The first open-air wedding ceremony at the historic Royal Victoria Park in Bath took place on Saturday July 26.
Duncan Pidgeon and Sarah Withers from Peasedown St John held their wedding ceremony on the Victorian bandstand off Royal Avenue, in front of 100 guests.
Bath & North East Somerset Council licenced The Bandstand as a wedding / civil ceremony venue earlier this year; Duncan and Sarah heard this and thought it would be the perfect place for their wedding.
“We chose the park as a venue as we had initially intended to go abroad to marry, but wanted our respective grandmothers to be in attendance,” explains Duncan. “As they are both in their 90s, it didn’t seem fair to make them travel half way around the world to see us wed. So we had a look at a couple of local venues who could do both the ceremony and the reception, but nothing really gave us the ‘wow’ factor.
“Sarah’s mum Jackie, printed us a list of registered venues in the area, and the bandstand in the park just jumped out at us. We worked together at the time, for a mental health support organisation, and used to take our service users to the park for walks and activities.
“Having originally intended to have an outside wedding on a beach, or in a remote national park, Royal Victoria Park seemed to be a perfect local equivalent.”
Councillor David Bellotti (Lib-Dem, Lyncombe), Cabinet Member for Community Resources, said: “Bath is extremely lucky to have some unusual venues to hold wedding and civil partnership ceremonies, including Roman Baths, The Little Theatre and now The Bandstand at the Royal Victoria Park.
“We all know that Bath and North Somerset is a popular destination for visitors as well as those looking for a memorable wedding day. If other local venues think they can host weddings or civil partnerships then I hope they will get in contact with the council – it’s never too late to say ‘I do’.”
Cindy Aze, Deputy Superintendent Registrar, said: “We’re very excited to be holding the first wedding in the Royal Victoria Park – it’s such a magnificent backdrop. We will be limiting the number of ceremonies we host in the park each year, so I would encourage people to make their booking enquiries well in advance.”
The Royal Victoria Park Bandstand was created for the park in 1880, designed by Charles Edward Davis, son of Edward Davis who originally designed the park in the 1820s. It is a recently refurbished listed building.
To find out more about where you can get married in Bath & North East Somerset please contact register_office@bathnes.gov.uk, 01225 396056.
To see a full list of all of the venues that you can hold your marriage ceremony in Bath and North East Somerset please visit our marriages page at http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/births-marriages-and-deaths or http://www.bathweddings.co.uk
