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A FIRST date at Brunel’s ss Great Britain has blossomed in to full romance – and on Saturday (May 9) the happy couple are getting married on board.
Pamela Davies and Keith Stevenson, both from Bristol, first ‘met’ online.
They decided to see each other in person and chose Brunel’s ss Great Britain as the destination for their first date. first ‘met’ online. |
That was on May 6, 2007, and two years later they will be saying ‘I do’ on board ship in the Promenade Deck.
To celebrate staff will be presenting the happy couple with a bottle of Champagne Mumm – a favourite with the ‘First Class’ Victorian passengers who traveled to New York, America, and Melbourne and Sydney, in Australia.
The venue is especially important to the couple, as it was where they first met and their ceremony will also help towards the cost of caring for the ss Great Britain – allowing others to enjoy their first dates on board ship for many years to come!
The ss Great Britain Trust is an independent museum, receiving no central or local government funding, and generates income to care for the historic ship through venue hire, weddings and civil ceremonies as well as through visitors.
Brunel’s ss Great Britain is Bristol’s most popular venue for weddings outside of the registry office, with ceremonies held on the Promenade Deck, receptions in the First Class Dining Saloon and wedding evening parties in the Hayward Saloon.
Events Coordinator for Brunel’s ss Great Britain, Jane Keech, said: “It is wonderful that couples choose to get married on board the ss Great Britain.
“All of our brides and grooms are important to us, but it is fabulous when the ship means so much more than just a stunning setting. All the events team love a romantic story and Pamela and Keith are a really wonderful couple!”
Whilst there were no wedding ceremonies held on board ship during her Victorian heyday as the world’s first luxury liner and emigrant clipper, there are numerous tales of romance.
Ship’s romance log:
- A passenger, aptly named ‘Dearlove’, records numerous romances in his diary accounts.
- Clara Aspinall, in her book ‘Three Years In Melbourne’, states: ‘There are eight or 10 unmarried ladies on board, some with their parents, others under the care of our captain [Gray]. Indeed the number of engaged young ladies whom he has taken out to Melbourne is something fabulous, and he has no sooner cast anchor in Hobson’s Bay than he has to deck himself out in bridal array, and hasten to church to perform the fatherly office of giving away a bevy of fair charges.’
- Brunel’s ss Great Britain has also seen romances blossom between staff and consultant contractors and volunteers since the ship’s return to Bristol in 1970.
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