THE HOW AND WHY OF JUNE 2022! OUR BUSIEST MONTH IN HISTORY FOR NEW FUTURE WEDDING BOOKINGS!

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. 

The original record of 25 which stood for years was created back in the day when Meghan Davies and Kirsty Keys were working with my fellow company director and very lovely wife Gaynor, here's one of our favourite images ever from way back in 2012. It feels literally, like yesterday. 

Image via Rob Thomson of Lifetime Photography. 

I know what dedication was delivered over the years, what focus and care and an absolute desire to do our best for future clients. These were the architectural cornerstones which created the future. Kindness, and flawless event planning, doing our absolute best one day at a time. We simply kept going, and refining as we went. 

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 

Nothing happens by accident. Our MC's Master of Ceremonies (or perhaps better termed in 2022 LOL 'Microphone Controller'), are three in number. This was my role basically every Saturday, for most of my first decade at Balbirnie House, before we added The Millennium Ballroom, and that changed everything quickly from 2000 onwards, as we became so much busier. We rotate that vital MC role in 2022 between operations Manager Kenneth Wilkie, Vibe Manager and Head of All Things Awesome Angela Ferguson, and Senior Assistant Manager David Murray. On each wedding day, that MC role alone has a direct responsibility of ensuring 8 A4 pages of bullet-point details are successfully delivered. 

 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. 

Orangery set for restaurant: 

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: 

*Watch this space Scotland* 

All best wishes, 

Nicholas 

MD Balbirnie House 

IRONMAN AUSTRIA HAT-TRICK NAILED IN 33 DEGREES (IN THE SHADE) !!!

THE FIRST EVER IRONMAN HAT-TRICK FOR A GLENROTHES TRIATHLON CLUB MEMBER IN THEIR FIFTIES: 

Three annual medals in a row, and a third finisher T shirt. As you can see, 2022 features the Klagenfurt dragon. 

The dragon's statue is in the city centre: 

Writing this blog a week after Ironman Austria 2022, and I've just returned from Kinross service station, where I was collecting my race bike from the lorry of Nirvana, official transport partner. 

There was another competitor collecting his bike. 20 years younger than I, and when I asked how he got on in Austria, he replied ... 'It was so hot, unreal ... I made it to the end, but then I collapsed and they put me on a drip feed!'

Over recent years I've made it a specific, to have some training sessions on Scotland's rare 'very hot' days. These have been restricted however, say to running for an hour on Kirkcaldy Prom, at a maximum of 25 degrees. The objective has been to take myself into some form of zone where I am really feeling some heat, so as to practice for what may happen on a hot race day. You arrive at that feeling, when you start getting a bit dizzy, and nauseous. Now learn and manage it. Having arrived there, the only thing you can really do to fix things, is stop, take some shade, and do whatever you can to cool yourself down. If you don't stop and cool down, heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke, which occurs when the body's internal heat reaches 103 degrees F or higher, and at that point one potentially loses consciousness! 

That was the sum of my 'heat exhaustion contemplation and experience' prior to heading on the plane for Austria Ironman 2022. 

If you are reading this blog and are encountering Ironman for the first time, it's a 3.8km open water swim, then a 180km cycle, and then a 42.2km marathon. All of it timed. If you fall behind the extremely precise phased cutoff times, you are basically out, classified as DNF'd - Did Not Finish. From Austria stats, circa 25% of original entrants don't make the finish line. 

We arrived in Austria 2022 on the Tuesday of raceweek (race day is Sunday), and for sure a heat wave was in progress. This un-acclimatised Scotsman had puffy hands straight away from the heat, but that subsidised in 48 hours and I was good to go! Or so I thought. 

On race day Sunday 3rd July I woke at 4.30am, and had a cappuccino and an apple strudel for breakfast. Then headed to re-check my bike over, in the Ironman transition area 5.30am, put air into the tyres, and fill the water bottle. All set, I headed to the start of the swim for 7.00am. Lathered myself with water-resistant factor 50 sun cream. 

So very blessed and fortunate to even be there. Very proud indeed to have maintained conditioned fitness to a level where I even think I can perhaps finish the event. So very honoured and humbled to be once again representing our amazing local, friendly and inclusive Glenrothes Triathlon Club. In the latter context a lot at stake as well today, history in the making in multiple ways if I can finish. 

The water temp was 25.3 degrees, wetsuits are banned at 24.5 degrees. So, without the added buoyancy and streamlining of the wetsuit, the swim would be slower by about 10%. I absolutely loved the swim this year, swam the first 3.2km off the busy race line, got into a great breathing tempo straight from the off, and kept a lovely relaxed Total Immersion rhythm with bilateral (both sides) breathing all the way, exiting the water at the end literally as fresh as a daisy. And I was already 40 minutes ahead of the time cutoff, great!

On go the cycling shoes and helmet, off we go on the cycle. 9.15am and 28 degrees, what a stunning morning. Everything feeling just great. Unlike last year's pre-event nutrition, I was totally happy this year. A few tweaks with bike setup, raised bars and a new easier gearing cassette on the back, all very comfortable and sustainable. On the first 20km I was averaging over 30km per hour, and including all hill climbs held 27km average per hour for the first 90km. 

During the entire cycle, the aim is to keep going with nutrition, so that later on you'll have enough reserved energy for the marathon section. My fluid intake was going well, but having had two energy cereal bars and one banana early on, I'd noticed after a couple of hours that I didn't feel hungry at all, and actually had begun to feel nauseous. 

Little did I know, and defying all Ironman strategic and nutritional objectives, unable to eat, I would need to go on to endeavour to complete the entire day, without eating anything else at all! How to get through a 16 hour 10,000 calorie burn, with only two cereal bars and a banana? The calorie burn is the equivalent of seventy 330ml cans of coke (139 calories per can), or one hundred and fifty 330ml cans (66 calories per can) of Old Jamaica Ginger Beer! 

12 noon and cycling into increasing heat, sun now totally up and holding what the Race Briefing had defined as 33 degrees. No clouds. Dang it's hot! Hot enough at this temperature for Scotland to be issued with a Met Office formalised hot weather warning! I took an un-scheduled stop at the 90 kms aid station. They had run out of water, and a few of the competitors were very obviously extremely agitated about it, and very hot indeed. At that point I really realised for the first time, just how hot I was feeling myself. 

It’s worth highlighting, at the stated 33 degrees temperature that’s of course recorded in the shade. In direct sunlight it’s usually rated between 10 and 15 degrees even hotter. So yes indeed, in the ongoing Austrian sunlight, it was scorching!!! 

Pushed on to the next aid station, 20km later. This aid station had a garden hose running into a brimming container of water. Phewee! By now I was so hot that all I could do was pour pint after pint of cool water straight over my head. I re-filled my water bottle and onwards we went. 

A few minutes later I went to take a drink of water, and it had already turned warm. A few more minutes after that, and the water was becoming hot. For the first time, I began to wonder, if that what was happening to the water in a plastic bottle as it made it's way through the roasting heat, was happening to my insides as well? I was now 4 hours in the sun, and knew there were some fairly serious climbing sections to come. 

Undoubtedly, I already knew that I was about to meet The Man with The Hammer. 

Over the next 3 hours up in the mountains, I would find myself in, (and I choose these two words carefully), challenging circumstances. 

All remaining planned aid station stops turned from 'quick stops' into proper breaks with minutes plus of me pouring cold water over me. I felt literally, that I was going into heat meltdown. Ribs and stomach became sore to the touch, how strange, was this because I was literally cooking inside? When it gets to 102 degrees F, Call 911! 

I took a couple of complete stop breaks. Plus a couple of get off the bike and walk in shade breaks, but in all honesty that seemed to be making me even hotter than cycling. The clock of course was ticking, and I remained focussed on keeping calm, and ensuring my heart rate was the key focus, remaining constant. 

30kms out from the end of the cycle and I was wondering if, on potential medical grounds alone, I should simply be stopping? But I kept going, feeling now absolutely exhausted, but primarily concerned at what the heat was doing to me, physically and internally. No dizziness or confusion though, nausea was all. All things considered I thought at that point, I would be endangering myself to continue with the marathon. 

Upon finishing the cycle, cannot make no bones about it, I was roasted. I was still 30 mins or so inside the day's cutoff time for that point, and instead of running to change for the marathon, I was walking and speaking with one of the bike security volunteers. 'I'm sorry, I don't think I can proceed any further, I'm a Scotsman and 20 degrees is a warm day back home, I've never ever experienced this unrelenting heat on a bike before, I've been unable to eat anything for the last 4 hours'. 

Racked my bike. Well that'll need to be that then. Slowly walked to the site water supply and stood under a powerful cold water hose for a good 5 minutes. Aaaah that's soooo refreshing. I was thinking, 'You've never failed to finish any event you have ever entered in history, this was going to happen sooner or later. Accept it for what it is!' 

Walked to where my running gear was racked and sat down on the adjacent bench. That'll certainly be that then, on all basis of common sense, medically unable to proceed: 5.20pm. 

This photo was taken the following morning, after most of the thousands of bags had been removed:

On my previous two successful Ironman occasions, I had never been this late at this point in the day. Around me, it was a new revelation, the sheer level of personal suffering of fellow competitors who were making the same decision as I. Gent on my left saying 'my cramping is so severe across all of my body, I cannot make it for a hundred metres further'. Lady on my right holding her husband's fingers through the security fence, just standing there in full flow unbroken tears, telling him, 'I have no energy left to give'. 

At that point I drank a bottle of pre-planned (albeit now rather hot) Lucozade. 5.25pm. 

I was still so hot, so again headed back to the cold water hose for another cooldown drenching. 5 full minutes under cold running water. Aaaah that's soooo refreshing. 5.30pm. Back to the bench. 

Started speaking to myself. 'It's such a shame I need to stop, as all I would need to do to complete, is somehow cover the remaining 42.2km marathon!'

Mutter mutter. 'Or in other words, if you were actually fuelled and nutritional properly, you could have done that!' 

'MAYBE we should just give the marathon a go!?!' - 'What the heckers are you saying pal, there's no way you can proceed, forget it!' 

'Dig down deep lad, you've banked 1,878 training sessions on Strava, today you need to go to the bank and take out some of the cash!' - 'Don't be ridiculous!'

'Somewhere out there on the marathon course, your wife and youngest daughter are waiting for you!'. That recognition was equally poignant and painful.

'There are people right now back home watching my Ironman live tracker, and wondering what the hell I am doing!' 

'Maybe we can organise the suffering so as to bear only the most necessary pain?' LOL

'Today we must endure unprecedented hardship. Deciding not to surrender will be our strength!' 

What would my original mentor Steven McEwan (founder of Glenrothes Triathlon Club) say if he were here sitting beside me? My best guess, 'Potential death from avoidable heat exhaustion is not a clever way to depart this planet! But if you honestly feel you can now continue without that level of danger to yourself, if you don't at least try for the finish, you will always regret it'. 

My pal Marcus, who has given me amazing support since 2014, what would he say? 'That's a lovely new white Ironman running cap you've got there, perfect! Shame not to use it! Get 3 wet sponges in it! That'll do pig!' ... and he starts laughing .... :-) ' (And so would I!) 

It was this combined series of thoughts that made me decide to try and continue. 

I washed my feet down. Clean socks, and on go the running shoes. Up and down the grass beside the bench I go, knees up and down, one two one two, testing! Stretching knees, muscles, Achilles tendons. Pop two Ibuprofen. My saviour, 6 electrolyte pills up the sleeve. One an hour, to hopefully take cramp out the equation. 

My insides feel like they've been compressed and jiggled around, such a weird and painful sensation. If I set off running, will that quickly lead to a total catastrophe? 

The clock ticks. The only objective now, is to get the timing chip across the finish line. A medal and a t shirt. And new records for our local club. Anything is Possible!

I do very significant amounts of fast walking during training. Turbo walking is different, faster, I classify that as being under 9 mins per 1km. Over the years I've had multiple injuries from running at 6 mins 30 secs per 1km, but no injuries at all from turbo walking. I've never loved running, but I LOVE turbo walking. 

I run the calculation. 42.2km at 9 mins per 1km is 6 hours 20 mins. Now that would work, maybe I can speed up even more and save seconds here and there. 

During Race Briefing, we had been informed that this year the organisers would be introducing 'Hero Hour', with the finishing stage and capacity crowd in full flow 'rock star welcome' for anyone who held on and finished between 11pm and midnight. I hadn't paid much attention to that, as I'd been hoping to finish no later than 10.15pm. 

We were now at 5.45 pm. So to even make the stage finish, I'd need to turbo walk the entire 42.2km in under 6 hours 15 minutes. Back into the sun we went! 

As it transpired, and by unplanned circumstances, I completed in 6 hours 9 minutes. 

I had been encouraged by my wife Gaynor and youngest daughter Ruby 5kms into the marathon. And then again at 11pm and near 37kms, passing through a gauntlet of town centre supporters. I cannot begin to say how much it means, to see your loved ones when you are in such circumstances. 

In reflecting later on the marathon 42.2km turbo walk, I realised I'd nailed it almost as quick as the previous two years, when I had blended running and fast walking. The reason for that, driven by adrenaline at outset, I immediately and very purposefully settled into a great and controlled rhythm and tempo, which could be managed and maintained. I could see I was actually walking faster than others who were blending running and (slower) walking. 

The turbo walk speeds, many at 8 mins 30 secs per 1km, were achieved inclusive of very brief pauses at aid stations every 2.5km, two cups of water over the head, and one cup down the hatch. Similar weather at ironman Hamburg a few weeks earlier, had prompted organisers to add a little salt in the water on water stations. Sometimes the young volunteers at aid stations weren't clear which contained salt, and which didn't. I'm sure I took a lot of salt. When added to electrolyte pills this just made me feel even more nauseous. That feeling actually continued for the next 36 hours. 

Two cereal bars and a banana? I took on 14 pints of liquid during the entire day, and lost by estimate, 6 pounds in weight. Certainly the most successful 24 hour weight loss of my life!

What could I have done differently? Perhaps head to The Canaries and cycle train for a few weeks in similar heat? - Not practical for a recreational Ironman! 

I saw one competitor with a thin white cloth hat under his cycle helmet, the cloth extended down to also cover the back of the neck - soaked in cold water that would maybe work well? 

All other common sense matters, I did my best: 

Ironman: 8 Tips for Training and Racing in the Heat

At the pre-race Briefing this year we were told that there were 2,900 entrants, from 72 countries. 

Race results show that 2,157 made the finish line. 

Results also show the extent of how many gave up after the Bike, eg: 

3.7.2022 - The day the Triathlon Gods gave me a hand.  

Having had a full week of recovery (and I cannot begin to say how much that recovery has been helped by wearing compression socks for the first four days), I now begin 5 weeks of conditioning for an attempt at Ironman Copenhagen on 21.8.2022 - It's recognised that Copenhagen is the happiest city in the world, with Denmark arguably the happiest country in the world. I hope to complete on the day, age 55 and as a celebration of a decade in and around Triathlon fitness.

Made the Austrian finish line on the biggest stage in Ironman globally, with a few minutes before the stage closed. 

In the context of the entire day, I actually had 50 minutes spare: 

This year's learning experience makes me think, if the sole objective is to get yourself to an Ironman finish line, theoretically it's possible to have a lovely relaxed swim, then a cycle with multiple 'few minute rests' and even a few brisk walks with the bike during the cycle stage (to stretch leg muscles and ligaments), and then turbo walk the entire marathon. That is possible, because this year I've done it! 

At no point in the swim did I allow my heart rate to go anywhere near any point where I would be short of breath, the Total Immersion technique making it feel so easy. Like Tour de France cyclists (excluding their final sprint), effort was continuously maintained on the bike at 60% to 65% effort - never ever more than that. And by turbo-walking the entire marathon, my heart rate was continuously in a very comfortable zone. Stating the obvious, all of this with baseline fitness that enables me to do it. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!

My wife and daughter were telling me of many of the sad scenes they had witnessed during the day, with so many participants giving up. Grown men and women crying their eyes out, totally exhausted and broken by the heat. So if you are reading this and thinking of giving an Ironman a go, if your sole objective is simply to finish, then figure the maths and requisite tempos into your conditioning. 

In the age group 55 - 59 for the first time this year. I'm going to give Copenhagen a try, and then will have a sit-down chat with my family. Maybe it's time to call it a day when we are still ahead of the curve? Then again, as one of my lifelong pals Dave Bryce said to me the other day, 'Why stop when you can still complete?!?!'

Ironman Class of 2022

IN-HOUSE WEDDING RECORD BROKEN! PLUS, A LETTER FROM A BRIDE AND GROOM

*Breaking News* 27!!!

The in-house monthly wedding booking record has been broken!!!
Our wedding planning department confirm that January 2022 is now the most successful month ever in the entire history of Balbirnie House, for new bookings for future weddings. Throughout January we have taken new deposits for 27 future weddings.

(January is of course usually our busiest month for new enquiries, following festive season engagements. The previous January record of 25 new bookings stood for many years, but that previous record was broken with an absolutely unprecedented summer acceleration following the first pandemic lockdown, with 26 bookings in August 2020.)

As is the in-house tradition whenever new history has been made and the monthly record has been broken previously, I take our wedding planning team out for a celebratory meal at The Gilded Truffle. I very much look forward to this once again.

And talking of celebrations, for our hotel brigade, when being invited to attend Scotland's annual Scottish Hotel Awards and join up to 500 assembled industry colleagues, this has always been the most special night of the year. Deciding who is best representing what we do each year limited to a table of ten from what has been a maximum of 115 in the brigade, is always the most difficult decisions we have to make! 

Knowing each time when we have made the shortlist for Scotland's Wedding Hotel of the Year, well that's always been a celebration in itself. And as the awards are actually defined one by one on awards night, over the last few years (prior to pandemic) there has certainly been a moment of 'silent, electrically-charged atmosphere', when the judges are on the verge of reading out the winner for this standalone wedding category! The collective vibe in that moment, .... surely, Surely ... Balbirnie's brigade cannot do it once again???

14 times in 16 years. Scotland's Wedding Hotel of the Year. It's a remarkable statistic!

And because the Haute Grandeur global awards scheme are unable to find any hotel in any other country in the world, which has had anything like the recognition that Balbirnie House has had here in Scotland, that has then helped to pave the way for Scotland hospitality being recognised as never ever before on the global hospitality stage. Circumstances which have rendered us truly lost-for-words, simply at even being invited to represent Scotland.

In Haute Grandeur summary, within our 25,000 words of new 2022 wedding literature: 
2018 BEST DESTINATION WEDDING RETREAT, on a Global level. 
2019 BEST DESTINATION WEDDING HOTEL, on a Global level. 
2020 BEST FUNCTION VENUE, on a Global level. 
2020, BEST COUNTRY HOUSE HOTEL, on a Global level. 
2021, BEST WEDDING HOTEL, on a Global level. 
 

In working practice, we are accustomed within the brigade to never actually really discussing accumulated awards, the only time the subject comes up, is when we have meetings with prospective new wedding and corporate clients. That said, I can also say that the scale of accumulated recognition with awards, is without doubt something which we seek to live up to every working day. It is a very direct responsibility to live up to in hospitality.

As I frequently say during my most special part of the working week, when meeting prospective new wedding clients who enquire as to how Balbirnie's brigade has achieved these remarkable results, 'It is truly amazing to be working alongside those of my colleagues who have delivered the results, however the past is the past, we can only ever be judged on how we deliver today, tomorrow and into the future; and then I usually add, 'Whenever we have a wedding taking place, there is no second chance, every single wee piece of our capability will always gear up on that unique day, to deliver our absolute best in hospitality, we are truly, absolutely committed to every single new day'. 

And of course, one of the loveliest aspects of working at Balbirnie, is that we never ever have two days the same. It's a total contrast to say, working in a large city centre restaurant. Every day here the circumstances can completely change, sometimes dramatically so. Therefore what we need to do is always conceive planning, infrastructure and teamwork that can combine and provide the requisite end hospitality.

Reflecting upon 3 decades of doing what we do, operationally there have certainly been a few challenging days over the years, as things can happen, and anything is possible! For example, a supplier could be late with a delivery due to mechanical breakdown, someone providing wedding services could have put a wrong date in their diary, or as we saw recently with Storm Arwen, if we hadn't sourced an electrical generator powerful enough to power the entire place, we would have been without electrics for five days. 

Taking us then to the core essences of what hospitality is about. Pre-planning, design efficiency, organisational excellence, teamwork truly is dreamwork, and don't even start me with risk assessments and the evolution of legislative compliance! The stated aims of course however, are always to get every single piece right, to the point whereby we can exceed client expectations. 

Nothing happens by accident. As a highly relevant example for weddings, whoever is assigned as wedding MC 'Master of Ceremony' (or more aptly LOL Microphone Controller!), has 8 pages of A4 checklist points. Because that is how we roll. That's how we need to roll, to get that single part correct.

Ongoing innovation, and a continual appraisal of that we do, they are ever constants at Balbirnie House. One different day at a time. And when we have a wedding taking place on any given day, you can actually feel it on the morning, walking in through the front door. It's a resonating vibe of energy that's signalling that something of massive significance is about to happen!

And it is always so truly wonderful, to hear feedback from our many clients, one such correspondence received from a few days ago from the newly married Kayleigh and Steven Meach. Our sincere gratitude for taking the time to let us know how well the special day went, and for highlighting individuals from within the brigade. It's always so lovely to know when we have delivered to these levels. 

Thank you to Kayleigh and Steven for giving us their permission to share this communication on today's blog. Wishing you both every happiness for the future.

And thank you to Victoria Photography for the beautiful selection of wedding photographs. We never cease to be amazed at the work and evolution of Scotland's professional wedding photographers.

Subject: Facebook review

Good evening Christine,
I hope you are well, I have put up a review this evening and want to make sure it
reaches you and David directly.

Please see below..
Balbirnie House Hotel
Where do I even begin? When I worked my first wedding in Balbirnie in June 2017, I was mesmerised by the place. We weren’t engaged yet and I came home literally dreaming about this place and just felt like it was... well something.

Fast forward almost a year, and Steven finally popped the question, and I said to him, come with me to see where I want to get married! In May 2018, we sat with Christine, who is now the Senior Wedding Coordinator at Balbirnie.

Steven also fell in love, and we booked our original date for Feb 2021. Steven and I visited multiple times on the run up to our wedding day, and Christine always seemed to have the staff ready for us with little touches like room upgrades, cocktail tasking, canapé tasting and much more. I loved that I felt the staff knew who we were throughout our stays, all whilst dealing with so many other couples.

I also have to mention that whilst working weddings, I got to be a little fly on the wall to see how they handled things with other brides, and I was always super impressed.
When the pandemic hit, we were very worried about everything. Our date was unfortunately changed to 22.01.22, meaning we would have to wait a total of 3 years and 10 months since booking.

Christine and the wedding team, working with the information given at the same time as it was received by us, made us feel looked after, and every avenue was explored to ensure our wedding, as it was booked, was moved with no obligation.

Balbirnie handled the pandemic with sheer excellence, reacting positively to the changes and marketing things from different perspectives. They just thrived, and it made us feel so secure and so proud to have booked this venue to watch it all unfold. It was a real effort to keep on top and push through, and we supported it in every way we could.

As a wedding supplier myself, I knew the pressure the wedding team were under and I want to say a massive thank you for when the world was not being kind to you. You guys still found it within yourselves to be kind to us and work so efficiently and professionally to ensure we were reassured.

Fast forward to the final run-up to our day. Christine kept us right with everything we needed and helped communicate all my visions on the event sheet to staff. 

There’s no wedding without a few little mishaps in the planning, but all were caught in time and rectified with kindness. Christine is so efficient and professional, and we have been very grateful to have had her see us through from our booking to our arrival at
the venue.

Christine handed us over to David our Master of Ceremonies on our arrival for our wedding weekend. I was a little nervous, but needn’t be...
David was truly incredible. Nothing was too much! He was so on the ball and was the piece that held the weekend together and why it ran so efficiently. Once again, my event sheet was a little long, shall we say, so he was a bit nervous, but once I explained it to him, he had it sorted to a T!

I’m a very organised person and a lack of control makes me nervous. David made me
feel at ease with how everything was being handled. Not a thing was out of
place, and he directed his team beautifully to turn our wedding around where
needed. The army of staff needed to achieve what we wanted that day was
incredible and I thank every single one of you for ensuring that it went
without a hitch.

David is a sheer credit to Balbirnie and has such professionalism whilst having great banter. He was our saviour last weekend. We will never forget your efforts for us, David. You are incredible at what you do, and we are very grateful that you were part of our day. You helped make it what it was. Just magical! 

Last but not least, I want to thank ALL the staff we have encountered at Balbirnie from May 2018 until now. The standard to which Balbirnie has trained their staff and how the staff conduct themselves is one of the main reasons we love it. Balbirnie is what it is because of you.

The hotel and its staff will forever hold a place in our hearts. It’s more than just a venue for us. It’s a second home. We will be back soon for fun, and I’ll be back soon for work. We hope to see some familiar faces on our visits.

We can fully see why you are number 1 and will share our experiences far and wide. 
Keep up that good work in making it so magical.

All our love
Mr. and Mrs. Meach
22.01.22

Yep, as I have been saying for years ...

'Today is Never a Dress Rehearsal for Tomorrow!'

All best wishes,

Nicholas / MD Balbirnie House

IN 2020 WE WERE CORRECT IN FORECASTING A £1M HIT! BUT GREAT NEWS, IN 2022 THE NEW FUTURE TOTALLY DEFINES!

A LOOK BACK TO THE BALBIRNIE FUTURE!

So here we are at the end of January 2022! It literally feels like it was yesterday, when with trepidation which I had never experienced before in hospitality, that I was knocking our Pearl Suite door on an evening back in March 2020, to inform our next day bride that so very sadly, we would be unable to proceed with the wedding the very next day. Heartbreaking circumstances. 

Of course, on that night back in March 2020 we were under the impression that everything was going into 'a circuit-breaker for weeks', and we had absolutely no idea what we would be faced with, as has transpired, over the incredible challenges of the next two years in hospitality. 

As at being closed in June 2020 we delivered a blog which set out how even at that point, we envisaged a £1M hit. As it has now transpired, through to the publication now in Companies House of annual accounts to the end of April 2021, we are very close indeed to that £1M figure. But that's it. No more than that! 

Following the implications of closing down March 2020, and losses racked by that through to the end of April 2020 in the previous year, we had an accounts loss of £179,407 - and next year accounts now show the implications of ongoing closure from the beginning of May 2020 to re-opening into very severely restricted trading 6th July 2020, and onwards to April 2021, with accounts loss of £816,841 - total losses therefore defined at £996,248 - a sair yin for sure! 

Figures are stated in accounting terms, as such all accumulated pandemic government and Scottish Enterprise grant assistance is not shown as revenue. Therefore the actual cash loss in real terms is less than the figures stated. 

However, and whilst our company auditor is of course obliged to state in these new accounts, that there is 'material uncertainty' (as is standardised accounting practice amongst the racked losses), in my annual accompanying director introductory Strategic Report, I am so very humbled in the context of what we've been through, and truly delighted to now be able to state, with the agreement of company auditor based upon today's financial circumstances and future-forecasting financials through to end April 2024, the following: 

'The directors are optimistic (writing as at January 2022) that financial results to the end of April 2022 may show a return to profit, and this is despite trading with very severe restrictions especially through the first quarter of the financial year beginning May 2021'. 

We have to bear in mind that accounts publishing today from April 2021 are also not a full reflection of where we have now thankfully arrived at 9 further months onwards.

In summary, I think it's now fair to say upon reflection, that having taken the £1M hit as at summer 2020, we have somehow subsequently managed thereafter, and admittedly to say the very least that it has been a truly epic challenge on the hospitality rollercoaster, but we have held our financial ground and are broadly speaking at break-even since then, despite all ongoing trading restrictions, and despite the further instructed total lockdown of hospitality in December 2020. 'Close or become a Takeaway!', we thankfully chose the latter! 

Underlined, this subsequent circumstance has been significantly assisted by all phased hospitality grant assistance, summer 2020 furlough during hospitality closure, temporary Business Rates Relief, and temporary reductions in the rates of tourism vat. It's truly staggering to think of what hospitality has actually been through. 

And this takes me to my next paragraph in Strategic Report: 

'Since re-opening July 6^th 2020 after 3 full months of closure in that financial year, we applied extreme levels of innovation to enable us to somehow continue to trade during enforced restrictions. Otherwise the new loss amounts would potentially have been very significantly worse. Our directors pay tribute to our entire hotel brigade for embracing all such ongoing innovation, and we thank our local community for truly incredible support during the unprecedented pandemic circumstances'.

Well where to even begin? In the interests of keeping this blog post brief (and anyone reading can of course head back into the blog timeline to drill into the details of each phase of the two year adventure), by way of very quick summary today: 

- Spring 2020 by circumstances alone, creating of Virtual Reality prospective new wedding client showrounds.

- On 6th July 2020 Balbirnie House became Scotland's first cashless hotel. 

- Summer 2020 starting only with 12 of us, and working only with 10 Gazebos for Bistro al Fresco on south lawns, we were quickly able to become busy enough to bring all of the brigade back to work. What a summer that was. (Excluding my birthday in August 2020 and a late summer week away in a motor home (for sanity purposes!) it would be a full year before I could justify taking another single day off work.) Support over the opening months and ongoing from our local community defied belief, our sincere gratitude as always. 

- From a standing start, through summer 2020 we would go on to rack 10,000 App Orders. Incredible.

- August 2020 became the busiest month we've ever seen, for incoming new wedding bookings. (January is normally always the busiest month, via festive season engagements.)

- Autumn 2020 we launched 'Food in the Woods', in our Millennium Ballroom. No booze allowed!

- So, Winter 2020 launched 'North Courtyard Bevvy Zone'. 

- January 2021 started Balbirnie Takeaway, with 1,000 orders in week one. Still cannot believe that happened! Once again, local community support was simply incredible. A thousand thank yous for that first week alone. I am still speechless! 

- Having budgeted for unrestricted trading onwards from end April 2021, May, June, July and the first 9 days of August however, saw severe restrictions on numbers of guests able to attend weddings. 

- Through spring 2021, £250,000 invested into upgrading kitchens. 

- June 2021 we then re-opened Balbirnie Takeaway in a brand new purpose-designed kitchen. 

- Since August 10th 2021, we have been working with restrictions ongoing. 

- September 2021 we opened the phenomenal value Seven at The Orangery originally as a 4 month pop-up to thank our local community, it has been so successful in concept and truly unprecedented guest feedback nudging 100% approval and delight, that we are continuing into the future. 

- Then of course, the next pandemic stinger when in December 2021 we saw government telling everyone to avoid festive parties etc. Ah well, onwards we go!

- January 2022 and 350 metres of new festoon lighting provides a new backdrop for external dining up on our top (southern) lawns. North Courtyard can similarly be used. 

Amongst all of this journey, our amazing wedding planning team continued with the same mentality as during the first lockdown, simply doing their absolute best for every single wedding client, amongst the evolution of 30 phases of policy, doing our utmost to adapt and keep helping clients in absolutely as far as we could so so. 

The end results? The busiest calendar years we have ever seen before for wedding numbers in a year, are 2014 and 2015 with 163 weddings and 165 weddings respectively. 

Today in the 2022 calendar year we currently have diarised confirmed bookings for a record-breaking 184 weddings!!!  

And if I may be so bold as to say so, that is a modern era Balbirnie hospitality miracle! 

During the first lockdown in 2020 I would have a walk in and around Balbirnie House every day over those 4 months with Balfour the hotel Cocker Spaniel (we live in Balbirnie Park). At that point my very lovely wife and fellow company director Gaynor was working from home every day, liaising ongoing remotely with our many future wedding clients. Senior Wedding Co-ordinator Christine Lowe was doing the same. In this ongoing process I could see that our clients were most thankfully not cancelling their intended weddings, they were staying with us, but postponing. 

Positivity amongst hopelessness, hope amongst pandemic fear, and a wished-for future of one day eventually hearing 'normal life' returning in and around the house. Laughter from kitchens, the house piper tuning up, drumsticks crisp on a snare drum, the resonating vibrations of a wedding gong from the day's MC. Weddings apart, the usual background of Euro downtempo groove on the sound systems. The eeriest thing of all in that first lockdown, was the sheer silence of everything. 

So, here we are today. Two years through a financial grinder, and now most thankfully getting firmly financially back on track back to where we were before the pandemic. Fingers and toes crossed that there are no further lockdowns! 

Many hospitality operators were 'clinging on' before the pandemic, never mind the implications of Brexit. Many have very sadly not survived, and others especially in remote locations and unable to recruit EU nationals, have closed as they cannot find staff locally. We are very thankful firstly that we have Rebecca Harper at Balbirnie in the human resource role of Talent and Culture Manager, and secondly that we are surrounded by a very significant local population, so we are fully staffed and ready for our busiest year in history. 

Whilst the buck at Balbirnie stops at MD Balbirnie, our decision-making through these last two years has been from across the span of our entire management team. It'll certainly be a couple of years that we won't ever be able to forget. As always, I pay tribute to our team. 

Our many blessings counted, bring on the future! 

All best wishes, yours in Hospitality,

Nicholas MD Balbirnie House