Halifax celebrates a fairytale wedding
Posted Apr 29, 2011 09:54:06 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The fairytale story of the royal wedding was just one of the happy events keeping Haligonians in good spirits at the Atlantica Hotel.
As Prince William and Catherine Middleton took their vows in Westminster Abbey at 7:15 a.m. Friday a local couple was marking their 50th wedding anniversary.
“We wanted to do something to do something to mark the day,” Anne West told News 95.7, adding she and her husband Fred were married 50 years ago to the day in Broad Cove, Inverness County.
“Our entire wedding party is with us, six of them with their spouses. We thought this would be something different to do,” said West.
For some, it was just nice to get away from everyday life.
“In the world there’s so much sadness that this perks your spirits,” said Diane. “It’s like a fantasy, something happy and fairytale like.”
Hotel staff worked around the clock for months to transform the Guild Room into a royal-worthy place to watch the televised event.
Karen Spurr with Grand Beginnings was on site hours before guests arrived ensuring the linens and centerpieces were perfectly placed.
“It’s meant to be a timeless wedding,” said Spurr, indicating the peach roses and white hydrangeas. “All of the florals that we’ve used are researched as being something you would find in a British garden at this time of year.”
Approximately 200 people filled the venue for a three-course breakfast of porridge, fruit and scones to start, followed by fried eggs, bacon, sausage, black pudding and mushrooms and then a plate of smoked salmon and capers.
Between courses, and between the end of the royal wedding ceremony and the iconic balcony kiss, the hotel held its Fancy Hat contest.
“I said ‘I don’t think this hat will win,’ but it was the only thing that I could find,” contest winner Heather Mowry tells News 95.7. “Last night I said, ‘it’s this hat or nothing.'”
Hat competition judges Laura Oakley and Leslie Anne Steeleworthy said they were looking for overall fanciness while remaining true to the theme of the day’s events and coordinating with the outfit.
There was fierce competition in the Fancy Hat competition as more than 20 Red Hat Society ladies attended the event.
