Finding our reception venue

Unlike the ceremony venue, whose selection was a total no-brainer, the reception venue was more of a challenge. At first we thought we might even just host it at our place, unsure how many friends would even bother with a trip on such short notice. But clearly we're more popular than we'd realized, and soon our guest list numbers had exceeded the capacity of our home.. And so, the hunt began.

Our options were wide open. Our budget, less so. There were hotels, the pier, the cabaret, seafront restaurants, the bandstand. And nobody advertised their pricing online. So wave after wave of email got sent out, and slowly the responses started trickling in.

I nearly squealed with delight in the middle of our meeting with our photographer when the email appeared on my phone telling me Alfresco would be available, even moreso when I saw their prices. At Alfresco, no matter the weather, our guests will be able to enjoy an evening on the seafront, a perfect complement to the Royal Pavilion when trying to show off the best of Brighton in just one day.

Alfresco, a family-run Italian restaurant on the Brighton seafront, where we'll be hosting our wedding reception.

Three days after that email pinged my phone, the event coordinator and myself were face to face, chatting logistics for a seafront wedding reception catered by one of Brighton's best chefs. I can still hardly believe we can actually afford this. And on that note, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to both Nicolas's and my parents for their generosity throughout this wedding. For people who've just fallen on hard times, we seem to be unusually lucky.