What you need to know to survive (and get to the ceremony)

1. Due to circumstances beyond our control we have moved the time of the ceremony forward to 11am.
2. There will be a bus leaving Hotel Buchlov at 10am to go to ceremony. It can fit 30-40 people so if you want to take this rather than driving that is a good idea as there will be booze. (Czech driving blood alcohol limit is ZERO... get your minds around that Americans). Lauren and Irena are going to be captains of the bus and will be in charge if anyone has any questions. 
3. The same bus will then take you back after the ceremony finishes.

For people who are going independently to the ceremony we have attached three maps that will help you get to the correct place. 

1. Road map showing route from Hotel Buchlov to Buchlovice village. The journey takes approximately 15 minutes. 
2. The second map shows where you can park in Buchlovice and also where the chateau is in relation to The Hotel Buchlovice where some of you are staying (not to be confused with the Hotel Buchlov which is where the reception is). 
3. The third map shows you where to go at the Zamek (chateau) Buchlovice. You need to go to the main gate and tell them that you are going to the wedding "jdu na svadbu" to avoid being made to pay for the privilege. Please go directly to the area just outside where the wedding is where all our guests are going to be gathering. There will be opportunities later to explore the rest of the grounds. There are other weddings going on at the same time so we don't want you to get lost.

Accommodation in Buclovsky Dvur:

This is the building that is adjacent to The Hotel Buchlov (where the reception is) at the top of the hill. The people that are staying here are: 

Room 1: Steph, Lauren, Freya & Alice

Room 2: Rory, Robin, Rhys, Peter

Room 3: Lucie, Irca, Nikol & Barca

All of you are booked in for two night apart from Irca, Nikol and Barca. If you are planning on staying until Monday then please go and rebook at the main Hotel next door. 

Apparently this guest house only has one key. The best solution is for this to be kept at the reception of the Hotel Buchlov so that nobody gets locked out. 

Taxis:

If you need to take a taxi from  the Hotel Buchlov to either Buchlovice or Uherské Hradiště (the closest major transport hub). We are cooperating with the taxi service www.taxiuherskehradiste.cz / 

Main Number: +420 608382283 

Additional driver numbers: +420 774788888, +420 773222733 

The price we have agreed is 350kc which is £12. These guys are available for night transport for those who are staying in Buchlovice village. 

Numbers if you need help:

Marta's mobile numbers is: +420 602590010 and her brother Jirka's is: +420 724363603 in case you have any questions. 

Looking forward to seeing you all very soon.

Jack

Wedding Presents Cont. 2

Dear lovely wedding guests,

Our plans for our honeymoon have developed beyond just drinking Pisco Sours. We know that just getting to the Czech Rep for the wedding is an undertaking and your presence is the best present that we could possibly receive but if you really want to give us a something then these are some of the things that are on our itinerary:

• £96 for a day at the Tambopata Wildlife Research Centre
• £45 for a ticket on the CUSCO - MACHU PICCHU train 
• £34 for a night's accommodation in Cusco
• £55 for a night of our trek on the Inca trail
• £120 for a boat trip on Lake Titicaca
• £360 for 3 nights in an Amazon jungle lodge at the Tambopata Nature Reserve
• £315 luxury trip down the coastal road to Nazca

See you soon!

Jack & Marta

Wedding presents cont.

Some people keep asking if we are doing a registry. We have decided not to go down that route due to the transient nature of our life (I am not getting all existential on you, just referring to the practicalities of currently being an international nomad). We are gratefully accepting donations to our honeymoon / getting on the housing ladder fund. 

Giving money as a present can seem a bit impersonal. We are planning on going to Peru for our honeymoon. I have done a bit of research into Peruvian prices and created a list of things that you can gift us for this trip if you would like to give us something specific.

• A beer: £1.10
• A pisco sour £1.50
• A bottle of pisco £3 (I think we are going to be drinking a lot of pisco)
• A restaurant meal: £35
• Car hire for a day £45
• A night in a resort £250

The general plan is to spend the first half trekking and the second half somewhere very comfortable. 

For people who are not going to be able to attend but would like to give us a present you can employ the following digits. Please make sure you include a memo!

JMC Ceadel

Barclays

80229598

20-65-20

See you guys soon. 

Jack

Wedding Presents!

Many of you have been kind enough to ask us what we would like for a wedding present and if we are doing a registry etc. Rather like those two birds we are on the move. We are currently living in Austin but probably for only another 18 months - 2 years and after that we don't know exactly where we are going to land (it will be Europe - nobody need worry about us emigrating) and make a nest thus asking for household furnishings doesn't make a great deal of sense. 

We are however saving up to buy a house / flat and we are also planning on going to Peru for our honeymoon in November so we would gratefully accept donations to this fund. I know that there are some family members and others who are unable to attend but would still like to give us a present. We will set up an online mechanism for this but for everyone else we would like to do this the old fashioned way so that we can actually thank you personally.

Looking forward to seeing you all in August!

The story of whooping cranes

Some of you might wonder why we have a picture of two flying cranes on our wedding invitation...

Yes, one of the reason is that we feel a great deal of romance when we picture these beautiful, massive birds flying together across the  plains. The other reason is different.

These birds are in fact whooping cranes. They are the largest US flying birds, and are endangered. There are only a handful of locations where you can spot them and one of these locations is on the Texas coast. Whooping cranes are also a conservationist success story, when the number of these birds reached the critical number of 50 individuals in 1940s, but now as a result of a great effort to save them, there are over 600 living in the US. 

We really like this story and wanted to share it with you, because it remind us what a power of a good intention and wise action can have in life.  So, forgive us this sentiment, and if you want to learn more about these beautiful birds (or donate some $ to support protection of their homes) you can visit this site https://www.savingcranes.org/whooping-crane.html.

We also give a huge thank you to Andrea, our friend from Austin, who did the amazing drawing of these birds on the  wedding invitation : ) 

RSVP

It would be really helpful to know if you are coming by the 31st of May. Our email addresses are: mh.hudecova@gmail.com & jackceadel@gmail.com

Talk to you soon! Jack & Marta

Flights

If you are planning to fly to our wedding then here is the list of the closest airports:

Brno (CZ) - 64 km, 58 minutes
Bratislava (SK) - 134 km - 1 hour and 46 minutes
Vienna (Austria) - 148 km - 2 hours and 10 minutes
Prague (CZ) - 266 km - 2 hours and 36 minutes
Krakow (Poland) - 310 km - 3 hours and 32 minutes

Three are a number of airlines that you can take. The low budget airlines that go to the most of the airports above are Wizzair, Ryanair or Easyjet.

Brno Airport is the closest airport and is being served Wizzair and Ryanair. These are some examples of the flights, you can take from London airports on Friday 30th August and leaving on Sunday 1st of September.

Wizzair:
London (Luton) - Brno: 15.55-19.00; £50
Brno - London Luton: 19.30-20.40; £74.99

Ryanair:
London (Stansted) - Brno; 8.20-11.20; £52.99
Brno - London (Stansted); 11.50- 13.00; £63.32

When I was checking the prices in March, they were already slightly higher than you would normally get if you flew at different time of the year. Perhaps, because of the end of the summer season... Therefore I recommend to book your flights early and shop around also at other airport locations such as Prague, Bratislava or Vienna. Normally, when I buy a ticket to Brno 2-3 months in advance, it usually costs £80, but the prices are now a bit more over a £100 for the same flight (I`m sorry!).

We also looked into a group discount with Wizzair but we would need to get a group of 25 together to qualify. Which is less manageable if some of you would like to make a holiday out of this trip and stay longer.

Please let us know when you are arriving!

Travel when you get there!

The location of our wedding party is along a major road from Brno to Uherske Hradiste. However there is no bus or train stopping by the hotel. Therefore we recommend to hire a car that will allow you to be flexible.

We recomment: www.travelsupermarket.com (no we are not on commission).

Renting a car for the weekend costs approximately £40.

If renting a car is not practical for you and you will be arriving to Brno on the Wizzair flight then let us know as we are probably going to be arranging a mini bus to transport guests to the Buchlov Hotel. Let me know if you are interested in this option and we can make it happen.

Wedding ceremony and wedding party location

The wedding ceremony will take place at Zamek Buchlovice (Music Room) at 1pm on Saturday 31.8.2013. We will then move to Hotel Buchlov (about 15 minutes away) for food, drinking and dancing.

You can also read about Zamek Buchlovice here : http://www.zamek-buchlovice.cz/en/

Places to stay

You have a number of options of where to stay in during the weekend of our wedding. The main choice is to stay at the location of the wedding party: the Hotel Buchlov. The hotel has a capacity of 75, but this assumes full occupancy of every room. The other option is to stay in an adjacent Buchlovsky Dvur, which has a total bed capacity of 18 beds across 4 rooms. The other places are available about 10km drive away in Lazne Leopoldov or Hotel Buchlovice.

Ideally, we would like to fit in as many people in Hotel Buchlov and Buchlovsky Dvur as possible so we reduce the number of people who will have a take a taxi after the party ends. However, as we invited just over 100 people, it will be necessary for some of you to stay elesewhere. There are other places as charismatic as the main hotel close-by so it should not cause any a problem to get there.

How should you book the accommodation?

• Contact Marta at mh.hudecova@gmail.com to tell me your preferred room size
• If the size of room is available, I will book the room and ask you at later stage to send me the accommodation fee. We have arranged a special rate with the Hotel Buchlov owners which is 500Kc per person per night (approx. 17 Pounds). 
• If you want to stay for more than 1 night I will also book your stay for the whole time. The Buchlov Hotel is currently pre-booked for all three days from Friday 30.8 till Monday 2.9 so it should not be a problem to stay longer if you wish to explore the region. 
• Accommodation in the adjacent Buchlovsky dvur will be handled through us too.
• If rooms are not available for you in Hotel Buchlov or Buchlovsky Dvur, then I would suggest contacting the other two places and reserve your stay that way. Their rates are slightly higher, but still manageable.

Websites for recommended accommodation:

Hotel Buchlov- http://hotelbuchlov.cz/
Buchlovsky Dvur - http://www.buchlovskydvur.cz/
Lazne Leopoldov -  http://www.lazneleopoldov.eu
Hotel Buchlovice - http://www.hotelbuchlovice.cz/

Tips for trips and things to see

The Czech Republic has excellent beer (the best some would argue) but being cultured people there maybe more things that you wish to experience than world class pilzner. You could easily take a whole week and travel around the Slovacko region and have a great time seeing some things that normally slip from a typical tourist agenda. Or you could go right in the heart of cultural happenings of the mid-Europeans capitals: Prague, Vienna or Bratislava.

Whatever you choose, there are plenty to do. We are happy to provide additional advice: 

Buchlov and surrounding area: 

• The main Slovacko region tourist website: http://www.slovacko.cz/ or South Moravia website: http://www.jizni-morava.cz/?tpl=60&r=1&lang=2
• Zlin, (Hudec family hometown), known for Bata shoes company and Functionalist architecture. http://www.zlin.eu/en/
• You can visit Zlin`s "skyscraper" with a still functioning office lift that connected the boss with all his employees throughout 17-floor tall building. A 20th century American inspired business dream, http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba%C5%A5%C5%AFv_mrakodrap
• During the weekend of the wedding the famous Barum Rally will take place in Zlin. The main streets of the town will be closed and you can watch the cars racing right up close.  http://www.barum.rally.cz/
• Kromeriz, romantic UNESCO  Heritage Site - Gardens and Archbishop Chateau - http://www.zamek-kromeriz.cz/zamek/
• Uherske Hradiste, classic South Moravian town - http://www.uherske-hradiste.cz/
• Wine cellars in Southern Moravia - yes, we have them too and they are really beautiful! Some of the wine is not bad either. http://www.wineofczechrepublic.cz/2-1-wine-region-moravia-en.html

Prague: 

• Who wouldn`t want to stay in Prague? There are so many things to see that I better leave you to explore it for yourself - http://www.praguewelcome.cz/en 

Vienna:

• Another beautiful capital in the middle of Europe. There main tourist website can be found here - http://www.wien.info/en 

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to our wedding blog. If you have not already put the 31st August firmly in your diary then please do so!


We are very much looking forward to seeing you. We are going to have a great time celebrating the joining of the Ceadel and the Hudec families and enjoying some Moravian hospitality.

This blog is a resource for you to get the most out of your trip and give you all the information on travel and other arrangements. If you have any questions, or have anything that you think would be useful and want to add, then please let us know.

Jack & Marta