Wedding at the Top of Blackpool Tower, 29th April 2010

"This is the second ever wedding at the top of Blackpool Tower" my lovely bride Ellie told me when I first spoke to her about this most unusual wedding, Ellie's only worry was that if the wind speed was too high, then the top of the tower would be out of bounds, however the beautiful ballroom is also licensed for civil ceremonies, but that wasn't a consideration yesterday, when Jason (Who is incidentally super scared of heights) delivered the flowers, first of all he met up with the groom and his party on a lower level...

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The Groom was looking a little anxious, wore a Bird of Paradise & Canto Calla Lily Boutonniere.




All of the important guests wore individually designed Corsages to co-ordinate with their outfits, The Grooms Men all wore Canto Calla Lily Boutonnieres.

The veryhandsome Brides father Alfie played the famous Wurlitzer Organ in the magnificent ballroom the day before the wedding.

The top of the tower is 380 feet high

We arranged a tall vase of Birds of Paradise, Heliconia, Anthuriums & Naranga Roses

The views are absolutely spectacular, this is looking South towards the Pleasure Beach

This is my favourite Registrar David Hill (he married Jason & I) showing our gorgeous Bride Ellie and her father the way...

Bryan & Ellie getting married with a view over Blackpool Beach

Ellie's amazing gown featuring a Bird of Paradise of beads, is an authentic 1920's dress

Husband & Wife taking their first steps on the "Walk of Faith" (or walk of death as Jason's referred to it all week)

Huge Congratulations to the new Mr & Mrs Swallow from all of the events team at Flower Design

The festivities then moved onto Singleton Lodge, where we'd dressed the tables with black goldfish bowl vases of Bird of Paradise, Calla Lily & Anthuriums.

Sarah's Flowers Have Landed

So this is a bit of a work in progress blog, Sarah's wedding flowers have arrived this morning Halleluyah! And our team are hard at work creating some fabulous designs for her!
Roses & Peonies

Hydrangeas, Astilbe & Peonies
Lily of the Valley & Sweet Peas

Cherry Blossom

Ooh its all going to be very gorgeous and we can't wait...

Wedding Secrets Part 3. Top Ten Wedding Tips for Selecting the Right Venue For Your Wedding

Top Ten Wedding Tips for Selecting the Right Venue For Your Wedding

by Adele Yeomans of The Great Hall at Mains (21 years experience in running weddings and events)

Compare – The internet has become a wonderful tool – use it! When you first start looking for the venue of your dreams, it’s good to compare several to get a good feel of what each offers and how each venue deals with your initial enquiry. After all, if no-one gets back to you within 48 hrs or more, it could be a sign of things to come. A good venue will be in contact with their clients regularly by email or telephone.

Roger Yeomans owner of The Great Hall at Mains

Exclusivity - Look at the ‘Exclusivity’ of each – do you really want to be one of several brides on the day at the same venue.? This can happen a lot, especially if you choose, say, a hotel environment.

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TGHM Dressed by Creative Cover Hire & Flower Design

Budget - Your budget and price is a major factor, so shop around and see who is offering any ‘deals’ on late availability or special packages which help bring the price down considerably.

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Capacity - Think about what sort of wedding you want – small intimate, large numbers, themed, etc. Can the venue offer exactly what you want in terms of your special day?

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Wow factor - - Look at the photographic opportunities in and around the venue - after all, this most important day will be captured forever on film. Are there any unique features which stand out? How will your wedding breakfast layout look? Is there a ‘WOW’ factor? Is there an attention to detail that surpasses all other venues?

TGHM Civil Ceremony

Viewing - Most important – do go and look around the venue as soon as you can. Websites do not always do justice to the venues and there is nothing like getting a ‘feel’ for a place as soon as you walk in!

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Staff and Management - On that same vein – how are you greeted by their staff? Do they make you feel comfortable, confident and enthusiastic about your wedding day – or are they simply ‘going through the motions’. Getting a good team to run your wedding is vital, as is building up a good relationship and rapport with the people who will ostensibly ‘make or break ‘ your wedding day.

The TGHM Team from left to right Gemma, Melanie, Adele Yeomans (Owner) Chriss (Manager) & LizzieLizzie organising the brides gown
Suppliers -Does the venue offer to coordinate for you between suppliers etc.? This can take an enormous amount of pressure of you if you have someone liaising between florists, photographers, entertainers, transport people, caterers [ if applicable] and whoever else you may need to be involved in your big day. Do they have a list of recommended people that they use who are ‘tried and tested’ for outstanding quality, service and reliability.

Gail from The Astbury Studio , Chriss (Manager TGHM) & Stephanie Ashton from Ashton Photography

Food / Menu - Food is important these days. Gone are the days when people will ‘put up’ with mass catering at a wedding if it is not as good as one would eat out at a restaurant. We are all becoming more and more discerning about what we eat and standards at some venues are higher than ever before. But beware, not all are the same and a badly cooked or presented wedding breakfast can ruin your day. If the venue has their own chef, say in a hotel or country house, eat in their restaurant first if possible. If they use outside caterers, do some research on them, ask questions, do they offer food tastings prior to your wedding day, can they bespoke a menu exactly to your requirements. As we say, things have moved on considerably and we all know what we like to eat!

Thomas from Twelve Event Management Dulcie & Caroline from Twelve Event Management

Recommendations - And finally, do go on personal recommendations if at all possible or testimonials from other past clients. Impartial wedding sites such as Hitched, Foreverafter, Confetti and Tying The Knot to name but a few, have an extensive list of venues in your area and often show past clients’ testimonials. Ask your chosen suppliers if they have heard of the venue, or worked there. What do they think of it?

Regards
Adele Yeomans
Mains Hall & The Great Hall at Mains
Mains Lane
Little Singleton

Flower Design: Hand Tied Workshop at The Dalmeny

Flower Design Workshop: Table Designs At The Dalmeny

Stuart & Ann-Marie Forrest's "Cherry Blossom" Wedding Day at St Hubert's Church & The Inn at Whitewell

I love, love, love this wedding, both the Bride & Groom were really involved in all the planning and decision making, not only were they gorgeous but they were both seriously cool and it was a huge pleasure for us to work with them, Stuart I have to tell you is a serious contender for the much coveted Fower Design Groom of the Year 2010, but we'll have to wait 'til the end of the year for that one.

So first stop on Saturday morning, deliverying the Bridal Bouquets, where we were lucky enough to meet their terrific Photographer; Andy McDonald, I'd checked out his website (which I have to say is brilliant) before hand so I was a bit of a fan to start with, anyway we had a fabulous time with him and it's such a joy to work with someone with bags of energy and loads of original ideas. This is hard core multi tasking I can tell you, but Ann Marie took it all in her stride.

Thankfully she loved her wedding bouquet, I included lots of lovely Roses & Peonies to compliment her gown (You'll see that later) but for me the interesting bit was the lovely Cherry Blossom, right outside the front door of the Church is a Huge Cherry Blossom Tree.
Then we headed off down the road to Dunsop Bridge, I couldn't resist a couple of shots of the River

This is one of the most beautiful Catholic Churches I've been in, it's small but perfectly formed; St Hubert's at Dunsop Bridge, The Priest Monsignor John Chaloner is just lovely and he writes really brilliant books about the Church cat...

Miss Mac the Church Cat, An autobiography; Ko-Ko The Church Cat who found Love; The Cats’ Family Tree, A journey into history by Miss Mac.

So inside the Church we placed fresh flowes on the Windowsills.

A design on the Altar with nuptial candle for the Bride & Groom to light within the service.

We also arranged flowers by the two statues of St Mary & St Joseph

Stuart then arrived, all week Stuart had been stuck in India due to the Volcano ash problem, he'd actually managed to get a plane to Madrid and then driven home from there.

We made Stuart a Thistle Buttonhole to compliment his Kilt

Stuarts Mum wore an ivory Rose with Red & Black finish & Ann-Marie's Mum chose a wrist corsage to compliment her out fit, both mum's looked absolutely stunning

Tilly the adorable flower girl with her posy of Sweet Peas

Bouquets of Sweet Peas are perfect for little ones as they're so light and delicate.

Tilly with her Mum & Dad

The Page Boys with their Dad Sam all wearing Thistle ButtonholesAnn-Marie's beautiful sister & Brides maid Susan Susan carried a posy of Cherry Blossom, David Austin Roses, Peonies & Sweet Peas

Ann-Marie looked completely stunning

Ann-Marie's Wedding Bouquet in shades of Pink included Cherry Blossom, Ranunculas, David Austin's Miranda, Sweet Avalanche, Sweet Peas and luscious Peonies.

Huge congratulations to this very special couple from all the team at Flower Design

This is my favourite photograph of the day

Rose Petal Confetti

Then to The Inn at Whitewell for the festivities...Each table was dressed with posies of fresh flowers

The top table had posies of Ranunculas & Sweet PeasHydrangeas

Delicious Canapes

Parrot Tulips

Ranunculas

Peonies

The floral chandelier looked magnificent

Sharon from The Inn was cool calm and collected as ever and looked after everyone supremely

This really was a wonderful day and we felt really honoured to be a small part of it, I'd just like to say a huge thank you to Katie at David Austin Roses for pulling out all the stops to get the Roses to us.

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You may like to look at Andy McDonald's Blog it's cool.

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The Miss Mac Books written by Parish Priest John Challinor, are published by Redemptorist Publications:Telephone 01420 88222E-mil: sales@rpbooks.co.ukFax: 01420 88805Website: http://www.rpbooks.co.uk/