Vintage Wedding Fayre Review: The Vale Hotel, South Wales

Hey everyone! On Sunday 19th Feb I attended a Vintage Wedding Fayre which was held at the Vale Resort in Hensol, Nr Cardiff. I became an undercover bride-to-be for the day for two reasons: Firstly, to find inspiration for new headpieces and accessories, and secondly because I have always wanted to go to a wedding fayre as I didn't have the opportunity to go to any in preparation for my own wedding because we had just 6 weeks to plan it... but thats another story!!

The Vale Resort is a Hotel and Spa that is set in the beautiful Welsh Countryside on the outskirts of Cardiff. The Hotel offers 4* accomodation, with Spa and Golf facilities also available (please click on the link to see their website for more information). I didnt get married here myself, but I was very impressed with the overall professional appearance of the Hotel and Grounds as a possible Wedding Venue.

1940s inspired singing trio The Siren Sisters

The mood was immediately set before entering the events room with the sound of the 40s projecting through the corridor. On closer inspection, I discovered that this delightful sound was created by singing group The Siren Sisters, who are a 1940s inspired trio with "distinctive voices and classic fashion style". They are Welsh born and bred, and are available to book for your own wedding day. If you follow the link to their website above, you will be able to view a video of them in full swing, and personally I thought that they were AMAZING. They also have a live band, so they would fit into any part of your special day, whether its the Ceremony, Reception or Evening Party. Their website is definately worth a look!

There were so many stalls within the events hall promoting a wide variety of products, ranging from photographers, invitations, room decor, floristry, jewellery, cakes etc. etc. - far too many to review, so I am just going to talk about the ones that I was the most impressed with.

Icicle Tricycle - Traditional Ice Creams Made in Wales

The first mention goes out to "Icicle Tricycle", which is an old-fashioned ice-cream tricycle available to hire for all occasions. It comes complete with an operator dressed in traditional outfit to serve your guests a delicious choice of flavours. This family business is run by a very friendly man called Dave, who informed me that you can choose up to 6 of the 7 flavours available for your guests (but you have to be 18 or over to have the rum and raisin!), and a variety of different cones that vary in price. We were given a little cone of vanilla ice cream that was the best I have ever tasted, it was just so creamy. The ice cream is supplied by the hapus ice cream company, which is based in Machen, South Wales. The good news for everyone that wont be holding/attending a function, is that you can still enjoy some of these delicious ice creams by popping into the hapus ice cream parlour (opening times and directions for which can be found on their website).

Love Peace and Cupcake

Moving onto cakes. I feel a little bit guilty about this one because (under false pretences) I spent a while chatting to the lady that owns this company, and was so impressed that I feel a special mention is deserved here. Love Peace and Cupcake is run by a very friendly, professional lady called Debra Edwards. Not only are her cupcakes delicious and sooo pretty, but you can tell that she is very passionate about her business and her love of baking, and that she will lose life and limb to ensure that she delivers only the best quality product and overall service for you on your special day. She is based in Penarth, South Wales, and all of her cakes are made fresh to order. She comes highly recommended from me, so please please check out her website, as she makes cakes for all occasions.

And last but by no means least, Maria Farelly Photography. OMG! Her work is incredible. It is not worth scrimping when it comes to your wedding photographer as, personally, I believe that your phototgraphs and the rings are all that you have to show for the expense after the big day is over. It made me so sad when I saw her pictures, because I just wished that I had found her for my wedding as my own wedding photos were a bit of a dissappointment to me. Maria has a unique style of photography that just seems to effortlessly capture all of the glamour of your big day. Her photographs have a very powerful, yet natural earthy feel to them, making her the ideal photographer for a vintage style wedding. She also does engagement photo-shoots and won the Best Wedding Photographer award at the 2011 Welsh National Wedding Awards.

A sample of Maria's work and her award - picture taken by Maria farrelly and 'borrowed' from her blog  by me :-)

And that just about sums it up really. It was a great day, and I have some really great ideas... so I am now busy designing and creating some new headpieces that will hopefully be listed for sale in my eBay store soon.