The Parochial Hall in Kenilworth is where we held our wedding reception. Although we live in Kenilworth, before we started wedding planning we never even knew it existed. Its hard to explain but even though it’s a huge hall with a rather grand frontage it’s one of those places that just seems to be invisible unless you’re actually looking for it. Anyway, apart from the practicalities (huge space, walking distance from the castle) the real reason we chose it was because we fell in love with it’s old world charm as soon as we walked in. It is an old village hall in true British style. It has scrubbed wooden floors, a proper stage, a little kitchen and notice boards for the Brownies and the Scouts. Leighton said it instantly transported him back to his childhood days. I think just about everyone has a place like this tucked away in their own childhood memories. As you can probably tell, we love the place. Trouble is, over the years, it has become very well loved. Like an old favourite teddy bear, the hall is a bit worn around the edges, and that’s putting it politely. Happy news though – the Restoration Appeal that has been running for months and months has raised lots of money and work has finally started on a major face lift.

Today we took part in a tile decorating workshop, run by the wonderfully helpful Sarah Ellis of Dragon Ceramics. The finished tiles are for the hall’s brand new kitchen so once they’re in place they will be there for decades and generations of people will see them. What a great idea!

Here’s our little ceramic commemoration of a day and a place that have a very special place in our hearts.

The finished article will look even better. Sarah will go over the lettering for us in black and the green dots we used as guides to get it all nice and neat will be burned off in the kiln. Also, the colours will look much brighter once the tile has been fired and glazed. Can’t wait to see it!

Here’s the Parochial Hall all dressed up for our big day, photography by ashmorevisuals