All the latest wedding news for couples getting married in Kent, along with bridal fashion and beauty inspiration and honeymoon ideas.
New interactive feature to make hen and stag dos less stressful
A new randomised spinning wheel feature has been launched by Hen Weekends and Stag Weekends in an effort to make the planning process of hen and stag parties easier and less stressful. This comes as their recent study of hen and stag party bookings found that 30% of hen and stag party organisers have no idea which location to book, with so many different options on offer creating quite the predicament.
Posted: 23 January 2023
New honeymoon experiences for couples with a conscience
Hotelgift is the ideal way to share the joy of travel with a newlywed couple with a conscience; from uber luxury glamping to wellness journeys for two. For every Hotelgift bought and for every gift card that is redeemed for a new hotel stay, 1,000 litres of water are donated to support local communities in places that need it most through a partnership with Made Blue.
Posted: 20 January 2023
New hen/stag do offering in Stratford, London, March 2023!
Grab your #weddingsquad, it's time to get dressed up and put on your dancing shoes because Tony n' Tina's Wedding - the immersive hit Broadway show from America - is coming to London! This unique live theatrical experience - during which the audience and cast interact together during a 'live wedding' - will officially open at the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London on March 16th, 2023, and here at County Wedding Magazines HQ we think its got all the ingredients for the ultimate stag/hen or sten do!
Posted: 19 January 2023
Hythe Imperial Hotel are hosting wedding evenings
Hythe Imperial Hotel, a classically-styled venue on the beautiful Kent seafront boasts uninterrupted, panoramic views across the English Channel. The ornate Victorian gazebo set in a secret garden makes for a ceremony setting to remember, and the venue's host of impressive reception spaces inside offer ultimate flexibility.
From January to March 2023 Hythe Imperial Hotel will be hosting Wedding Wednesdays with Georgia, its wedding coordinator. It's your opportunity to go along and met her, as you enjoy a glass of prosecco and a show around. Wedding Wednesdays will be running 5pm until 8pm each week until the end of March.
Posted: 19 January 2023
Average ages we are hitting life’s milestones
A new study from Confused.com has revealed the average ages we are hitting life's milestones in England & Wales, including getting married at age 35! So how does your milestone timeline compare? Typically, the first milestone people in the UK reach is moving out of their parent's home at age 20, followed by moving in with their partner at 27. The next life milestone those in the UK usually meet is having their first child, with couples seeming to have children before marriage. The average age for having children is 29, while the average age for getting married is 35. The data also suggests that on average, people are choosing to have children before purchasing a property. This could be a result of house prices continuing to rise making it harder to save for a deposit.
Posted: 18 January 2023
Check out these romantic wedding venues
The Inn on the Lake sits on the edge of 12 acres of woodland, and its gorgeous gardens are planted around three natural lakes. From saying "I do" at the water's edge and beautiful photo opps on the jetty, to a barbecue on the terrace, lakeside weddings are a real focus here. You can even wake up in the morning and enjoy a coffee (or glass of pre-wedding bubbly) on your bedroom's waterside terrace.
Set in 14 acres of picturesque grounds close to the centre of Royal Tunbridge Wells, The Spa Hotel originally opened its doors to guests in 1880. Built in 1766 as a country mansion, the hotel is a well-known Georgian landmark in the town and following extensive refurbishments its original grandeur works in harmony with modern luxury.
Posted: 17 January 2023
Couples are opting for eco-friendly weddings
One of the UK's leading waste and recycling management companies BusinessWaste.co.uk collected data, which shows how much attitudes to environmental and sustainable choices in regard to weddings are changing. According to the research searches for 'sustainable wedding' has skyrocketed by 75% over the last year, while 'sustainable wedding venues near me' saw an 80%+ increase along with 'sustainable engagement ring' which saw a staggering 96% search increase. What's more, us Brits came out on top overall for our eco-friendly mindfulness, with France and Greece also seeing the biggest increase in searches for sustainable wedding venues.
Posted: 16 January 2023
Keep your wedding guests warm this winter
Putting the chocolate back into drinking chocolate with their unique fine beads, Cocoa Canopy are making winter weddings super cosy with its sample-szie offering. Perfect for winter wedding favours, they offer the ultimate in comforting hot chocolates, guaranteed to put a smile on the receiver's face! Cocoa Canopy is the only UK drinking chocolate brand to craft unique fine chocolate beads for beautifully smooth, real chocolate drinks made from only a handful of sustainably sourced ingredients.
Posted: 13 January 2023
Larry’s Mobile Bar is offering readers a £50 discount on existing hire
With 15 years' experience Chatham-based Larry's Mobile Bar offers a range of affordable packages for your wedding day to rival any high street pub. What's more, the team are passionate about providing great customer service and take immense pride in delivering events to remember. This quality bar service is available with drinks ranging from cocktails to beers, and wines to champagnes – you'll be spoilt for choice!
There are two packages available, the first being an all-inclusive drinks option, essentially an open bar, for £20 per head; while the second is a cash bar where guests can buy their own beverages. In both instances, Larry's Mobile Bar will also charge a £150 hire fee, which covers transport, any additional licenses and staffing. A deposit of £250 is required on the cash bar option, which is returnable, or can be used for drinks on the night.
Posted: 12 January 2023
How to throw an insta-worthy engagement party
You never have to scroll too far to stumble upon a celebrity engagement party on instagram and if you've recently got engaged yourself, you're probably thinking - should I throw one too? The short answer is yes, absolutely. While planning the wedding is always top priority, there's no reason why you shouldn't have a party to get all your loved ones together and celebrate the big news straight away - particularly when most weddings take place a good 12 to 18 months post-proposal. However, hosting an engagement party of your dreams can still be quite a daunting task. To help, wedding jewellery experts, Queensmith have pulled together 11 tips for taking your celebratory soirée to the next level.
Posted: 11 January 2023
Hythe Imperial Hotel sits on the beautiful Kent seafront
This classically-styled, four-star Hotel sits right on the beautiful Kent seafront in Hythe, a position that boasts uninterrupted panoramic views across the English Channel. The perfectly-manicured garden to the front houses the impressive gazebo, and given the area's microclimate, this is the perfect place for an exquisite outdoor ceremony.
The Hythe Imperial's rooms and suites range from spacious and decadent, to intimate and cosy; sea view or garden view; cottage style suites and family rooms. The Belcourt Suite, the choice of many wedding couples, is at the top of the hotel and offers spectacular sea views.
Posted: 10 January 2023
Spotify data reveals the most popular wedding songs
Luxury engagement ring retailer, Diamonds Factory, has scraped Spotify to find the top 100 most popular wedding songs to include in your playlists. To do this, Diamonds Factory analysed over 100 Spotify playlists containing the word 'wedding' and found the most featured songs across all playlists. These playlists included 3500 unique songs, and the data scrape also used additional keywords to reveal the top wedding ceremony songs, wedding party songs and top wedding artists, too.
Posted: 9 January 2023
County Wedding Events coming to Hedingham Castle in Essex!
If you're newlyweds-to-be embarking on your wedding planning journey, pop along to the County Wedding Events wedding show at Hedingham Castle, Essex, for inspiration on Saturday 8th January 2023! A must-visit for all those that got engaged over the festive months, the event brings couples that are desperate for face-to-face wedding planning in touch with local professionals who are on hand to help plan the wedding day.
Posted: 7 January 2023
New planner reveals when you can afford to tie the knot
With wedding costs rising by 3,000% since the 1950s, and set to reach an all-time high in the 2020s, making and sticking to a wedding budget can be a real headache for couples. To help would-be newlyweds with the complex task of budget planning their big day, the wedding finance team at money.co.uk have created a new wedding budget planner, to help couples account for all their costs for each stage of their dream wedding. The new planning tool also helps you calculate the earliest date you should set for your big day, based on how long it will take you to save up enough money to pay for your dream wedding. The wedding budget planner page also has lot of tips to help couples save cash, including:
Posted: 6 January 2023
Win a ‘One Night Luxury Four Poster Hotel Break for Two’ in Colchester
County Weddings Magazine has teamed up with The Rose and Crown Hotel to give our readers the chance to win a 'One Night Luxury Four Poster Hotel Break for Two' in their 700 year old hotel. The lucky winner will receive a voucher which can be redeemed any time in the next 18 months. Also included is a bottle of champagne waiting in your room on arrival, breakfast in the morning, early check-in and late checkout, and a delicious three course dinner in their onsite restaurant.
Posted: 5 January 2023
Beautiful in Curves is a new boutique for curvy brides
New to Kent is Beautiful in Curves, the county's dedicated boutique for curvy brides. Owner Zoe Dowle tells us, "With many years of experience in the bridal industry, you can be assured that we've done our homework in order to offer you the greatest choice of fashionable and affordable gowns in sizes 16 to 34, all available to try on in the boutique." From the ever-popular A-line or princess silhouettes and on- trend boho styles, to super-elegant Bardot necklines, lace, satin or sleeves – you name it Beautiful in Curves has it!
The new boutique stocks gowns by a wide variety of incredible bridal designers including White Rose, Millie May, Victoria Kay, Lou Lou and British Bridal. These exciting collections have all been selected by Zoe specifically for the care and attention they put into their dresses, particularly in terms of internal support, which means you have all the comfort you could wish for without the need to worry about a bra. Beautiful in Curves offers a full alteration service too, ensuring you get the perfect fit.
Posted: 5 January 2023
The most popular wedding foliage 2022 revealed
Wow, 2022 was quite the year for weddings with a bumper amount taking place. Looking back at what was trending last year, perhaps inspiration for those tying the knot in 2023, wedding insurance specialists Protectivity have researched the most popular wedding flowers, based on UK Google Search Volume. The most popular wedding bouquet foliage was Eucalyptus, with 585,000 searches! Followed by, Ivy 495,000, Jasmine 458,200, Rosemary 374,600, Ferns 351,200, Monstera 319,500, Silver Birch 219,600, Philodendrons 219,400, Olive branches 143,000 and Myrtle 133,300.
Posted: 4 January 2023
Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve is set in 600 acres of private parkland
A magical setting steeped in history, Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve is set in 600 acres of magnificent private parkland and home to 900 wild endangered animals.
The venue offers a variety of wonderful indoor and outdoor locations for your wedding ceremony. The Pergola is set among 14 acres of perfectly manicured gardens and can host up to 100 guests. The Spencer Roberts Room is hand painted and showcases a mural of animals, some of which live on the reserve. It can seat up to 50 for the "I dos" or 30 for the wedding breakfast. The Long Room offers incredible views over the Southern Terrace and reserve. It can accommodate100 for the ceremony or 50 for the wedding breakfast.
Posted: 3 January 2023
Honeymooning in your married name
If you are dreaming of jetting off to sandy shores with your sparkling new ring, spouse and matching passports...then this guide from NameSwitch will tell you how to make your dreams come true. Please do have a proper think about whether having matching passports straight away is really that important to you because, trust us when we say, it's not an easy thing to pull off! With recent changes to how processes work, effects of the Pandemic, and added complications like not being handed your marriage certificate on your wedding day, or needing the name on your NHS records to be the same as the one on your passport, an already stressful undertaking just got even more nail-biting! Now it's not mission impossible, but you do need 3 key things to be aligned (and nerves of steel) if this is going to work...
Posted: 2 January 2023
Updown is a newly opened restaurant with rooms set in a former farm
Ruth Leigh and Oliver Brown are now welcoming guests to dine at Updown, their newly opened restaurant with rooms set in a former farm near Deal. Over the last few years, the couple have been carefully restoring the farmhouse and grounds to house seven rooms including two cottages. Set among seven-and-a-half acres of rolling Kent countryside, the 17th-century Grade II listed farmhouse, hidden in its own magical woodland and mature wildflower gardens has been conscientiously restored to celebrate its working history and rural setting.
In the main house, you can stay in one of four beautifully appointed rooms, all overlooking the grounds. Each one has been thoughtfully designed to reflect the character of the location. Alongside these, Ruth and Oli have transformed the farm's outbuildings including its stables to house three new guest rooms.
Posted: 29 December 2022
Dreamland Margate is a British seaside entertainment and amusement park
Dreamland Margate is a unique British seaside entertainment and amusement park, set by the sea in the UK's unofficial capital of cool, offering a one-of-a-kind wedding venue.
The elegant Grade II listed ballroom is licensed for ceremonies for 250 seated guests. The space comes with a bar and has two smaller adjacent rooms, which can be hired at an additional cost. This is useful for extending the bar, or as dressing rooms for entertainers.
For receptions, Dreamland's sunny outdoor VIP huts can be hired along with the surrounding area overlooking the park and Scenic Stage Arena. This space has a bar and capability to add a food offering. It can host 120 guests, but can be extended to 200 if the viewing platform is included.
Posted: 27 December 2022
The rise of double-barrelled surnames
n the past couple of years, there's been a continued increase in the number of people wishing to join their names. For example, in November, research by The London Mint Office to mark The Queen's platinum wedding anniversary shows that 11% of married couples between the ages of 18 and 30 joined their names. As the UK's leading Name Changing Service, NameSwitch has also seen an 18% year-on-year growth in couples wishing to adopt a double-barrelled surname, which accounts for 12% of the thousands of name changes we've assisted over the last 12 months. So, why are more of us opting to double-barrel their surnames?
Posted: 26 December 2022
With the Pandemic derailing wedding plans since 2020, the next few years look set to be a busy time for couples celebrating their union. But couples themselves are evolving – from individuals who feel shoehorned into traditions or cultural expectations they don't feel comfortable with, to those who feel more confident creating their own idea of how a wedding should be, encompassing a far wider range of preferences, traditions, and cultures. When NameSwitch was invited to speak on diversity at a recent industry event, Bridelux Symposium, the overwhelming consensus of wedding professionals was that they, too, are seeing a change in how weddings are becoming more individually unique; created to celebrate the heritage (often blended) and preferences of each couple.
Posted: 23 December 2022
Kent’s Fitzgerald Jewellers has won Store Design of the Year
The winners of the UK Jewellery Awards 2022 were revealed recently at the Hilton London Metropole, and Kent's Fitzgerald Jewellers in Canterbury scooped up the win for Store Design of the Year. The store was praised by the expert judging panel for its imaginative design, which creates a space applauded for being completely unique.
Marking its 30th anniversary this year, the UK Jewellery Awards, organised by jewellery and watch industry title Retail Jeweller, is the country's longest-running and most prestigious trade awards event. With 21 targeted categories, the awards cover every aspect of the industry from jewellery design and ethical business practice to customer service and successful retailing.
Posted: 22 December 2022
GREAT! romance to Launch on Thursday 5th January 2023
Dreaming of cosying up with some love-ly film entertainment in the New Year? GREAT! romance, a new, free-to-air, TV channel dedicated to bringing feel-good, romance films to TV screens, all day, every day, is launching on Thursday 5th January 2023. If you have a soft spot for romantic movies and are looking to indulge in escapist entertainment this winter, then look no further! Romantics across the UK can fall head-over-heels with the only TV channel that promises back-to-back love stories all day every day - for free! - and the curated selection of movies is guaranteed to melt anyone's heart at the start of 2023.
Posted: 21 December 2022
