London Wedding Planner

Anyone that knows me will tell you one of my favourite pastimes is, in the words of Nicey and Wifey , to have a “nice cup of tea and a sit down”! This is how I start every working day after taking Mr HCW to the train station and walking the dog, how I accompany my spreadsheet and list making, and how I wind down at the end of the day, usually snuggled up in bed with a cookie or two on the side. If you add in clotted cream scones alongside you’ve pretty much got my idea of heaven!

So after much diary checking and at least three re-schedules, I was very happy last week to finally be making my way into London for afternoon tea with my very good friend and fellow wedding planner Andri, for an afternoon of wedding chat, gossip, brainstorming and plenty of giggling – bliss!

After considerable deliberation we decided on Hush , a quirky little restaurant tucked away in a pretty little Mayfair courtyard away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Andri’s decision was mainly based on the surroundings, mine was on the selection of scones and pastries on offer! And I wasn’t disappointed. We dined upstairs in the light and contemporary silver room, which has an atmosphere luxurious enough to feel like you are being pampered, yet sufficiently relaxed that you can lean back in your chair after eating feeling utterly contented.

In addition to being a tea lover I’m also partial to the odd nip of gin, and Hush offers the perfect combination in the Hendrick’s High Tea. A selection of classic English sandwiches, warm clotted cream scones and mini macarons coupled with your choice of loose leaf tea and a gin cocktail – clearly conceived by type of person!

I opted for the Wolfsberry martini – gin infused with rose petals and Goji berries, Goji liquer and an edible flower. Pretty, girly and delicious! This was subsequently followed by a molecular Lady Grey cocktail – a combination of gin and lemon juice with Earl Grey tea foam. Yum yum yum! Now before you think I’m a total gin soap and get the wrong impression, I didn’t know the second cocktail was coming – it just appeared as part of the tea! And of course, it would be rude not to have tried it…

I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon tea, and the setting makes it a lovely choice for a relaxed hen afternoon with your favourite girls. It’s also accessible to everyone price-wise – a classic afternoon tea costs £8.75, the Mayfair Tea (includes sandwiches) is priced at £17 and the Hendrick’s High Tea with 2 gin cocktails comes in at just under £25.

Having said that, Hush could also be an ideal place for an alternative wedding reception. If you’re looking for something completely informal yet sophisticated there’s the brasserie downstairs which opens directly onto the courtyard, or if you simply want to have a night on the town the cocktail lounge upstairs has a wonderfully intimate atmosphere and is a great place to start your party.

However, if the whole informal get-together thing really isn’t for you there are also a number of private dining rooms available to hire. These can be hired individually for smaller functions for as few as 12 people, or combined together to accommodate up to 85 people for dinner or 160 guests for a standing reception.

The great thing about these rooms is that they are completely self-contained, so they have their own reception drinks area, private cloakroom and bathrooms, a separate private kitchen and their own bar. And with an average canapé price of £2 per bite and 3-course menus starting from £35, it isn’t going to break the bank to have your reception slap-bang in the heart of the city.

So next time you’re in London struggling with armfuls of shopping or trying to negotiate your way through crowds of tourists, take a leaf out of my book and have a nice cup of tea and a sit down…

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Photo credits :
Clotted cream scone: Flickr
Silver room: Afternoon Tea
Astonishingly bad photo of afternoon tea (!): Helen Carter
Brasserie: Fluid London and Hush
Courtyard: Restaurant Vouchers Live
Private dining rooms: Crazy Cow Events and Hush

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