Ben Haines: wedding planner!
 

I am posting simply to offer Ben Haines a very genuine (and public) thanks for going well, well beyond the call of Fodorite duty and virtually serving as my personal wedding planner. I was thrilled a few months ago when my fiance agreed to have our wedding in London (even though neither of us are from there, and every single guest in attendance would be travelling overseas to be there). After some preliminary discussion revealed that most family/friends were actually excited by the idea, he decided that whatever I wanted was good for him too!! Yay! Except that we didn't really know where to begin with our wedding planning from Miami. Ben Haines enthusiastically came to the rescue, and laid the ground work for our venue, caterer, and officiant. Thanks to his efforts, we are now booked to be married July 21st at the Savoy, and to Honeymoon on the Queen Mary 2 sailing from Southampton to NY. We are so very grateful and excited, and looking forward to sharing a pre-wedding meal with him in London. I'm sure my dad (Myer) who has also received very helpful London advice from Mr. Haines on his own trips will also be pleased to finally meet our British fountain of information.

I'd also like to mention, in the face of lots of negativity that often floats around the board, that other Fodorites have been so nice and helpful in the past. I was particularly delighted by Sheila Ritchie, who shipped me crates of my favorite water from the UK (and wouldn't allow me to pay her back) and also once sent me a lovely picture book of Scotland. The efforts people make to help one another's dreams come true are never forgotten. Forget the negative people, and keep helping each other. This board is the best!!

Kimberly, best wishes for a lovely wedding & honeymoon.

And yes, Sir Ben Haines (he was knighted right here on this board) is indeed a gentleman in the truest sense of that word, and a most resourceful fellow.

No words can aptly serve to describe my feelings for my favorite resident of Aberdeen, Ms. Ritchie, but let it suffice to say that where I come from, she's known as "a class act".

BC

How lovely! What an excellent way to begin married life!
I agree with all good things said about Mr (sorry) Sir Ben Haines, he is a gentleman and a scholar and Fodors and Fodorites are lucky to have him here.
Sheila is pretty special, isn't she?? :)

How wonderful & exciting Kimberley. Will you use their chapel for the ceremony? I believe Elizabeth Taylor had one of her weddings there LOL! And I believe Prince Charles had his 21st b'day party there. Lots of good luck & bravo Sir Haines.

Thanks for good wishes!!
We will not be holding the wedding in the chapel - the original challenge was that we wanted to be married by a rabbi, and The Ritz (our first venue idea) would permit only civil officiants. Our ceremony will be in The Savoy's Gondoliers room (in front of the fireplace) - see http://www.the-savoy-group.com/savoy...nues/Inner.asp, followed by a reception in the Patience & Princess Ida Room, overlooking the Thames. Thanks for letting me know of previous events there - it is very exciting. We just spent Thanksgiving weekend on a cruise, and I walked into the ship's library to find a book left out on a sofa: Murder at the Savoy. I sat down and read it then and there: the true account of a royal Princess who murdered her husband there in the 20's.

How marvellous and how nice of you to come and share the good news and thank you! Will Mr Haines be attending your wedding too? That would be marvellous!

And your honeymoon sounds great too - very relaxing way of returning back to the USA.

Wishing you the very best of luck!

Best wishes and congratulations all around! What an extraordinary way to start a life in travel (and everything else) together. :-)

Kimberley, I was thinking about you just the other day.

(PS, am I invited?)

(PPS I'm only joking.) Much love and best wishes

Your wedding sounds like it is going to be just beautiful- congratulations!

Yes, Ben Haines helped me too. He sent me some much information directly to my email. In fact, he sent the info I needed and much, much more that put my trip right over the top! He is the type you wouldn't mind paying for his wonderful knowledge and generous assistance. Glad to see him being praised here in this forum.

Congratulations, have a wonderful life and thanks for a beautiful post. We need more like this one....mimi
Cheers for Ben.

How wonderful! Yes, you have certainly hooked up with two extroadinarily generous people!

I'm also an admirer of (Sir) Ben and a personal fan of our Sheila.

Can't wait to read your post when you return, Kimberley!

CONGRATULATIONS!

What pleasant people you all are.

To marry at the Chapel Royal of the Savoy I think you need the permission of the Lord Chamberlain, as it is a Royal Peculiar, run under the direction of the Queen (though she is kind enough to let the Bishop of London handle the detail). I doubt you could have a Jewish wedding there, but Prince Charles wants to Defender of all the faiths, so give the matter forty years and you may see change.

[email protected]

A lovely post about 2 of my favorite people!

And I wish you the happiest ,lovliest life together!

we saw the QM2 exhibit in Paris last month and WOW... you are on the ship of dreams!!

Congratulations and best wishes for a long and happy marriage Kimberley. We will be celebrating our 50th anniversary next year. Sometimes it seems like yesterday and other times like we have been together forever!

I'm another admirer of Ben Haines. His advice made our train travel from Prague to Vienna, and Vienna to Budapest in spring much easier than it would have been if I'd been left to my own devices. He also gave us other suggestions which helped us with our first visit to these three cities. He is absolutely the best!

Thank you, thank you! (That's 2 - one from me, and one from Dan who was extremely pleased by all the good wishes). My mom called last night to say that my dad had found the thread and printed it out for her to enjoy as well, so all your positivity is touching more than just me alone. It's really good to know that others share my appreciation of BH and SR!!

Has anyone ever planned accomodations for a wedding in Tuscany? I am checking out things on the web, such as TuscanDreams, but would like more to get personal references. Any information would be very helpful and much appreciated. Thanks!

This certainly answers the thread, "Who is this poster and why should I take their advice?"
Kimberley - Congratulations!
Ben - you personify what this forum is all about!
JoeG

I was thinking the same thing, JoeG. The only word to describe this post is heartwarming! :)

Congrats, Kimberley!

Oh NO!! We have hit an unsurmountable scheduling obstacle which means that my fiance will not be able to fulfill the residency requirement to get a marriage license in the UK (I'm fine, but we both have to do it). Final time calculations reveal that we simply will not be able to make it happen!

Not to panic...worse things have happened in the world. We still want to honeymoon on the QM2, but we will start our honeymoon with 6 days in London and then cruise back. Instead of flying over 5 days before the wedding as planned, we will get married here in Miami and fly over the next day. We are hoping, however, that Ben Haines will still do us the honor of dinner in appreciation of his efforts.

This change in plans does not change our appreciation for his help, and for everybody's good wishes. This was the happiest thread I've seen in a long time (not just 'cause it's about my wedding, but that helps)...it was just such an appreciation-fest!!

Thanks all.
Kimberley

Kimberly, your attitude about this is exactly spot on! You're getting everything you wanted except the actual marriage in London which, in reality, is standing up before the officiant and looking into each others eyes so it doesn't matter where you are. Now you can tell your children someday that you "honeymooned in London and sailed the QEII."

Keep us posted and enjoy planning!

Kimberley, a suggestion-how about a renewal of vows ceremony in London after the legal one in Miami?

When my husband & I married, he was living in London, I was in NY. Because we both had family on both sides of the pond who were too old to travel, we decided on 2 weddings (I'm not suggesting you do this though :) ) We had the "official legal" wedding in the US & then did a renewal of vows ceremony in London (that looked the same as a wedding) followed by a reception.

I am indeed sorry, but agree that you are making the best of it.

I am delighted to accept your kind invitation to dinner.

Ben Haines

Kimberly, I love your positive attitude! or did you already throw the fit and now you have calmed down :)

I think mclaurie has an excellent idea, get married in Miami, then when you get to London, do the ceremony! All the paperwork will be out of the way-you will have the experience-and twice married, lasts forever :)

Either way you go, Happy Wedding and please do tell us all about it when you can ((L))
Scarlett~

Kimberley,

Mazel Tov to you, your fiance, and families. I am new to this board and I must say that this thread has been one of the kindest that I've read. Kudos to Mr. Haines for his generosity!

Maureen

I'm so sorry to hear that this won't work out quite as planned, but as others have already said, your attitude it just great. It really shines through that your focus is the act itself of pledging your lives to each other rather than on the details of where/ how.

Hope you have a wonderful day, a wonderful trip to London and a wonderful journey on the QEII!

I was planning on flying to London for the wedding even though it would have been barely a month after our Spain trip.

Now I'll pass on London.

Thanks everyone. In response to Scarlett: no, I never threw a fit. I'm really just so happy to be marrying Dan...imagine if I was having to cancel my Savoy wdding because the whole thing was called off??!! THAT would have been a tragedy!

And in case anyone is thinking I have a psycho fodorite stalker who was planning to fly to London for my wedding, I just want to remind you that Myer (post above) is, in fact, my dad. And thanks dad for intending to come to my wedding in London. And more importantly, thanks for intending to MAKE me a wedding in London!! (Thanks also, for the wedding we are having here!)

Am I missing something? Why don't you get married in Miami and have the magnificent reception at the Savoy?

mclaurie, my ex brother-in-law had three weddings.

They got married in Chili, where church wedding are not recognized by the state, so they had a civil service and church wedding both.

When they returned to the States, they had another civil service, because the wedding in Chili was not recognized in the US.

He always figured he would remember the anniversary, by the third one each year:-)

Keith

I doubt any of you who posted on here ever gave this thread another thought...but I just figured an update was in order, if anyone did care to know.

The wedding did take place, as planned (the second time), on Miami Beach, amid an incredible sunset. Toasts at the rehearsal dinner did include thanks to ben haines, who will always hold a special place in our wedding planning.

Our week in London was perfect. We stayed in the Radisson Edwardian Hampshire, right in Leicester Square...and they gave us their best suite, with a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for us. After seeing several shows, having tea at the ritz, and visiting a bunch of london highlights, we headed off for southampton. I had been very much looking forward to meeting with Sir Ben Haines, but that did not take place. I'm not entirely sure why: a combination of me forgetting to pack his contact info in the middle of all the wedding chaos, and general time juggling during our short stay in London. The only flaw to an otherwise perfect honeymoon.

From Southamton we boarded the QM2, beginning what may be the best week of my life. Every day I ask my husband if we can do it again yet, but he says he's had his fill of cruising for the time being. He did savor the crossing along with me at the time, though: we both thought it was such a phenomenal experience in every way.

And then...we seem to have suddenly put the brakes (temporarily) on European travel in favor of seeing some other parts of the world.

In March, we climbed Machu Picchu (Peru): not even remotely like any experience I've had before, and not only because of the altitude sickness!

Tonight I bought the tickets for our first anniversary trip to China this summer- Beijing and Hong Kong. First time for either of us in that part of the world, so that's exciting.

So, if anyone has wondered: we are married, we are doing great, and we are still travelling. And Myer doesn't have any grandkids coming yet...

Kimberley, how nice of you to bring us up to date. Everything sounded absolutely wonderful. Glad to hear you are still traveling and enjoying married life.

As noted in my earlier post, we would be celebrating our 50th "next year." We did so by returning to Denver and renewing our vows at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, where we were married. Our 51st was last month and we look forward to many more happy years together! I wish you the happiness we have enjoyed.

Fantastick!! Kimberley, how good of you to post back and catch us up!
Too bad you missed Ben Haines, I think you will have to go visit London soon and make up for that :)
China and HongKong, how wonderful an anniversary!
Congratulations on your marriage and your anniversary and don't worry, Meyer, those little ones will be here before you know it! :D

KimberleyDK, I really enjoyed reading this thread and didn't even notice the 2003 date, so when I got to the part about you telling us what really happened, I was already so involved I had to read on. It was like reading a good romantic short story.
A few observations, (Sir) Ben Haines has helped me so many times, that the last time I was in London, I also asked him to dinner. Many times I've written that the best thing about this web site, is in my real life I don't have many friends who are as crazy about travel as I am, so this site is an outlet for me to think about travel and see where I can visit next. I do wonder about some of the people who answer, like what do they do, where are they from, are they young or old, you know just normal curiousity. So when you have a thread like this its heartwarming, but also lets us know who you are and what you're doing and just makes this forum more fun. Anyway, Mazel Tov and have many exciting and adventurous anniversaries.

Thanks for the follow up.
Further update: the correct name is now
Ben, Earl of Haines

:)

actually, I've ruined it, I guess based on Diana's father and brother the correct title would be
Ben, Earl Haines
Either way, he's a prince!

Great to hear about how your wedding and honeymoon trip went! Kindest Regards, Kavey

Nice to hear from you Kimberley. Happy Anniversary to you and many many more! ((D)) ((8))

Congratulations Kimberly! On a great weddng and a great, travelling, start to your life together.

We'll be in London later this summer, in advance of hopping on a Silverseas ship - all part of a (couple months early) 40th anniversary celebration. And like just about everyone else on this board, we've benefited from HRM Ben Haines' help(another upgrade? why not!). So here's another invitation, sir, to dinner or at least for a pint!

Just thought I'd add to Kimberley's update where she mentioned their trip to Machu Picchu in Peru.

Check out the May issue of Glamour Magazine (the one with Misha Barton on the covor) on Page 24.