Staff keep wedding dreams alive
Registration service staff have gone to extreme lengths over the weekend to ensure that no bride had her day spoiled because of the bad weather.
The south of the county is in the grip of snow and ice, and many happy couples feared the worse as they prepared for their big day at the weekend.
However, all 12 wedding ceremonies due to be carried out by Warwickshire County Council’s Registration Service in the south of the county over the weekend happened, despite the elements.
The county’s registrars in some cases battled for five hours through the snow to ensure the services happened, and in one case even stayed overnight in a hotel following one wedding on Saturday, to be there for the next wedding on the Sunday.
County council registrar Valerie Powell stayed the night at Ettington Chase on Saturday so that she was ready to go to the nearby Ettington Park on Sunday. The venue kindly offered her free accommodation and she was delighted that the bride and groom invited her to the wedding breakfast. Val left home at 10.15am on Saturday morning and got home at 5pm on Sunday.
Meanwhile Mandy Jackson who lives in Stratford managed to get to Salford Hall on Saturday. Her registration colleague was unable to get there so she had to arrange for a member of the venue staff to assist at the marriage. Mandy was out of the house for five hours and had to find an alternative route home as some roads were blocked.
Maggie Howie had to attend Nuthurst Grange alone and without a register to make sure a couple were not disappointed. The registration service will put the details in the register this week.
And elsewhere Ann Malcolm, Sue Cartlidge and Paula Butler all carried out ceremonies across the county in appalling conditions.
Sylvia Benton, the county’s Superintendent Registrar, said: “All our ceremonies went ahead and I would like to say how proud I am of the service we provided. The determination and resourcefulness of my colleagues never fails to amaze me. They look for solutions, not problems and don’t seem to have the word ‘can’t’ in their vocabulary.”