Wedding Butler

  What is the Star and Lion? For the 2025/26 football season, I was asked to manage a specific room at Aston Villa Football Club, the Star and Lion. It was my ninth season at the club and a return to being there for every game, having spent the previous season filling in whenever a room needed management cover. One of sixteen hospitality settings at Villa Park, the Star and Lion was situated in the North Stand, seating around 150 guests who could enjoy a two-course meal served buffet-style from our open kitchen, purchase drinks from our bar and then take their seats in the North Stand just across the concourse. Doors opened two and a half hours before kick-off and, at every game, guests would be visited by our host and former player Pat Heard, along with other previous Aston Villa players, for a pre-match chat and opportunities for meet and greet. That describes the room. It doesn't describe the atmosphere. What Was the Goal? I was tasked with creating an atmosphere that would help...

  Firewood Film Traditionally, wedding days orbit the bride - and wedding fairs have always followed suit. On the morning of the wedding, the bridal party is surrounded by hair, makeup, champagne and breakfast. She’s supported, celebrated, and made to feel - rightly - like a princess. The Groom’s Invisible Morning Meanwhile, the groom… arrives. There’s no prep suite for him. No one checking his suit. No one fixing his tie or straightening his buttonhole. No one helping with fiddly cufflinks. He’s expected to be ready and greet guests and meet the registrars and keep track of the rings and have his speech to hand.   I’ve lost count of the number of grooms fiddling with cufflinks – or trying to find his cufflinks – when he should be with the registrars. It’s always the cufflinks – and yes, I carry spares! Yes, he has a best man - but few of those are chosen for their organisational skills. The Pint Problem For too many men, “groom prep” means turning up and havin...

  Of course you can. When you’re planning a wedding there’s all sorts of things you need to ask — and not just “shall we invite Aunty Vera” or “champagne or prosecco?” You can ask Reddit, you can ask ChatGPT… or you can ask someone with decades of experience. I’ve not seen everything, but I’ve seen a lot. And I’m quite sure many couples get home from a wedding fair - or even a venue look‑round - weighed down with leaflets, minds buzzing, and then realise they didn’t ask the questions they should have. So here are the questions couples ask online, the ones they forget to ask in person, and the ones that genuinely matter on the day. Do we need a wedding coordinator if our venue already has one? “The venue does that” is one of the phrases I hear most at wedding fairs - and it’s the one that worries me the most. Your venue may allocate a member of staff to be the coordinator for the day, but that doesn’t make them a wedding expert. Sometimes it’s a new hire in their first job. Somet...

  When I’m wearing my full butler “regalia”, I often get comments on how smart I look – and I tend to brush them off as “just my workwear”. But in reality, it isn’t just workwear. When I’m working, I wear full tails: a black tailcoat, grey striped trousers, a formal shirt, waistcoat, and either a tie or bow tie. Every element is intentional. At some weddings and events, you’ll see a toastmaster – distinguished by their red coat (technically “Hunting Pink”), a white waistcoat, white tie, and usually a medallion denoting their guild. I deliberately chose not to go down that route. I’ve worked with excellent toastmasters, including one in the City of London, and I understand their formal wear and their traditions. I’ve adapted their look, but not their style, because I want to present something more contemporary while still holding onto certain traditions. Their approach has remained largely unchanged; mine evolves with modern weddings and modern couples. The way I dress for a ...

  You can pour your soul out singing a song you believe in, knowing tomorrow they might forget you ever sang. Sing it anyway. There was a time when Martina McBride’s Sing It Anyway became a personal mantra - muttered under my breath on agency shifts, whispered in the back corridors of venues where standards rose and fell depending on who was on the rota. Working as an agency waiter and a freelance manager, alongside building the Wedding Butler means stepping into rooms with wildly different levels of service, competence, and care. Many of you will know the feeling: doing your best while others around you…aren’t. Hospitality is one of the few industries where you can technically “do your job” by doing the bare minimum — put plates on tables, clear them again, repeat. Or you can do your job well and deliver genuine guest service. The difference is night and day, and yet both are called “hospitality.” Throughout my career, I’ve sworn I will only work at one level - my level . My sta...

  Remember when a cardboard box was a rocket ship or a racing car? When the end of your garden was a prehistoric world? When swimming at the local pool was actually swimming across the Channel? Remember when dreams were so much simpler? “Cause every night I lie in bed The brightest colours fill my head A million dreams are keeping me awake.” When you take those million dreams and apply them to your wedding day, does it really need to get so complicated - and so expensive? Actually, no. Even Cinderella’s fairy godmother made use of a pumpkin and some handy rodents. Everyone dreams of their wedding day - how it will be, how it will feel. We tend not to dream about how much it will cost. It’s so easy to get carried away with spending, or get frustrated that you can’t afford everything you want. You can fly to the moon - just not necessarily on a Swarovski‑encrusted rocket ship. And maybe not in an Amazon delivery box (although you’ll probably have plenty to spare). Whate...