and unexpected record of 26 new future wedding bookings. From all I know about Balbirnie House, and based upon my 3 decades here, I did not think that the 26 number would ever be surpassed. But anything is possible, as we all know!
The January 2022 blog defined that in actual fact in that month, we had taken deposits for 27 new future weddings. Incredible.
I write this new blog today literally in a state of hospitality disbelief, and can confirm that we now have another new record, because in June 2022 our wedding planning department have taken future bookings for 31 weddings. I can assure you that I am astonished!!!
Why is it the case that we are seeing these records being broken? Well, today I can set out a few reasons.
1. First and foremost, it's the people.
Image via Rob Thomson of Lifetime Photography.
And that's where it has all been driven onwards to, today. Every day at Balbirnie is a school day, every month we review what we are doing. Every year we consolidate everything, and re-define annual literature, publishing this just before Christmas.
2022's amazing new records have of course been delivered by our entire team, imagine if you will the very first snapshots for new future clients. A first review across the entire span of social media. How a very first telephone call is conveyed. How our acres of grounds around the house are presented upon arrival for a new client showround. How the fabric of the asset itself is maintained and presented. How the arrival amenity is prepared, and how it is served, and by whom, and what their hospitality chat is! All of these, before then meeting our wedding planning department!
Gaynor is of course still here today, and assisted by Senior Wedding Planner Christine Lowe, and wedding planners Leah Kinnes and Katy Ronaldson. The work that goes into everything for the securing of one single wedding booking is very significant, let alone for 31 in a month. My congratulations and heartfelt thanks to one and all, for everything that goes into what we do for our future clients. We are now arranging a new 2022 professional photograph of our wedding planners. I will add it to this blog when we have it.
Photo added 4.10.2022 Image credit Rachel Gillies / Lifetime Photography
'The 2022 wedding planners' Leah Kinnes, Christine Lowe, Gaynor Russell, Katy Ronaldson
On days when we have a wedding taking place, you can feel it as soon as you enter the front door. It's a low resonating hum of static energy, and you can just feel it in the air, that something very special indeed is about to take place.
2. Orangery brand new interior.
In spring 2022 we had a single 5 day window of opportunity, and albeit it was a time-driven stresser, we successfully carried out a complete start from scratch £35,000 interior design makeover of our Orangery. Given how many wedding ceremonies take place in the Orangery, the design team of Gaynor Russell and Lesley Osbourne visualised a real focus on bridal couture. The results are so absolutely beautiful, and we have been truly delighted to hear so many lovely comments since we opened the area.
Image via Rob Thomson of Lifetime Photography:
I can also confirm that we are receiving simply phenomenal reviews one after another, for how we are using the Orangery much later in the day, when we initiate for Seven by Balbirnie. Executive head Chef Kris Currie and Head Chef Sharon Munro are delivering a new menu in July which is focussed on the amazing natural larder of Fife. Our many wedding clients are of course seeing all of this progress on social media.
In 2022, and having become the first hotel that I am aware of to do so in 2021, we are now in annual phase 2 of publishing our entire wedding banquet compendium available online for one and all. Future clients love to see what we are offering.
3. There are massive ongoing challenges today with recruitment.
This is across the entire span of hospitality. Stating the obvious, nobody wants to book a future wedding venue if there are doubts as to the venue being able to be fully staffed. Let alone remote destination properties which today cannot even get any staff at all! Thanks to the ongoing efforts of our in-house Talent and Culture Manager Rebecca Harper, and fully acknowledged we are so grateful indeed to have a very significant local population to recruit from within Markinch village and nearby Glenrothes and our local area, Balbirnie House is fully staffed today.
4. Our evolution.
In today's world of hospitality, and reflecting on 3 decades wherein hotelkeeping itself has become more and more corporate, many of our future clients are so very appreciative indeed, of how Balbirnie House proceeds in 2022 under private ownership, and brimming with the individuality and personality of our entire brigade. Every day here is so very different, and it's fair to say this is so very well reflected in 2022 across the entire span of all of Balbirnie's ever-growing social media.
5. Balbirnie's history of accumulated awards, are taking the hotel to where?
14 times Scotland's Wedding Hotel of the Year via The Scottish Hotel Awards scheme, and 5 best-in-world Hospitality awards via Haute Grandeur. It's difficult to describe this, but perhaps all of this combined history is now placing client perception into a new zone of contemplation? As I am always acutely aware of highlighting to our hotel brigade and new clients alike, we cannot be judged today on the past, we can only ever be benchmarked on what we are doing today, tomorrow, and the next day. Today is never a dress rehearsal for tomorrow.
At what point however, if I may be so bold as to say so, does any single hotel cross the line between being a hotel, and becoming an iconic and legendary hotel? How long does that take? Some hotels gradually achieve this status for reasons of notoriety, or being continually visited by famous celebrities and Hollywood actors. Others perhaps because of location and architecture.
Think for example of the evolution and global perception of Claridge's in London (where I had the opportunity to begin my own career), or Raffles in Singapore. Or to West Hollywood, California and the legendary Chateau Marmont, vying for the global title of 'most outrageous hotel', with a reputation built on a combination of excess and discretion. Why would the lead questions that people have for that hotel on google today be:
In Balbirnie's contexts, maybe it's simply the case now that we are arriving at our very own cultural tipping point, whereby the combination of the hardest and most continuous, truly relentless celebrating and partying in Scotland, from tens of thousands of annual wedding guests for decade after decade, blended with all accumulated Scotland and global awards, is now seeing Balbirnie House actually becoming truly defined with some measures of iconic status. I have no doubt whatsoever in saying, that the statistics suggest that we have certainly partied harder than any other hotel in Scotland!
As a prospective future new groom said to me the other day, 'I want to get married here because Balbirnie is now a Scotland hospitality legend!', well if that is indeed becoming the case it has been achieved in the very lifetime of the many who are still working here today. And I, dear readers, have the daily honour of working beside them all!
I am always very keen to highlight on our main twitter feed, that meeting prospective new future wedding clients on weekend mornings (10am, 11am, 12noon) is the most special part of my working week. Without shadow of doubt in 2022, I now see it these days time and time again, when asking clients what sort of wedding day they would like to have? Simply put it's a wee sparkle of magic in their eyes! 😍 That's so special in hospitality, I cannot begin to say.
We are also now being repeatedly told by our many prospective new future wedding clients: 'Why would anyone want to actually get married anywhere else, when we have the opportunity to become a part of the ongoing history to be made here today!'
As I say, it's difficult to put this part into words, but it is what it is.
Our reputation has not been created from the combination of outrageous guest behaviour and discretion, albeit I can assure you that we've had our share of all of that over the many years. Maybe one fine day I'll sit down and write that book!
Our wedding reputation has been built simply, by doing our absolute best for every single wedding client, one very special and absolutely unique day at a time. And that has been created simply by ongoing focus and really hard work from the team. My gratitude to one and all.
At the point of writing today, we have one final thing to mention:
All best wishes,
Nicholas
MD Balbirnie House
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