I've started all the planning for my Fall Coronation feast, and it once again brings me to wondering if I'm too "demanding" or too "picky" for my own good. I tend to have very specific visions and goals and ideals for things that I do, and too many times I feel like I'm the odd man out for having them :/
Now one thing I know I am is incredibly CDO (it's like OCD but the letters are in alphabetical order, as they should be) about much of my life, and many of my friends can agree wholeheartedly that I like to over-plan But I guess...I dunno. I don't think it unreasonable to begin planning as soon as possible, and to plan with all the information available. With the Fall Coronation feast, I was told the theme of the event was to be decided upon the culture/time period of the Crown Tourny winner at TMT. And I'm sorry, but 4 months is NOT enough time to plan a Kingdom level feast even if its something simple like English food. So when I set out to put down my menu for the bid, I did it with full mind that I would not be changing the menu much by prep time.
So I know that I'm doing a 14th century feast, French in design with dishes coming from Le Menagier de Paris. Some of my dishes may change during my prep work in the coming months, but going forward I know that I want feast hall attire and entertainment to be stylized after the 14th century French feast halls. That means doing a lot of research into great halls and feast hall designs for my event, researching how food was served and in what order, how music was presented and entertainment was provided ..then me slowly going mad when I am forced to rely upon others.
I know it's only been a few days, but I still don't know from my autocrat how many people I am serving. Without that number, it makes it hard to start dish prep and testing. I'm going with a number at 125, more than that and I'm unsure I could have people comfortably move through the hall to provide nourishment. I'm already moving on art and design for the hall, I've got a bunch of links and info to send to my friend Lana who is really good at translating my explosions of creation into a thing that will actually work. My friend Ever is already on board as my Hall steward, as soon as I can formalize the ideas I have for serving and presentation I'm hoping he'll really enjoy them. I have 3 wandering Minstrels, roving and personal entertainment for each table so the whole hall doesn't have to have its conversation disturbed by entertainment.
All in all makes me wonder...am I too picky? Like, I admit I am VERY demanding and focused on what want to see in a hall, or what/how I want things served, or what I want performed and when. I know I'm very hands on and very micro-managing, and I guess I just worry that my style will turn people away/is the wrong way to do things.
Ah well, back to my research! As an aside, here is an example of 14th century Great Hall, a scaled recreation of the great hall in Yorkshire. While English in location, at the time there would have been a strong French influence in the upper nobilities designs and french tapestries would have been hung on the halls:
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