Official engagement photo

We realise that some of you might only know one of us, so thought that it would be nice to post a picture of the two of us. Heather's dad, Tom, is a photographer, and took this one of us at Christmas in Canada - I think he may have "enhanced" my teeth as my smile is looking very white. Say it ain't so, Tom...

Where the hell is Henley?

Diarmuid Writes...

Sonia (Heather's Mum) made the good point that lots of our friends from overseas (or what I used to call "The Former Colonies" before I had the error of my ways pointed out to me) might not know where Henley was in relation to anywhere. With that in mind and to help people make the right hotel choices here is some more information and a map...

To link to a zoomable map centred on the church, click here...

Henley is the small town just to the north of Reading in the map above. It is around 30 miles west of London and 25 miles South-East of Oxford - Heathrow is 20 minutes away by car, but to get a car to central London takes an hour because of traffic. Shiplake (where we are actually getting married) is 2 miles outside Henley towards Reading (about 6 miles further).

There are good train services to Shiplake and Henley from London Paddington - trains run around once per hour and take an hour, or alternatively there are about 6 express trains per hour from London to Reading that take 25 mins.

Henley itself is a beautiful market town on the river but it is quite small - it would make a good base to visit Oxford (I believe there is a bus) and there are lots of surrounding villages which are very quaint but for which you would need a car.

In planning accommodation it would be totally feasible to stay in London until the Saturday and then get a train to Shiplake or Henley for the wedding - but better to stay in Henley area or Reading or Marlow after the wedding. There are a number of taxi services in Henley to take you to nearby towns and villages, and the wedding will also be over in time to get the last train to Reading if you prefer.

If you then want to head back to "TFC" directly from Henley after the wedding celebrations (like the next day or Monday!) a taxi to Heathrow would cost around £30. If for any reason you are going to Gatwick Airport there's a train every hour from Reading taking around 90 minutes.

If you want to spend time in London before the wedding we're researching cheap accommodation options (for example university residences) at the moment and will make yet another post nearer the time.

Accommodation Options

Diarmuid Writes...
There isn't a lot of accommodation in Henley and there's a lot of demand - in fact the largest hotel is already fully booked for the date of the wedding. So if you are thinking about staying in Henley (which is in a lovely part of the country) for the weekend we urge you to book now. You can always cancel later if you change your mind.

We are planning to arrange transport to and from the reception venue - we'll probably shuttle people back to Henley in two phases at the end of the evening. If you do want to go back to London that night the first shuttle will connect with the last train to London, and the second one would allow you to get a train to Reading (though a taxi would also be very feasible). Staying in the local area will of course mean that you can join us for lunch on Sunday to relive the prior day's excitement (probably at a country pub near Henley).

I've researched some potential ideas below - rates are only approximate and I can't really recommend any personally as we always stay at my parents. If anyone finds out more information (either about alternative good options or about the ideas listed below), why not post a comment sharing the information?

Hotels in Henley Itself

• Red Lion (c. £170) - v central, prob where we are staying 01491 572161
  
• Milsom's (c.£100) - v central, small 01491 845780
  
• Hotel du Vin (c. £170) - FULLY BOOKED 01491 848400
  
• Imperial Hotel - UNDER REFURBISHMENT 01491 578678
  

Other hotel options include Reading (8 miles away) - Forbury is new, near station and very good, though there should be numerous less expensive options - or Marlow (also 8 miles)

Pubs in Henley
There are a few options here as well, all very central. I would expect all to be around £65-90/night

• Rose & Crown 01491 578376
  
• Row Barge 01491 572649 (Not sure if they still do rooms)
  
• Catherine Wheel 01491 848484 (Pretty cheap & basic - it's a Wetherspoon pub)
  
• Anchor Hotel 01491 574753 (Not sure if they do rooms)
  

Other Options in Henley

• No 4 Riverside Guest house (£50-80) 01491 57 11 33
  
• Alushta Guest House 01491 636041
  
• Azalea House (£50) 01491 576407
  
• Falaise House (£90) 01491 573388
  
• Leander Rowing Club (£140) 01491 575782
• Phyllis Court Club 01491 570500
  

Ideas in Surrounding Villages

• Stonor Arms, Stonor (c.£140) 01491 638345
• White Hart, Nettlebed (c£125) 01491 641245
  
• Black Boys Inn, Hurley (c. £75) 01628 824 212
  
• Flower Pot, Aston 01491 574721 (Not sure they still do rooms)
• White Hart, Wargrave 0118 940 2590
  
• The Bull, Wargrave 0118 940 3120
  

We're getting married in September!!!

Diarmuid writes...
We suspect that you know this already, or you wouldn't be here at this site. However, we're still very excited about it. We've done the hard work of finding a venue, booking the reception (mostly) - now we need some guests!!!

So we are hoping that you, our friends and relatives, will be there to share the excitement of the big day...

Details are as follows:
Date: September 1, 2007
Time: 1pm (probably)
Wedding Venue: Shiplake Church, RG9 4BS (Link to Map)

Reception Venue: A thinly guarded secret, but it's in the Henley area and we hope it will be fab...

What next?

• Think about whether you will come... Please respond to our evite, it will really help us
• Plan your accommodation - see next post for more detail
• Add this blog to your RSS to keep up to date with developments - we'll try to keep them relevant and infrequent
  
• Enjoy the rest of the very warm winter...

Love,

Diarmuid & Heather