150 years of wedding days celebrated at the Queen Hotel in Chester

Aug 31 2009 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

MARRIED couples who spent their wedding day at Chester’s historic Queen Hotel are asked to help celebrate its 150th anniversary.

The four-star Queen in City Road is seeking couples throughout the ages, whether they actually tied knot at The Queen or enjoyed their reception there.

The Queen wants them to send in a photograph of their happy day. A time line will be created upon a ‘Love Wall’ showing brides and grooms over the years. All couples will then be invited to a celebration party at the hotel in November.

General manager Simon Williams said: “We wanted a bit of romance, a bit of a fairytale, so we decided to run something around the theme of 150 years of weddings at the Queen Hotel.

“We are inviting couples who had their receptions at the Queen Hotel over the last 150 years – realistically we are looking at the last 60 years.

“Anyone who had their reception or got married here is asked to send in a photo of themselves as the happy couple at the Queen Hotel. We need to be able to identify it as the Queen Hotel either in the garden or in one of the function suites or on the staircase.”

Mr Williams also hopes to ask a member of the Chester Cathedral clergy to come along and perform a communal blessing.

Opened in 1859 as the UK’s original railway hotel, the Queen has seen many changes over the years. A £20m extension and refurbishment programme was recently completed adding contemporary design-led twists to the original Victorian interiors while complementing this with the addition of the five-star King’s Suite next door, which used to be owned by Bank of Scotland.

Send copies of wedding photographs to Caroline Voce, Queen Hotel, City Road, Chester CH1 3AH.