Stories from Southlands Hotel, by Iris Ansell: 4. The Wedding
Iris Ansell, who as a volunteer at Fairlynch Museum
looked after the Costume Department, recalls more memorable moments from her
time as proprietor of Southlands Hotel on Budleigh Salterton's Marine Parade.
This is one of a series of her recollections.
This is one of a series of her recollections.
In the Quiet Season, i.e. the winter months, we,
like most hotels who open all the year round, do not have so many guests in
these months, so to keep our staff on, nearly all the Saturdays we catered for
weddings.
Southlands Hotel brochure, part of the Nick Loman Collection
These were not the expensive occasions they are
today, but much quieter low-key affairs, usually finishing with the departure
of the bride and groom at 5.00 pm and all the other guests soon after.
We did however have some funny moments during the
happy events.
The Bridal Cake, often made by the bride’s
Mother, was made with not the hard royal icing used by professional bakers but
soft fondant icing, easier to cut and easier to eat.
Image credit: Ruth Clemens, The Great British Wedding Cake
Unfortunately it was not hard enough to withstand the weight of another cake or cakes standing on columns, sometimes three or even four tiers high.
One wedding in particular, the Chef and I were
waiting for the ‘cake cutting’ to take it away to slice up to hand round with
champagne, the Bride’s Father, who should have spoken after the cutting,
because he was nervous and wanted to get his speech out as quickly as possible,
stood up to speak before this could be done.
His speech was many pages long and
went on and on. Unfortunately the icing on the cake began to move and the whole
cake started to slide. All eyes were on the cake, nobody listening to the
Father, who was quite oblivious to the whole thing. Thankfully the Best Man
could see what was happening, and was able to shut father up.
Just in time, and
all was well and enjoyed a really lovely cake.
Another time, another Mother had made the cake,
how long ago we don’t know, but no alcohol in it as the family were teetotal.
She had it professionally iced and looked wonderful. When we took it away to
slice up found it to have mildew under the icing.
We just couldn’t send it out. I sent the young
commis-chef on his bike to buy some slab cake from the local shop, and with the
white icing nobody knew. If she had actually made the cake, or where she got it
and how long ago I never found out, but a tricky moment.
We also had an elderly gentleman turn up at three
weddings on the trot until we twigged that he had just come in out of cold for
a free meal!
Southlands Hotel in its heyday
More stories to come! Get in touch with me if you'd like to tell an interesting, amusing - or a sad story - about life at one of Budleigh's traditional hotels.
The previous Southlands Hotel story was told at
Iris' next story, 5. 'Mr Punyverse', can be read at https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/09/stories-from-southlands-hotel-by-iris.html
Comments
Post a Comment