What does it mean to win an award? One of the most prestigious, client-voted competitions, The Wedding Industry Awards were set up to recognise excellent suppliers and help anyone planning a wedding find the very best venue, caterer, cake, musician, planner, make-up artist, hairdresser, and every other element of the perfect day.
After a difficult few years for our couples and ourselves, we’ve a lot to be grateful for and we’re busy back doing what we love – helping people plan and enjoy beautiful weddings. For the team at St Tewdrics, the experience of seeing our couples discover the magic of this stunning venue, from their first visit to the day they tie the knot, is enough to make us happy. However, when we entered The Wedding Industry Awards (TWIA) 2022 we thought winning might just be the icing on the (wedding) cake.
Entering The Wedding Industry Awards 2022 allowed us to reflect on everything that’s wonderful about St Tewdrics and tell the story of this fabulous venue. Our entry talked of our vision at St Tewdrics House – to provide the perfect experience for our couples from their initial interest to their beautiful wedding day. We paid tribute to our highly experienced and passionate team who take extreme pride in delivering a magical experience and a day our couples will cherish forever.
Covering England, Scotland and Wales, TWIA features 25 categories with eight Regional Events and a National Event. Each category winner from the Regional Events goes through to the National Awards Event. Our couples have come up trumps, casting their votes to ensure we’ve been shortlisted in The Best Wedding Venue (Historic Building) in the South West & Wales category in 2021 and 2022.
This year, the Regional Event took place at the rather lovely Frogmill in the Cotswolds on 26th January. With nerves and excitement in abundance, a few members of the team hopped over the border and enjoyed a lovely evening meeting fellow finalists. We were over the moon to end the evening being named as the winner of the The Best Wedding Venue (Historic Building) in the South West & Wales for the second year in a row. That meant we were off to the National Event!
The 2022 National Event took place in person for the first time since 2019 and it was TWIA’s 10th Birthday, so they were going all out to welcome everyone back with bang. The event was held on 23rd February at the super-cool Underglobe London, a spectacular venue in central London, with brilliant entertainment and a real party atmosphere.
The whole St Tewdrics team got glammed up and headed to London for some fun and hopefully a National Award! The Globe Girls, a captivating collection of drag artists added sparkle and glamour to the evening alongside some amazing West End-style performances from Doorstep Productions.
We had some tough competition in The Best Wedding Venue (Historic Building) category from these unique and stunning properties:
Homles Mill, North West England
Howsham Hall, Yorkshire & North East England
Old Rectory House, West Midlands
The Pumping House, East Midlands
Hedsor House, South Central England
The Pilgrims Rest, South East England
We were absolutely delighted to be Highly Commended; it was such a wonderful surprise made even more special as the whole team could celebrate this brilliant achievement together. Huge congratulations to the overall winner, the absolutely stunning The Pumping House – what an accolade.
Since the National Event we’ve received high praise from TWIA, many of our suppliers and previous and future couples – it’s been so humbling for the entire team. After the event, we were able to access the library of feedback from the couples who voted for us. Wow! Let us share just a snippet of what they had to say:
“St Tewdrics gave us the wedding day of our dreams. Not only is the venue breath taking and done to a very high standard, the staff are amazing and go above and beyond in all that they do. We will never forget our wedding day at St Tewdrics.”
“St Tewdrics is an outstanding venue. All staff were absolutely amazing in the lead up to the wedding and on the day of the wedding. The grounds and house are immaculate and beautifully presented. The staff go above and beyond to make the wedding day run smoothly and nothing is too much trouble.”
“We made some incredible memories at St Tewdrics and I could not recommend it enough to any couple looking for the best wedding venue ever.”
So, what does it mean to win an award? Well, we’d say the entire process makes us feel pretty good – from telling our story when crafting the perfect entry, bringing our brilliant team together and meeting new friends in the industry. But what really made us take a bow at being Highly Commended was reading the feedback from our beautiful couples afterwards. What an honour.