A Diary of The Events Team

Being an events assistant over the summer months is busy! With weddings, summer schools, fun days, meetings – the list is endless and it’s hard to pick out a favourite but looking back over the last couple of months one of my best experiences was spending the day at our beautiful Grove House working on a filming event. Have a peek below to see what really happens...
 

“As much as London Transport has it’s uses, being picked up for work in a blacked out Mercedes is definitely something I could get used to –  talk about Apprentice style! Filming had already started at Grove House at 5am; not even a posh car would lure me into work that early! As I arrived, the celebrity judges were finalising their shots and then it was all hands on deck for set up. The team were ready to go; time was of the essence - directors, producers, lighting teams, and runners were frantic as they wanted every element of their set up in Grove House to be perfect - I don’t think I could hack life working in production!

My heart stopped in panic as the lighting team started to set up their 15 foot metal lighting rig within our beautiful oak panelled Portrait Room; no scratches anywhere please!  Due to confidentiality we could not take any photos of the set up, but the room was transformed from a historic backdrop to colourful larger than life designs. Different lights and smells engulfed the room and with topiary trees and ice sculptures the room soon took on a life of its own.

A free burger and chips from the company made my day even better – I was starving. I slowly took a bite into the burger to savour every mouthful, however my taste buds have become accustomed to all the fine dining we have been eating recently from our wonderful caterers, pass me canapés and champagne any day!

Throughout the day the office phone was constantly ringing for requests, Wi-Fi codes, tables, chairs, if I had a sink? I would have definitely employed Mary Poppins and her magical bag to assist me on this event.

 

After the hustle and bustle of the set up, I handed over to my manager to oversee the filming. This continued into the night and ran smoothly which was great. Everyone in the filming team was so happy with Grove House and couldn’t have wished for a better place. De-rigging then lasted for 2 hours over the planned schedule, and finally wrapped at 3am. I’ll leave it to you to figure if I felt sorry for my manager whilst I was tucked up in bed!”

 

To find out more about filming or photo shoots at our venues, please call the Conference Office on 020 8392 3505 or visit our website www.grovehouseroehampton.co.uk