On Saturday, we were very excited to take our ice cream bicycle to Antrobus House in Amesbury. This was for a late evening service for Naomi and Daman from 8.30pm to 10.30pm as a light and refreshing snack to keep those feet moving away and dancing on the dancefloor throughout the evening.
And boy did they need it this evening, as the energy levels on the dancefloor were off the chart!
This was actually our second trip to Antrobus House this month after attending just last week with our ice cream bike and chocolate fountain for Rhea and Jamie’s wedding. This was skilfully manned by Mrs Garbanzo throughout, while I attended Emma and Ben’s wedding at Holbrook Manor.
With Garbanzos Event Hire now in its eleventh year, I always find it a strange and amusing coincidence that I won’t attend a venue for months on end. Then all of a sudden i’ll attend the same location two or three times in the space of a couple of weeks or a month.
Whoever the venue gods are they were certainly smiling down on us. It was beautiful clear blue skies on both visits to Antrobus House, making it the perfect weather for ice cream and wedding celebrations!
Visiting the same venue over a short period of time (when you haven’t been there for ages!) is always a lovely coincidence that makes me chuckle and provides good conversation and banter with the staff, venue and guests.
Antrobus House
Antrobus House itself is a fantastic venue in the heart of Amesbury that serves as a popular wedding venue. It has a very regal feel with a fantastic hall for the wedding breakfast and evening entertainment, and a lovely lawn out the front for drinks, photos and relaxing.
Currently it is also exhibiting it’s crowning glory ‘The Hauntings‘, an imposing 6 metre sculpture created by Martin Galbavy and Chris Hannam of Dorset Forge & Fabrication.
‘The Hauntings’ portrays a forlorn and battle weary First World War soldier returning from the frontline. Crafted from scrap metal, including nuts, bolts, old horse shoes, brake discs and chains. The sculpture is designed to evoke the horrors and traumas of those that endured the war and the troubles they had upon their return home.
Antrobus House, a stunning Grade II listed manor house, has it’s own history tied to the devastation of the First World War so the sculpture and venue mesh together perfectly. Commissioned by Lady Florence Antrobus, Antrobus House stands as a memorial to her only son Lt Edmund Antrobus. A member of the Grenadier Guards who was killed in action on the 24 October 1914 near Ypres at only 27 years old.
Built in her son’s memory and opened in 1925, Antrobus House was left for the benefit of the local community. On Lady Florence’s death, she bequeathed a substantial sum of money and express wishes upon its future use. Her legacy continues to this day as the venue is run as a community facility by the Lady Antrobus Trust and is now a popular event space that hosts weddings, local clubs and fitness classes.
Wedding venue
The venue is meticulously run by Catherine Dunning who is the business manager for Antrobus House.
We’ve actually known Catherine for a few years as she is also the owner and director of Love That Wedding and continues to organise one of the best wedding fairs in Wiltshire, the prestigious Salisbury Wedding Show.
We have attended the wedding fair with Garbanzo’s Event Hire on a number of occasions which was based at City Hall in Salisbury for many years and has since moved to over local venues including Antrobus House itself!
Catherine’s attention to detail is second to none. So we know that whenever we have a wedding or special occasion booked at Antrobus House, whether it’s with our ice cream bikes, chocolate fountains, selfie mirrors or any other hire items; we are always in very safe hands and the event will be managed brilliantly.
Saturday’s event was no different and we arrived just early enough to be situated indoors before the first dance started.
I have to admit that we always prefer to go inside for an evening service to be in the heart of the action, as that is where guests are most inclined to be. We are also sheltered from any inclement weather temperature when the sun goes down, and lack of visibility when it gets dark.
However, on this particular occasion, we had gorgeous blue skies throughout the whole day and a warm and balmy breeze, so we were happy to go wherever we were able to!
The evening entertainment got underway with the first dance and the ice cream bicycle service from our traditional ice cream bicycle started at the same time as the DJ at 8:30 pm.
Notably, the wedding was characterised by a brilliant DJ, fun and engaging guests and the secret sauce – an Indian drumming band who appeared through the evening and drummed alongside the DJ’s skilfully chosen tunes.
The evening entertainment was electric and let’s make no mistake, this party went off!!!
With a mix of bhangra music and the usual wedding party bangers – this was one of the most raucous and dance floor filled parties I’ve been to this year. And that’s no easy feat when you attend at least two or more weddings every week!
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, the drummers came on, got everybody on the dancefloor ‘twisting the lightbulb’ and ‘doing the motorcycle’ dance moves and brought the party to Antrobus House as you can see in the video below.
If I was tired or sluggish before heading to the wedding after an afternoon out in the sunshine, this jolted me wide awake into head nodding, finger tapping ice cream serving party mode!
Needless to say, our ice cream bicycle and delicious Marshfield Farm dairy ice cream were extremely popular amongst guests as the party stepped up a notch and guests momentarily escaped the dancefloor looking for some cool refreshment!
Thank you for a great evening at Antrobus House
As always, we had a fabulous time attending a wedding at Antrobus House, and Catherine ensured the whole evening went smoothly for us. We would like to extend our congratulations to Naomi and Daman on their special day and thank you for having us a part of it. These guys certainly know how to throw a party!
If you would like to hire our ice cream bicycles, sweet cart, chocolate fountains, selfie mirror, woodfired pizza, or any other event hire items for Antrobus House, or any local venues in the south west, Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire or Dorset regions, just get in touch with us at Garbanzos Event Hire and we would love to help.
Check out some of our other favourite venues across the south of England and Wales in this post.
If you already have your venue booked and can’t decide what to ask for for your wedding gift, visit the Prezola website for some great ideas and to let them take care of everything. Prezola are the UK’s number 1 gift list and offer a range of fantastic gifts and experiences at the one stop shop wedding gift list manager.
