Hello!
Quick links:
The venue
The plan
Accommodation
Wedding gifts
We’re very excited to be getting married on 11 January, and
even more excited that so many of you can share the day with us!
This website seemed like a practical way to answer some questions that many of you have asked. Please let us know if there’s anything we haven’t covered.
The venue
The wedding and evening reception will be held at the National Waterfront Museum, in Swansea. It’s a lovely space, combining an old warehouse and a modern building of slate and glass. The staff are fantastic, and will make sure you’re directed to the right place once you arrive.
The venue is fully accessible, with an elevator to get you between floors.
The main floor of the Museum will still be open to the public in the afternoon, but will close before the evening reception starts. The areas where the wedding is happening will not be open to the public, however!
Parking
If you’re driving in, I’m sorry to say that Swansea Council have made parking a little more confusing: the footbridge that connects the adjacent car park to the leisure center is closed.
We asked the museum, and they made the following recommendations:
- You can still park at St David's Car park on Oystermouth road. This is the parking structure across from the venue. Just be aware that you’ll have to cross the street at ground level. There are lights and pedestrian crossings so it should be straightforward.
- Alternatively, you can use the Dylan Thomas centre car park on Burrows Road. There is a small pay and display behind The Pumphouse pub a minute from the Museum.
- There will be free parking on the roads around the Queens pub / Gloucester Place / Swansea Museum after 6pm if you look for them.
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The plan
We’ll start celebrating at 7 p.m. and carry on until midnight (or until we all fall asleep, whichever comes first). There’ll be a buffet, music, board games, comfy places to sit and chat, and space to dance (for those of you with more grace and skill than either of us).
In the interest of allergy-friendliness, we kindly insist that you forgo any perfume or cologne. This is not a day on which the bride wishes to experience a migraine!
Please note that only the main entrance to the Museum, behind the LC1 leisure centre, will be open during this time; you won’t be able to get in from the Marina.
The buffet will consist of sandwiches and snacks, plus cake. All food will be vegetarian. If you’d like us to ask the caterers to highlight any specific allergens in the food, let us know and we’ll find out what’s possible. There will also be a cash bar serving soft and alcoholic drinks.
⇒ We have had several enquiries about formality. No, not so much. “Smart casual” attire is perfectly fine. No tuxedos or fancy hats required.
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Accommodation
Since
the venue is within easy walking distance from central
Swansea, that may be your best bet for accommodation. We’ll suggest a
few hotels that we’ve actually used ourselves, but there are others
which may be more to your taste. There are also quite a few guest
houses on the seafront.
These three hotels should be an easy walk from the venue for most people.
- Morgans Hotel
-
This is where we’ll be staying, and it’s probably the most expensive of Swansea’s hotels. Luckily, prices are fairly low here in general, so even “most expensive” isn’t ludicrous. The hotel is in an old newspaper office, a gorgeous red-brick building with high-ceilinged rooms. The hotel also encompasses neighbouring buildings. It’s lovely, full of character, and serves decent food and drink.
- Swansea Marriott
-
This is a good hotel, though some of the rooms were a bit dated when we stayed. They’ve been upgrading, though. Some rooms have a sea view, and it’s close enough to the shore that you’ll be lulled to sleep by the sound of waves breaking on the sand.
- Premier Inn - City Centre
-
This is a budget-friendly hotel, with perfectly decent rooms. It’s not fancy, but we enjoyed our stay there, and it’s in a convenient location. There’s also a Premier Inn on the Waterfront—we’ve never stayed there, but it’s likely to be similar, as this is a national chain.
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Wedding gifts
You
are absolutely not expected to bring a gift. However, we know
that people often like to give gifts at weddings; we definitely do!
So, if you feel you want to, read on.
We’d like you to choose a book for us. Any book that is meaningful to you, or that you think will be meaningful or useful or amusing to us.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s an expensive edition or a second-hand copy that cost five cents (plus postage) from Amazon. We will treasure it. We hope to have bookplates available on the day, for you to write on and affix to a book if you bring one. You could also inscribe it beforehand (on a bookmark, if you’re allergic to writing in books!).
If you need inspiration, some things that we both enjoy (and enjoy doing/discussing together) include: sci-fi, typography, programming, crafts (particularly printmaking, fabric crafts, paper crafts, or wood crafts), formal logic, amphibians and reptiles, linguistics, graphic design, cocktails, numbers, cookery, ethics, home automation projects, photography, and the history of ideas.
Still stuck? Please email Steff, who will offer advice and suggestions (she’s Bethan’s mum - you can address her as “Steff” or “Bethan’s mum” or “Your Serene Highness”. She’s cool.) She can also tell you whether anyone else has said they’re choosing a particular book—though, of course, she probably won’t know everything that’s been chosen. (Even if you don’t need ideas, you could tell her if you choose something, so she can keep track).
If you want to have something sent directly to Swansea, which you can pick up on the day, again please contact Steff, who will give you an address.
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