August see's the Season Drawing to a Close

With 2 months of pandemonium in June and July there were some weary workers in the ranks but as the summer drew to a close the seasonal workers were in high spirits as they were closing in on their return to University – as most of them had already said that Uni was a much easier holiday than their supposed Summer Holiday!!

The first week of August started as busy as the previous weeks with a mixture of weddings, balls, Union Shows, Rugby Internationals, garden parties and also a new one for everyone with 3 marquees being erected near Denholm in Hawick for the Scottish National Sheepdog trials. The two weddings that were taking place this weekend were both situated very local with one being held in the Harmony House Gardens in Melrose and another literally two minutes down the road on the outskirts of Melrose. The Festival Inns (now G1 Group) had a marquee up at the Murrayfield Hotel in Edinburgh for the Scotland Rugby International that was happening on this weekend. The furniture was provided to the marquee in the grounds of the Lauderdale Hotel for the traditional Lauder Ball and there was also pagodas erected in Blainslie for a garden party and the week came to an end with a small marquee being put up in the Duns Show Ground for Countryside Kitchens in Kelso.

The following week brought a trip down to England with a large wedding being held at Lartington, County Durham. This again brought a week where the squads were split to attend to all the requirements of the clients over this busy weekend. The marquee that was up at Harmony House was kept up for a wedding this weekend which meant that extra stress of getting this marquee up and down was lifted from the team. There was also the Hendersyde Horse Trials just outside of Kelso taking place as well. The team then had trips to Cardrona and West Lothian respectively for weddings, the wedding at Cardrona being on a tennis court showing the versatility of our marquees and our ability to suit the client’s needs. There was also a Book Festival at Traquair House on this weekend and a gallery package was put together at Mellerstain House for a wedding. The end of the week brought a first for Best Intent with a marquee put up for a 100^th Birthday Party in Fairnington just outside of Maxton. No matter what the occasion is there is no tent too big or too small, Best Intent will always provide our remarkable service at all times. This week also brought the last weekend of the small marquee that had been situated in the Abbotsford House Estate for the full summer.

With the final week of the busy summer there was no respite for everyone as this week proved to be just as busy as the rest of the summer had been. With 5 weddings and the Pipe Band Festival taking place in the Gibson Park in Melrose the team were kept on their toes. There was a wedding on the Friday afternoon in Jedburgh as well as weekend weddings at Kippilaw, North Berwick, Middleton Moor and Aspatria everyone was well travelled by the end of the week. The Pipe Band Festival required a small marquee for Richie Gray’s Bar and there was also a small marquee put up at Floors Castle for the Household Cavalry event.

With all these jobs completed with style the busiest months were brought to a close. Best Intent would like to thank all the seasonal workers who helped over the summer months and wish them well with their studies over the coming year. We hope to see you all again at the beginning of next year.

July Sees The Summer in Full Flow

After a crazy month in June with Scotland and the North of England being provided with luxurious marquees for weddings, corporate events, cocktail parties and lunch parties, July seemed to start on a smaller scale. The first week brought a wedding, a 21st birthday party and the return of the Sound Music Festival to Scott Park in Galashiels. The team worked hard early on in the week with the de-rigging of marquees and the erecting of the jobs in Ancrum and St Mary’s in Melrose to earn a couple of well-earned days off at the end of the week. This rest was not to continue however with the coming weeks being very busy again and the old phrase of ‘The Busiest Week Ever’ still had a few more outings over the coming weeks.

The weekend 9th July saw 5 weddings and a drinks party on the calendar, which again meant long hours to ensure that the marquees were looking up to scratch for everyone’s big day. There was a local drinks party at Minto aswell as a wedding at Kersmains just outside of Kelso in the Scottish Borders area, but this week also found the team taking three different trips to Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. There were large marquees put up for weddings in Currie on a tennis court and Dunbar in a field looking onto the sea as well as a smaller marquee formulation being constructed in a small garden in South Queensferry, showing the adaptability of the team to fit marquees into any space to suit our clients’ individual requirements.
The middle of July saw some different projects for the team to deal with including doing the interior of a barn to get it up to standard for the wedding as well as a wedding at Preston Hall in Pathhead and another in Kelso. With the week after being an extremely hectic week a marquee was constructed a week in advance in St Andrews to try and take away some of the stresses the following week to make sure that everything ran smoothly.

With the job in St Andrews already up there were more weddings in store for the penultimate weekend in July. There were two weddings in the Hawick area with one overlooking the Vertish Hill and the other being just outside Hawick in Hassendean. There were also different jobs in store in this week with a party in Glasgow that required some delicate touches and also providing furniture to Kippilaw for a wedding. Best Intent are quite happy to hire out our furniture for your event including chairs, tables and staging so don’t be tricked into thinking that the business is just a ‘one trick pony’ and only provides marquees, it is a lot more diverse.
The final week in July found the team making two seperate trips across the Forth Road Bridge to the Perth area for two different weddings. Milnathort was the first venue with 4 small marquees being erected in the back garden of a private house followed by another wedding in Balbeggie. There was a triathlon at St Mary’s Loch which required a marquee for the after party at Tibbieshiels and also a small wedding at Birgham just outside Kelso. The end of the week brought the Medics party at the Borders General Hospital, pagodas at Musselburgh Races for their latest meeting and the Border Union Show at Kelso where we had been contracted by 5 corporate clients all requiring small marquees where they could meet and greet their customers and showcase their wares.

July came and went in the blink of an eye and August, the last month of the seasonal workers before they all head back to their respective Universities, was looming fast.

June - The Month of Madness

With the Rugby 7s season closing up at the end of May and the Hearts for Heroes Challenge behind us, June brought the beginning of the busy wedding season. The start of the month found an extremely big job at Haddington being coupled with a wedding in the Tweedsmuir valley. The team were also back at Musselburgh Racecourse to put up pagodas for their latest meet and we also did a lunch on the Winton Estate in East Lothian. The following week the team had to de-rig these jobs quickly as the busiest 3 week period of the year was looming. There were weddings all over the country this week with the team rushing round to ensure that everything was perfect for all the clients. This even involved a late Friday night trip to Aberfeldy to cater for a customer’s last minute needs – displaying the flexibile and personal service that Best Intent prides itself on. There was a mixture of traditional poled marquees (in Westruther and Melrose) and clearspan framed marquees (in Gifford and Aberfeldy and at Traquair House).

There was no rest as the next week brought the Borders Book Festival at Harmony House Gardens with 7 tents being erected of all different sizes to cater for all the different Festival events. With all the marquees required to be up for the Tuesday the start of the week was hectic – we had to get the previous weeks’ marquees de-rigged and there were some long hours worked to ensure completion for the Book Festival’s deadline. There was also a meeting at Musselburgh Racecourse this week –as well as the usual pagodas that go up there was also a marquee required on the Queens Lawn for the Owners and Trainers. The end of the week was also busy with weddings at Cardross, just north of Glasgow, and Sprouston to end a strenuous week and the week that Charles proclaimed to be ‘The Busiest Week Ever’ (this isn’t the first time this term was to be used over the course of the summer).

The following week was the one that had caught the attention of Philip and was the week that he had pinpointed as ‘The Busiest Week Ever’ so the team were once again prepared to work around the clock. With the Borders Book Festival finished the large marquee was transferred just down the road to Annay Road for the Melrose Ball. There were 3 weddings in this week with the squads being split to be able to get all the jobs completed in time for the weekends festivities. Half the team went west to Ayrshire and the other half went South for a foray into the North of England for another wedding in Alnwick. There was also a local wedding in Selkirk and a party in Maxton to keep the team busy before the week ended with everyone being reunited for a trip to Annan to rig up a marquee for the Pipe Band Championships over that weekend.

This weekend brought to the close the end of the hectic month that was June. There were a lot of tired bodies and minds but a very successful month and a lot of happy customers. Bring on July!!!!!

May day mizzle, but the parties carry on!

May continued the 7’s trend, with Earlston and Selkirk in quick succession - well done Richie Gray at The Bar for keeping going!!

Other sporting events in May were more equine minded, with Mosshouses Point to Point at the beginning of the month and Floors Castle Horse Trials towards the end. We saw more adventure based events with the Hearts and Heroes challenge mid month, taking participants from Tibbieshiels to the Greenyards via Traquair and Fairnilee, and an Action Challenge stop off at Moffat RFC.

May marquee celebrations included a 21st birthday party in Thornhill, a christening in Kelso and weddings in Selkirk, Kinross, Galashiels, Melrose and Arrochar!

March races on, with much more planned..

This week Charlie and Steph enjoyed hospitality at Kelso races with Rosie Cully of Rosie's Catering - many thanks to Rosie, and good to catch up with Belinda Wares of Michael Wares Cater Hire also. Steph doubled her money so great day all round!

We also enjoyed a day at the Buccleuch Point to Point on Saturday where our marquees surround the paddock - thanks to the organisers and sponsors for their repeat custom at this event. We've just had confirmation that we will be supplying the marquees again for the Hearts and Heroes Challenge event in May, which starts at Tibbie Shiels and culminates at Melrose RFC. This is a great event for a great cause so if you like a physical challenge get signed up at http://www.heartsandheroes.co.uk/. We've also had confirmation of supply for the Edinburgh half Marathon in Edinburgh, which culminates at Musselburgh Racecourse.

Otherwise the planning continues, June is fully booked and the team are hitting the gym ahead of a very busy summer.... Putting up tents is another physical challenge so if there are any strong boys living locally who want to finish the summer looking buff and are willing to work long hours get in touch!!!

February, and the activity heats up even if the weather doesn’t!

February was a brave choice for a big marquee wedding but apart from some very wet and windy weather at the start of the week (and some restrictions on vehicle access!) it was a great success. Justin Orde took over the reins at Gill Orde in Catering for the first time and did an amazing job. We brought Finix in to do the lighting and once again they created an oasis of warmth on what was a fairly raw February night.

The marquee was designed with a luscious honey beige carpet, black and white dancefloor, panels of fairylights on the ceiling and lots of warm greens and golds in the table centres and floral displays. Marquee heaters kept the inside cosy while outside Finix's lighting cast a majestic glow over the house and surrounding trees.

The rest of the month has seen marquees at the Murrayfield Hotel for the first of Scotland's Six Nations matches at home, and the Point to Point marquee at Friarshaugh still stands proud until the next meeting for the Buccleuch Hunt on the 19th March.

Meanwhile Steph and Karen beaver away in the office dispatching quotes and planning ahead for the busy summer months... time flies when you're having fun!

January - a month for meetings and planning!!

January was a month for meetings and mad planning! Meetings are not just a means for us to get business, it's also imperative that we familiarise ourselves with every site that will be accommodating one of our marquees and, particularly when it comes to weddings, it is also very important that we meet our clients face to face and start to develop a good working relationship right from the start.

Ultimately a marquee is a marquee - most of us in the industry get our marquees from the same manufacturers and, certainly when it comes to the clearspan framed marquees, the basic structure is the fairly standard. The difference with Best Intent Marquees comes from our service and the fact that we want to help our clients customise their marquees to match their vision for their event, whilst bearing in mind their available budgets. The traditional poled marquees offer something slightly different, as there are very few of us supplying them nowadays and as such they are in high demand. We are actually just in the process of renewing and replacing a lot of our stock for the traditional poled marquee, as while other companies are trying to move away from this style of marquee, for us it is a key product.

Indeed the January planning always leads to some quite major reinvestment - at the moment this year we have focused on a new lorry and forklift and new traditional marquees, but no doubt as we go through our orders for the rest of the year we will find other things we need to buy, upgrade and expand. This is an inevitable part of our business, as we always want to feel that our clients are getting the best of everything - particularly when it comes to their wedding day.

A very happy Christmas from Best Intent Marquees...

December is a time for Christmas parties and New Year celebrations. Despite a few clients cancelling for weather reasons, we still managed to provide a high school party marquee, furniture for Melrose Rugby Club and a New Year tent in Edinburgh. Otherwise, December is a good month for planning and maintenance. Christmas is always a popular time for people to get engaged, so we revved up the website and waited for the enquiries to come in, which - thankfully - they did! Thank you so much to everyone who used Best Intent Marquees in 2010 and to everyone who has chosen/will choose to use us in 2011 and beyond! We really enjoy the work we do, the challenges each event throws at us and the different visions people have for their marquee weddings, parties and corporate gatherings. Thank you to all of you for allowing us to keep doing what we love doing and please keep telling us where we can improve so that we can get better and busier year on year.

November marquees in the snow, wind and rain...

Unusually, November was quite a busy month. The first weekend in November saw us provide wedding marquees locally at Thirlestane Castle and Abbotsford. Later in the month we did marquees at the Murrayfield Hotel in Edinburgh where they provide a marquee bar and hospitality for the Autumn Rugby Internationals.  The weather in November proved to be quite a challenge for putting up the marquees for the corporate events and weddings across Scotland. We just managed to get the marquees at Lennoxlove done for the Lennoxlove Book Festival, before the snow came down....

The weekend of 27th saw us do two marquees for 21st birthday parties in Chirnside and Newcastleton, and while we managed to get on site to put them up no bother, it took a few days before we got back to take them down!

October finishes with an explosion of colour and light and two big marquee weddings...

October was - as you might expect - a quieter month. We did a couple of small marquee events in the Scottish Borders during the month, but then the last weekend of the month saw a big weekend of marquee weddings, with previous clients celebrating a second daughter's wedding in Gorebridge, and an old borders family wedding at Philiphaugh House, Selkirk. The weather was against us during the week but we worked hard and were rewarded with a lovely sunny day on the Saturday. At Philiphaugh we once again teamed up with Finix Productions with some wonderful interior and exterior lighting as a result.

With our wonderful student team back at university the workforce was slightly depleted so the partners were a bit tired come the weekend, but we were delighted that both clients - both of whom we had worked with before - enjoyed their days.

September brought with it a Circus themed 21st and a second Best Intent baby!!

The beginning of September took us to Rowchester House near Duns, where Leonard Harper Gow holds the annual Rowchester House music festival. This particular event was a 21st with a circus theme, where Event Den worked their magic on the tent. This was certainly first time we have laid down bright red and blue carpeting in stripes!

John Brown brought the black and white dancefloor and Tower did the lighting. The following weekend we were at the top of Calton Hill providing a ceremony marquee

and later in the month we were in Fort William doing marquees for the Across the Divide challenge.

Once again we took marquees to Musselburgh Races, furniture to Abbotsford and installed a gallery package at Mellerstain. Oh yes, and Stephanie and Charles had the second Best Intent baby - Alfie - on 13th September!

The summer mayhem continues into August, with horse events, weddings, and races

We started the month with two horse related marquees - one being for the Lauder Festival Ball at the Lauderdale Hotel, and the other for our friends the Agnews at the brilliantly well organised Hendersyde Horse Trials. Continuing in the sporting vein, later in the month we also supplied some striking looking pagodas at the fabulous Musselburgh races.

We also headed back to our busiest venue, the Philipburn, provided several marquees at the wonderful Traquair House, and supplied furniture at the beautiful Mellerstain House. We also did the wedding of two childhood sweethearts at their old school, Clifton Hall near Edinburgh – very romantic! The weekend of the 21st August was one of our busiest and most spread out weekends, with big weddings in Perth, Elgin and Dumfries - not helped by our lorry breaking down en route to Elgin, but the team pulled together and all our clients had a lovely weekend. Thanks must go to Jock Borthwick and Ian McFadyen from Bordaloo who helped us get the lorry back on the road.

We also did some unusual wall and ceiling decor that weekend - with butterfly drapes and vintage chandeliers in Dumfries and Cornish Cream lining supplied by Arabian tents, in Perth.

The last weekend of the month took us to Monteviot where we also supplied our first ever wedding night yurt! This wedding also saw us working with some top quality event suppliers in Scotland - Wilde Thyme catering, Finix Productions, Carnival Chaos and Sitting Pretty.

From Lochgilphead to Cambridgeshire... Best Intent Marquees travel!

July was another extremely busy month, which saw Best Intent Marquees travelling to the furthest corners of their geographical reach, going to Lochgilphead one weekend, and Cambridgeshire the next! We also had the most variable weather of almost any month, with gale force winds all over Scotland at the beginning of the month and one of the hottest days of the year in Cambridgeshire. Lucky that couple has a giant swan to cool off in on the lake!!

Once again we were back at two of our favourite venues, Abbotsford House in Melrose and the Philipburn Hotel in Melrose. We also supplied marquees for some of our close family and friends this month, including the elder Robson brother Laing who married our marketing consultant Sophie, at her parents farm near Huntingdon, and one of our catering friends Marcus Barnett who married New Zealand native Kimberley. We finished the month with several marquees at Kelso Show, with corporate clients including Douglas Home Accountants and CKD Galbraith.

A most glamorous month of June weddings

The first weekend in June was beautifully sunny, perfectly timed for one of our busiest wedding weekends with marquees at Winton House (the cottage venue) and private venues in Galashiels, St Boswells and Duns. We also supplied the Owners and Trainers marquee at Musselburgh Races, where one of our favourite caterers, Rosie Cully, provides sumptious food and hospitality.

The biggest wedding of the weekend involved a magical service at Melrose Abbey, followed by a breathtaking reception at Glenmayne House near Galashiels, for our great friends the Gilberts. We worked with a tried and tested team combining the brilliant Gill Orde in Catering, Finix Productions and Bordaloo, where the black and white striped loo unit - situated in a powder room marquee complete with chaise longue - went down a treat with the celebrity-dotted guest list. Unusually for a wedding, we installed a black starcloth ceiling throughout the marquee for a sophisticated cocktail bar feel - and finishing touches included a champagne carpet, a black and white dancefloor, a red carpet walkway entrance, a picket fenced area for Ascot style socialising, a band from Paris and diamonds in the white rose and candelabra table centres.

The marquee set up, and ready for the arrival of a bevvy of glamorous guests

The sophisticated lighting and beautiful candelabras set the tone for a fabulous evening

Red carpet entrance fit for royalty, we are ready Kate and William...

The next day we transformed the marquee for a lunch, replacing the champagne carpet with a fresh green one, evocative of a Wimbledon tennis lawn, and the black starcloth lining with elegant ivory. The Red Hot Chilli Pipers provided wonderful surprise entertainment on the Sunday, enabling the guests to dance the afternoon away with more cocktails. The clients also kindly offered the marquee for the Duke of Buccleuch Hunt ladies lunch on the Tuesday, so it was one of the most well used marquees in the calendar!

Picket fence area for socialising outside, and enjoying the view

The fresh Sunday look, ready for more guests and more celebrating!