Wedding rescued at the last minute after venue closed by blaze on day of ceremony

After fire hit a Gower venue where a wedding was due to take place today, another local venue has stepped up to help out the stricken bride, groom and guests.

They couple were due to celebrate their day at Ocean View Windmill Farm on North Gower which was damaged in a blaze, with crews at the scene this morning.

Now the team at Oldwalls have come to the rescue hosting the nuptials at their venue today instead.

Commercial Director Shakira Obaid, said she really felt for the OceanView as they too had suffered from a fire in the past:

“When we first heard the news this morning we were gutted for Ocean View and know first-hand the devastation the fire would cause as coincidentally we went through it in 2014.

"We quickly sprang into action when the bride’s makeup artist, Farhana Ali, got in touch via Facebook to seek our help at the crack of dawn. It turns out the father of the bride is actually our insurance broker and a friend of Oldwalls, we called him up straight away to advise Oldwalls was available and we would step in to deliver the big day.

"Our events team were scheduled to be off work so an SOS message went out to all staff as we couldn’t make this happen without the team. Over 60 of them got back to us within the hour to volunteer to work which we’re truly proud of."

"We even drafted in the team from our sister venue the Fairyhill gardening team helped to set up the outdoor ceremony this morning!"

The nuptials went ahead at 11 this morning outdoors at 11am and at least the weather was on the couple’s side.

Shakira continued:

"We have tried our best to replicate the entire day to minimise disruption for the bride and groom. Our chefs have managed to source the hog roast, the table favours, centrepieces and welcome signs etc were all salvageable from Ocean View which is a big relief for the bride.

"We will be pulling out all the stops to make today magical for Lowri, Mark and their guests.”