You may know that we offer Venue Hire at The Lightbox and it is not uncommon for people to hire out the Ambassador room with its views of the canal, a gallery or even the whole building, but we have never before hosted a wedding! This was a Lightbox first really proved that our team can turn their hand to anything. We asked Phoebe, our Café Assistant (and previous Teen Twitter Takeover participant!), who worked on the day of the wedding, to write a blog about the Ruth and Simon’s special day.

It has to be said that working in The Lightbox Café is in no way ordinary. We have several events on every month and no two are the same, that’s what makes The Lightbox special and keeps things interesting.



A few months ago The Lightbox was approached for a very special kind of venue hire and one we had not done before – a wedding. It certainly was a Lightbox first. The wedding would take place throughout the entire building and would involve all staff, especially the Café assistants. We knew that this would be a huge task, but in typical Lightbox spirit, we took it in our stride. It was amazing to see that two people would choose us to host one of the most important days of their lives and the start of their new adventure together.

Each staff member paid great attention to detail to their individual tasks in preparation for the wedding, as if it was their own.  We all wanted it to be perfect and I’m sure that the planning and preparation helped to make it so special and so unique.

For us, the Café staff, it was the busiest shift we’d ever worked. The Café was still open for a full day and we had a nice and busy day. We cleared up from the day with military precision before the wedding party arrived to set up. They had their own tables and chairs which were golden and went very well with The Lightbox’s modern design. We set up the tables with crisp white table cloths, bamboo place settings and shiny cutlery, the tables looked beautiful. My favourite part about the wedding tables were the candles that glittered and the wonderful bouquets of flowers. I did not expect the Café to be such a perfect wedding setting. It was no longer a Café but a beautiful place to share the beauty of a wedding and the love that created it. I, like many others at The Lightbox, am very honoured I could be involved in such an incredible experience and have come to understand  The Lightbox team is capable of just about anything.

If you are interested in venue hire at The Lightbox, please contact Jayne Pritchard on [email protected]  

Images courtesy of Eddie Judd Photography www.eddiejuddphotography.com