The Honeymoon Hotel (36 page)

Details supplied by Rosie McDonald, wedding consultant, Bonneville Hotel
.

Caroline Bentley Douglas, owner of Wragley Hall, Little Oaks, Oxon, and Laurence Bentley Douglas, owner of the Bonneville Hotel, London W1

How they met:
At the British Hospitality Awards dinner in 1984, when the bride’s quick thinking saved the groom from an allergic reaction to a prawn
vol au vent
. The couple married soon after, raising two sons, Joseph and Alec, and co-managed the family hotel, but separated in 2007. However, recent events brought the pair back together, only for them to find that, rather like the recently renovated hotel itself, some romances just improve with age.

Proposal:
the groom originally planned to surprise the bride during a private chef’s table dinner in the award-winning hotel restaurant, Daffodil, but instead, thanks to a surprise London rain shower, popped the question under a tree in nearby Green Park.

Venue:
The wedding took place in the rose garden of the Bonneville Hotel, now managed by the couple’s elder son, Joseph, and his fiancée, Rosie McDonald.

Bride’s outfit:
The bride wore a knee-length oyster satin dress with matching embroidered coat, and a Philip Treacy feather headpiece. Her ‘something old’ was the groom, her ‘something new’, their plans for a health spa/luxury hotel in Scotland; the ‘something borrowed’ and ‘something blue’ was the pen provided by the wedding organiser to sign the register at the last minute.

Groomsmen:
Best man was Joseph Bentley Douglas, assisted by Alec Bentley Douglas.

Bridesmaids:
There were no bridesmaids. The bride was attended by her two Labradors, Winston and Horatio, and was given away by her father, Sir Devonald Craig-Lockart.

Vows:
The couple wrote their own vows for the ceremony.
In addition to their promise to love and cherish each other properly this time, the groom also vowed to listen to the end of every sentence, and to leave tea to brew properly, while the bride promised not to interrupt, and to take a daily multivitamin.

Witnesses:
Model Flora Thornbury and Hollywood actors Benedict and Emily Quayle were witnesses to the wedding, as all three had played a special role in bringing the happy couple back together.

Flowers:
The bride’s bouquet was made up of forget-menots, lilies of the valley to symbolise ‘returned love’, and ivy to symbolise fidelity and friendship, and the couple married under an arch of cream roses entwined with myrtle. The reception was decorated to match the Art Deco theme.

Jewellery:
The bride wore a string of pearls from the groom’s grandmother, Maude Bentley Douglas, founder of the hotel’s famous ‘Farewell to the Year’.

Reception:
An evening reception for three hundred people was held in the ballroom after the earlier wedding ceremony for close family and friends. Music was provided by the Jack Tempest Swing Orchestra, a late supper of oysters, champagne and bacon sandwiches was served, and a fleet of black taxis ferried guests home in style at three a.m.

First dance:
‘The Second Time Around’ by Frank Sinatra. Followed by a flashmob dance of ‘Oops I Did It Again’, led by Joe Bentley Douglas and Ripley Bentley Douglas Perkins.

Honeymoon:
After a night as first guests in the Bonneville’s newly renovated honeymoon suite, the bride and groom spent three days in a luxury health spa, followed by ten days touring the vineyards of California in a vintage sports car.

Photographer:
Charles Nevin.

Videographer:
There was no videographer. The best memories are the ones in your heart (which also has a very kind filter after a toast or two).