Your wedding day should be a special occasion - and Debbie Marks, who has worked in the industry for 23 years, is in the business of making it stay in the memory banks forever. The Manchester Evening News reports the mum-of-two - who owns Qube Events & Productions - says it’s “very rare” that she organises a boring wedding or event, and she recalls the unusual requests she has had to deal with down the years.
1. Ice sculpture of two cats, Merrydale Manor, Cheshire
“We created a £600 ice sculpture for a wedding made to look like our clients’ two cats,” Debbie said. “The cats are called Holly and Fearne. We asked the clients to send us a photo of their cats, then the ice sculptor used that to copy the likeness as close as possible to create the ice cats.”
2. Comic superfan, Last Drop Village Hotel, Bolton
“The groom at one of our weddings was a huge Marvel fan, so the buttonholes for the groom and the groomsmen all included mini Marvel characters entwined within the florals,” Debbie said.
3. Middle Eastern theme, Whitefield Synagogue
“A local client was having a Middle Eastern theme for their event,” Debbie said. “There were quite a lot of kids involved so I was asked if I could arrange some camel rides to give the kids rides up and down the residential road outside their venue. This never went ahead as they decided being responsible for poo shovelling on the main road wasn't a good idea.”
4. Disco fan, Titanic Hotel, Liverpool
“This client liked to party and was a huge disco fan,” Debbie explained. “We took the meaning of disco to another level. Suspended over their dance floor was a giant circular floral chandelier adorned with tonnes of hanging florals and disco balls. The £4k chandelier was over 4m wide and included 20 giant hanging disco balls. There were also giant 6ft lit-up DISCO letters, disco balls in the top table displays, centre pieces, cake table and even around the table plan."
5. Pug ring bearer, Victoria Warehouse
“I've had a client who was insistent on having their pug be the ring bearer for their wedding,” Debbie said. “Dressed in a white wedding dress, with pearls around its neck and rings attached, their super cute pug ran down the wedding aisle on cue.”
6. All about the 80s, The Lowry Hotel
“I have to take a little bit of responsibility for this one,” Debbie explained, “But this client wanted something unique. We created over the dance floor a free-standing structure at the Lowry Hotel that housed hundreds of hanging slinkies. This was about four years ago but the staff there still remember the slinky ceiling we created.”
7. Huge snow globe, Heaton House Farm, Macclesfield
"There was a wedding where guests entered the wedding breakfast to find a giant snow globe in the centre of the dance floor,” Debbie said. “Inside there were two fabulous acrobatic ballerinas putting on a show for all the guests. This unusual request went down a huge hit!”
8. Christmas markets, Heaton House Farm
“I was asked to recreate the Christmas markets for a wedding,” Debbie said. “This was for the evening guests and was a surprise. During the meal, in came the Christmas chalets and wintry props including an 8ft polar bear, giant penguins and a giant sleigh for guests to have photos in.”
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