Sunday 29^th January, kicked off a trilogy of consecutive weekly wedding fayres with a short trip to St Ives  for  the Harbour Hotel’s (Porthminster) first event of the year.

Despite the persistent, chilly drizzle it was good to see so many interested couples filing through and clearly enjoying the diverse range of products and services on display. The post ‘Sunday Roast’ session in particular was well attended and although there was no facility at the hotel to showcase one of our splitties in the flesh, it certainly didn’t detract from their seemingly universal appeal.

Despite the weather we were kept busy throughout the day

Meanwhile during our absence from home, Wilf, our relatively new recruit to the Strawberry Leisure team was supposedly carrying out instructions to guard Lola, Lulu and Lily – no doubt curled up in front of the Aga! However, he still managed to cause a stir in St Ives by subliminal appearances in our wedding slideshow – our Bedlington had obviously been playing with the mouse!

Wilf (fluffy one on the left)

Many thanks to Rebecca, Elle and the team at St Ives Harbour Hotel for their hospitality.

A very busy period looms – on Thursday 2nd Feb we’re helping launch The Bay Restaurant, Penzance,  full afternoon tea experience by ‘Putting on the Splitz,’ we’re then off to Kingsley Village wedding fayre next Sunday 5th Feb followed a week later (12th Feb) for the Hall For Cornwall event, Truro, where we will also be launching our exciting and much awaited gift list collection.

Whether you’re planning a cosy winter wedding, simply fancy a more contemporary feel to your big day transport or looking to mix classic VW’s with a modern limousine; then… 

For those of you who have seen at first hand our mesmerisingly beautiful and iconic VW split screen campervans, Lola, Lulu and Lily, you’ll certainly find it implausible that they are in fact a post-war creation, employing motoring technology dating back some
70 years! Indeed since rolling off the production lines, our three celebrities have clocked up virtually 150 years of history between them!

Technology has certainly taken a quantum-leap in seven decades with the ride and driving experience of then and now, incomparable. Although immensely desirable 12 months of the year, classic split screen campervans are not well suited to the cold weather and harsh driving conditions of the great British winter. Moreover, salt-laden winter roads can wreak havoc on these extremely valuable historic vehicles.  Therefore we naturally prefer to give them a well earned rest over the winter months (typically November, December, January and February). But don’t despair; you can still stand out from the crowd with our brand new, top of the range, White Range Rover Sport Wedding Car.

 
The Range Rover Sport is the definitive luxury limousine described by the popular motoring press as having ‘awesome presence’ so you are a sure to turn heads as you or your guests arrive in the most opulent style in a ‘contemporary classic’.

On Thursday 2^nd February we’re off to The Bay Restaurant, Penzance to help celebrate the launch of their new afternoon tea experience.

Here at Strawberry Leisure we applaud initiative and let’s face it, this really is food for thought, so when Manager David Scotter called
to invite us to the launch our RSVP was scone in a flash!

We will of course be taking one of our celebrities along (Lola, Lulu or Lily) to grace the entrance and flirt with the honoured guests. That’s assuming we don’t get stuck in a jam!

                             Who will be coming to tea?

David Scotter describes this refreshing new initiative…

“Here at The Bay Penzance we are keen to add a little touch of glamour to people’s lives and we love afternoon tea, so we’re putting on the Ritz and have added the full afternoon tea experience to our menu. We’ve taken inspiration from Anna Duchess of Bedford who is credited with first introducing afternoon tea to her friends in the early 19th century to fill ‘that sinking feeling’. We think in these times when the news is full of gloom, and people are constantly being told that prices are going up and that the credit crunch is with us for a
long time to come, that an indulgent afternoon tea is a very inexpensive way to lift the spirits and to treat friends and family – to alleviate that ‘sinking  feeling’ that the news, the middle of winter and the short days and long nights can sometimes bring.”

For more information call The Bay Restaurant
on 01736 366890

Email: manager@thebaypenzance.co.uk

www.thebaypenzance.co.uk

The Bay Restaurant, Briton’s Hill, Penzance TR18 3AE

Article from The Cornishman newspaper, 22nd December 2011

It’s official… Hayle based Strawberry Leisure is UK’s ‘crème of the crop’ wedding transport company.

We are extremely honoured and proud to have learned that we have recently been awarded with unarguably a most treasured accolade by highly respected, Essex based Dossier Weddings.

This is how we found out…“Dear Bob and Kate! As one of our favoured suppliers we have enclosed our Seal of Approval which is given only to handpicked quality suppliers on our site. Seal of Approval means that you are not only reputable and favoured but considered to be crème of the crop! This e-mail gives you the right to use our seal of approval on any of your marketing and web pages. Addy Ademakinwa, Features Editor, Dossier Weddings”

What Dossier Weddings say about Strawberry Leisure; “Strawberry Leisure will make an indelible impression on you. Their striking Volkswagen vehicles undoubtedly turn heads, but that’s only part of what makes this company so exceptional. From beginning to end, Strawberry Leisure consistently
display unparalleled professionalism – it is apparent that quality, value, originality and customer satisfaction are strong values of theirs. For a wedding experience that’s second to none, choose Strawberry Leisure.”

This is a tremendous feather in Cornwall’s wedding industry cap. It is absolutely fantastic news for us and is particularly reassuring that all our hard work and enthusiasm gets noticed and  acknowledged from within the industry. We get inundated with thank you cards, emails and letters from our customers and this latest award really is the icing on the cake! Our sincere thanks goes to our wonderful team of chauffeurs; Alan, Brett, Steff and Bob, not forgetting of course, our gorgeous celebrities; Lola,Lulu and Lily.

About Dossier Weddings…  Dossier Weddings provide a high quality wedding directory, where carefully selected and reputable suppliers can be browsed. A unique approach is adopted for sourcing and listing Dossier Weddings’ suppliers, who are carefully considered and scrutinised before they are approved. As a result, only those of the highest calibre will feature in the directory.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas, good health and prosperity for the New Year!

Card designed by Lizzie-May Amos

“UK’s crème of the crop wedding transport company”

We were extremely honoured and proud to have learned yesterday, 7th December 2011, that we have been awarded with unarguably a most treasured accolade by highly respected, Essex based Dossier Weddings.

This is how we found out…

“Dear Bob and Kate! As one of our favoured suppliers we have enclosed our Seal of Approval which is given only to handpicked quality suppliers on our site. Seal of Approval means that you are not only reputable and favoured but considered to be crème of the crop! This e-mail gives you the right to use our seal of approval on any of your marketing and web pages. Addy Ademakinwa, Features Editor, Dossier Weddings”

What Dossier Weddings say about us…

“Strawberry Leisure will make an indelible impression on you. Their striking Volkswagen vehicles undoubtedly turn heads, but that’s only part of what makes this company so exceptional. From beginning to end, Strawberry Leisure consistently display unparalleled professionalism – it is apparent that quality, value, originality and customer satisfaction are strong values of theirs. For a wedding experience that’s second to none, choose Strawberry Leisure.”

About Dossier Weddings…

Dossier Weddings provide a high quality wedding directory, where carefully selected and reputable suppliers can be browsed. A unique approach is adopted for sourcing and listing Dossier Weddings’ suppliers, who are carefully considered and scrutinised before they are approved. As a result, only those of the highest calibre will feature in the directory.

This is a tremendous feather in Cornwall’s wedding industry cap. Our sincere thanks goes to our wonderful team of chauffeurs; Alan, Brett, Steff and Bob, not forgetting of course, our gorgeous celebrities; Lola, Lulu and Lily xx

Wonderfully festive, enjoyable and fun from start to finish aptly describes Lola and chauffeur Bob’s involvement in Nicola and Darran’s wedding proceedings last Friday. It was an early start as Lola rolled away from Strawberry Leisure HQ en-route for Mawgan, a small village on the cusp of the Lizard peninsula. It was here that on a fresh early December morning we rendezvoused with the Groom, Darran, his entourage; Shaun, Jonathan, Ivan and his boys, Findlay and Daniel. Swinging along to “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” from Michael Bublé’s fab new Christmas album we made our way to Carbis Bay Hotel via Helston town centre for the day’s first installment of royal hand waving. After delivering the boys, I pointed Lola, along with Mr. Bublé in the direction of Marazion. We collected the bride, Nicola, her dad and bridesmaid on cue and headed back to Carbis Bay Hotel for the ceremony. On arrival, we were greeted in regal fashion by the lovely, effervescent Victoria Williams and her colleagues along with photographers Colin and Jason. Following the ceremony and with Colin & Jason in hot pursuit, our newlyweds set course in Lola for St Ives to take in some photo calls and more regal hand waving, all washed down with a bottle of bubbly and a certain Mr. Bublé of course! It was jingle bells, jingle bells, all the way back to the hotel. A wedding breakfast, speeches and fireworks were waiting!

Congratulations Nicola and Darran!

Festive Weddings

Time to peek inside door number 1 of my Advent calendar and then it’s off to prepare Lola and Lily for a busy weekend of festive season weddings. This Friday, I (chauffeur Bob) will be driving Lola for Nicola and Darran’s wedding at Carbis Bay Hotel and on Saturday, Chauffeurs Brett and Steff will be at the controls of Lily and Lola for Vicki and Marc’s big day at St Euny Church, Redruth.

Lola and Lily will be in action this weekend

A gift list with a Strawberry Leisure twist of originality and quality

Our wedding gift list project is now really gaining momentum with Santa already starting to deliver some fabulous, themed and personalised gift ideas, created exclusively for Strawberry Leisure’s clients.  All  being well, we are hoping to release our dedicated wedding gift list brochure and on-line shopping facility very early next year. So stand by for the launch of a gift list as original and as classy as our VW campers.

Out soon – our most awaited gift list!

Childrens Hospice South West Wedding Show 2012

Significant strides are also being made with the planning of a major wedding show we are organising for next summer whereby all proceeds will be going to the Children’s Hospice South West.  The venue has now been agreed and we will be making an announcement early in the New Year.  It has been incredibly heart warming to receive such tremendous interest and offers of support. This is going to be a truly memorable and successful occasion for a wonderfully deserving cause.

A wonderfully deserving cause

Website redesign

Our major website  redesign and update work is still in progress. This is being undertaken by one of the county’s top website design guru’s, Luke Burford of Lunamedia who is on schedule for us to go live before Christmas.

New recruit… Wilf our Bedlington Terrier

More surprises on the way?

So all in all a busy time for everyone here at Strawberry Leisure before and after Christmas including a wedding on New Year’s Eve and, who knows, there may be one or two more surprise announcements from us in the very near future!

A happy festive season to you all!

The band played on as the sun slipped majestically under the horizon for the final wedding fair of 2011. Green Lawns Hotel in Falmouth rounded off a frantic season in true style.

Remarkably pleasant weather was in abundance matched equally by the hotel’s welcoming, organised and hospitable staff. So many thanks indeed to General Manger, Neil Slade, Front of House Manager, Rachel Wilshaw and the rest of the team for making the day run so smoothly. Not forgetting Janice and Colin from Cornish Brides for organising another great event…they certainly deserve a few weeks off!

Given the time of year, there was a steady stream of prospective bridal couples throughout the day, greeted by a wonderfully eclectic range of wedding service providers. Lily our classic VW Samba campervan was her usual flirtatious self soliciting wows, aahs and, as ever, considerable interest.

Despite attending well in excess of a dozen wedding fairs this year alone, we never cease to be amazed at the number of new and original ideas being served-up. Today was the turn of a group of guys from Camborne Brass Band who have got together to form the Duchy Tuba Quartet. They in turn were equally taken with Lily and could not resist the opportunity for a quick blast in her.

So now you can inject ‘oom-pah-pah’ into proceedings. Available for weddings, concerts, shows and functions, these guys have a wide repertoire which can be tailored to suit the occasion. Pictured in Lily are Dave Hamilton (blue bow tie), James Sturges (yellow bow tie), Matt Rowe (red bow tie) and John Hitchens (black bow tie). Duchy Tuba Quartet can be contacted on 01209 610243.  www.duchytubaquartet.moonfruit.com  duchytubaquartet@gmail.com

The new wedding fair season kicks off on Sunday 15th January 2012 at Scorrier House, Redruth, quickly followed by Cornish Brides event at Kingsley Village on Februray 5th… see you there!

Polishing, coffee, buffing, coffee, polishing etc was Friday’s precursor to another very busy weekend here at Strawberry Leisure HQ.

On Sunday we’ll be pointing Lily eastwards for our penultimate wedding fayre of the year at Kingsley Village, but today, I (chauffeur Bob) escorted Lola, on another very important engagement to help celebrate the marriage of Megan and Craig.

It was off up the A30 to Lanner on a fresh but sunny autumnal morning to collect Craig, his best man, Simon and Craig’s daughter Ellie.  The recently refurbished St Euny Church at Redruth welcomed the first delivery of VIP’s exactly on cue. It was about turn for Lola and a quick trip to the West End, not to see a show, but to collect Megan’s mum and bridesmaids before finally returning for the bride and escort,  Dad Steve. As we neared the church with Lola’s fab rag-top (sunroof) rolled back, photographer snapping away,  vicar and bridesmaids looking on, Megan and her dad spontaneously stood up for some royal waving on our final approach. This unique and spectacular feat clearly made a lasting impression on the vicar. During the service Lola was visited by a campanologist (bell ringer) for a once over, under strict instructions from the vicar. Indeed, Megan’s arrival became a major talking point of the day.

Megan and Craig sipped champagne as we made our way to  Godrevy for a final photo shoot with Lola. The occasion, scenery, light and Lola
(not forgetting the champers) conspired for what will be, I’m sure, some spectacularly memorable pictures.  

We departed for a wedding breakfast and reception at Roswarne Manor, Connor Downs. Megan and Craig will be honeymooning in Jamaica. Our very best wishes go with them.

Megan and Craig with Lola at Godrevy today