Welcome to Our Blog (Started May 22nd 2010)
Find regular updates on what we, our doves and our customers have been up to!
Friday August 26th
Its been a really busy summer for us, and the bookings are flowing in for next year with the majority of the summer weekends practically full! The wedding fayre season os upon us amd will kick off with The Marriot in Cardiff on Sept 4th. We will not be doing many fayres this year as we are finding most of our bookings are now coming from people recommending us, and our website.
We have attended some beautiful weddings again this year, some of which were surprises for the Brides, and thankfully thay all loved their doves! Also some very lovely and moving funeral services.
We are once again concerned by another start up company, this time in Brecon who just deliver the doves and call back to collect their basket! This leaves the bride and groom to get the birds out of the basket themselves, which can hurt the poor birds. They state they will be shown how to do this but in reality, it takes practice to be able to handle the birds correctly from a confined space. So wrong! Apart from the hurt that the birds can suffer, it will not look very good if the birds fly off whilst trying to get them out! Cant understand why anyone would book them, and whilst they offer this kind of service, I hope they dont!! There is also a bloke in Llanrumney who does a similar thing for funerals. Just leaving the birds unattended is not on!
Looking forward to this bank holiday weddings, and to a busy September!
Sunday June 26th
102 weddings done so far in 2011 - and every one an absolute joy! We were filmed a few weeks ago for a BBC documentary that is following the youngest female funeral director IN THE WORLD! Rachel Ryan from Newport is following in the footsteps of her elder sister Louise in joining the family business. We do quite a bit of work with Michael G Ryan, and the film crew came to film Rachel meetng us at one of our lofts to practice holding the Doves for a funeral we were doing together the following day.Will post the screen date as soon as we know it. We were also filmed in Bristol at the wedding of Kayleigh and Neil by Phsycho TV for Four Weddings that will be shown later this year.
Our Doves are getting more and more in demand as people are now becoming more aware of the service, and next June and July are already pretty full most weekends. We love what we do, and long may the busy weekends continue!
Monday 7th March
Again, the time has flown (excuse that!) and with us going to New York - which was fab, and weddings and wedding fayres, we just have not had a minute to update this page. A surprisingly busy Jan/Feb with weddings, the gap between the wedding season is getting shorter each year, with couples opting for winter weddings. Nearly at the end of the wedding fayre season, and our exhibition stand once again created high interest at Val Slater Wedding Fayres, CJ Wedding Fayres, and the big one at the CIA yesterday with JD Weddings and Events. We were however very disappointed not to have been able to attend The Vale wedding fayre as it is always one of our best, but with weddings on the same day we could not do it. We will be back there next season! 2 more to go withEternity with Love - Caerphilly Castle and The New House Hotel to finish off. Our new Van is causing a lot of smiles as we drive about; the images are sensational and you can actually see people turning to look and smiling! The wrap for the van was designed by Elite Designs Bridgend, who did a fabulous job. I am not the easiest of people to please, as I want everything to be perfect, but Simon was exceptionally patient, understanding and came up with the design which we are really thrilled with. We also need to thank the couples and their photographers who kindly gave their permission to use their images. Xpect Photography for Naomi & DJ, Leahphotography for Sarah & Ioan, and Rebecca & Mark for sending us their own special image. On the subject of vehicles, I was extremely impressed with Perfect Day Cars collection at the CIA yesterday. Neville, who owns the company has just designed a 9 seater "mini coach" that is so stunning. The attention to detail is unbelievable inside, and would make any wedding party proud to travel in. Everything about this established but growing company oozes class and Im sure their new collection will be a massive hit with couples. Last year we were pleased to have become the preferred supplier to the COOP Funeral Services throughout the Rhondda,Pontypridd & District, now this has been extended into Cardiff, and we are very pleased to be working alongside their many compassionate funeral directing staff.
Off now to update our links page - why not have look, there are many suppliers to choose from, and all with excellent reputations!
Monday Dec 13th
Cant believe where the time has gone! We are looking forward to having a little break over Christmas, but wouldn't swap our busy lives for anything. Every wedding we do is a joy, but to see our Doves on national TV (Daybreak) this morning made us feel very proud. Emma & Shaun Parsons, you may remember came runner up in Real Radio Bride on the Run competition earlier in the year? Their friends and family got together to ensure the couple tied the knot despite being disappointed at not winning the competition. The dream wedding that was gifted to the couple would Im sure far surpass what they would have won; to have people care about you so much that they went through the time, effort and expense of organizing a wedding just shows how much Emma & Shaun are loved and valued in their community. A beautiful car from Cariad Cars, lovely Chapel in the heart of Abertridwr, grand reception venue - Llancayo House in Usk, stunning dresses and suits for the bridal party were of the quality any couple could have dreamed of - but it was the constant smile on Shauns face that stole it for me. He was so very, very proud to be marrying the woman of his dreams and it showed! Emma looked beautiful, and you can see by looking at the photos she was the happiest woman in the world last Saturday....and who wouldnt be, knowing you are so highly thought of? It wasnt the "dream wedding" that was the most important, but the dream marriage, as the couple after 14 years and 3 children together are eveidently so very much still in love .
We have a few more weddings in 2010, and then a few days rest before a busy weekend of 8th Jan starts the new year off for us again.
Sunday 3rd October
Attended the Llanhileth Institute open day today, what a lovely venue! This old miners hall has been refurbished to a very high standard. The ceremony room is delightful, and the main hall very unique. There were samples from their buffet menue, which was varied and great quality, whilst the staff throughout the venue were extremly helpful. Special thanks to Mustapha & Lewis for clearing my stand and loading my van up for me. What a pair of gents! Anyone thinking of getting married in Abertilery, I would highly recommend The Miners Institute. Helen (sensational creations cakes) made some choc bailies wedding cake, and that was fab! Hilary's florist was there with her innovative flower arrangements, and Hilary is going to help me create some new ideas for our bird cages - cant wait!
2 of the weddings we did on Saturday had many pigeon flyers in attendance; The first one in Llanwunno was the brides Dad, Mr Arnold Davies, and his son Keith who are both very successul and much respected flyers in the Rhondda Valley. Then the groom at Holy Trinity in Tylorstown and his best man are also very respected flyers in Maesteg. We had comments all round on the beautiful condition of our birds, and coming from these gents, we were very pleased with our selves, and very proud of our birds.
We have a fairly quiet week ahead, and Im not that sorry! A funeral booked in on Friday, 1 wedding Saturday, 1 birthday Dove release and a wedding fayre Sunday, and 2 weddings with our Megan's welsh cakes.
Thursday 23rd Sept
Just got in from Falfield, Gloucester, where we were invited by Eastwood Park to attend their open evening. Could not believe the number of brides there! Took 4 bookings whilst we were there, and another 2 when we got home. The venue is a fabulous manor house, that put on a hog roast, champagne and fireworks. Beautiful grounds at this venue, and great customer service. Thank you for inviting us!
Fabulous weddings attended again in September, and lovely comments back from the brides (see our testimonials page)
Fairly busy weekend coming up, with 5 weddings and a wedding fayre at The Ty Newydd Hotel Hirwaun, Aberdare. It is starting to quiet down a little now, but we still have bookings nearly every weekend up to the end of the year, with December being quite busy. January is also unusually busy with weddings every weekend, and 2 weekends fully booked!
We shall be exhibiting at The New House Hotel Cardiff, The Vale Hotel, Hensol, The Coed Y Mwstwr Hotel Bridgend, and the Heritage Park in Porth, so why not come and see us?
Wednesday 8th Sept
What a busy 4 weeks we have had. August saw our Doves attending 46 weddings, 2 wedding anniversaries, 11 funerals and 3 memorials. Our busiest month on record. September is not quite so busy, 8 weddings last weekend, 4 this weekend but 18th is fully booked and the 25th almost full.
On the other side of the coin, we have been very upset by more reports that people are letting garden doves go at events, and even more disturbing, people who advertise they have dove release companies releasing birds too young or untrained; and the result is not good. We attended a funeral in Barry Cemetery last week, and the groundsman told me he found a bird that had been released there 3 weeks before. The bird had been left in the grounds and attacked by a sparrow hawk. There was a grey ring on the bird with the name of the "company" on it. The bird must have not flown off to be attacked in this way, very sad. We also had 2 calls from members of the public in Ogmore by Sea and Llanelli, that garden doves had landed on their grounds following their release at weddings. This is why anyone considering a dove release must use a proven and reputable company.....anything else and the poor birds can suffer. It is all very easy for soemone to advertise they offer a professional Dove Release, but do they? Speak to your wedding planner at the venue, photographer, florist etc to see if they have worked with your Dove supplier, look on the website for images that show the company is busy, look for links with other reputable companies, and look for memberships to any credible organizations.
Well, the wedding fayre season is now upon us, and we will be attending some, but not as many as usual. This is because we are now starting to get more and more bookings from recommendations, or people that have seen us at events. However we will be in Bristol Holiday Inn Filton this Sunday, and the Heronston Hotel on the 19th. We will have some Welsh Cake samples for you to try, so come along to meet our Doves and taste our Welsh Cakes.
Tuesday Aug 10th
Really enjoyed last weekend, but glad its done! Lots of pressure with a weather forecast that predicted heavy showers, but all 9 weddings were sunny, and all 27 doves returned home safely. We did have 1 little hen - our Charlotte, come home with a hawk attack injury, but she made it home and thanks to Rods skills in looking after injured birds, is now fit, well and flying again!
They are so tough these birds, amazing! Gavin is there preening her, and that is also helping the healing process, lovely to watch him being so attentive toward her.
Sunday we were delighted to start the 8KM walk through the new Church Village Bypass. Such a long awaited relief road, that has been built with precise planning, and very little disruption overall. The mayor along with 3 other officials from the council and Costain released the 8 doves, and 100's of people caught it on camera!
Got a couple of funerals booked in this week and another 11 weddings between Thursday & Sunday.
Friday 6th August
Another busy week has gone by with 2 funerals and 1 wedding so far, and we have 9 weddings to look forward to tomorrow! Just hope the weather is good as 2 of the weddings are in Swansea & Llanelli and the doves will need clear sky to get back from that distance. Peter & Tina will be helping out at Bryn Meadows, and Rod will be in Cardiff, St Mellons & Marshfield followed by llechwen Hall tomorrow evening. The same situation on Aug 14th with 7 weddings booked - and we have had to turn at least the same amount of weddings down for this date which is a shame....you need to book early as our service is in more demand than ever!
We are attending a wedding ourselves on Sunday; Rods cousin is getting married at St Davids Hotel Cardiff Bay, but we have 8 Doves to release to celebrate the opening of the Church Village Bypass before we get off on a well deserved day off!
Wednesday July 28th
Following a beautiful funeral for David George Cannon at Glyntaff, where his 3 daughters released 3 Doves, we attended an evening with PAB Events in Cardiff. PAB is owned by wedding planner Paula Burns who can offer brides a wealth of experience when it comes to planning your wedding - often obtaining goods and services for below what you would pay direct. The meeting was held at the WOW Events outlet in Gabalfa cardiff, where they have a permanent marquee interior set up for people to call and see what their venue would look like before they decide on colours, themes etc. Ben, the owner of WOW Events set up tables, chair covers and the new "must have", a sparkly shiny dance floor - amazing! Guests on the evening included Rolfs Florist based at Splott Rd, Cardiff and Balloon Platoon also from Cardiff. Food was supplied by Spiros, Cardiff's premier catering specialist. A brochure will be put on our site soon for a complete list of suppliers that have come together to offer you specialized services, for whenever you have a celebration planned.
Sunday July 25th
Its been a really hectic month so far with an average of 8 weddings and 3 funerals a week. Its a good job we now have more help! Bookings are flying in for last minute this year, and for next summer - most of which are now coming from people that have seen our service for themselves. We will end up doing approx 150 weddings for this year, which is a fantastic year on year increase for our business. Both Rod and I love providing this service and take great pride in our work....but we are always facing challenges, and today was one which I took great satisfaction in. We attended a service for the Cacciola family at Sully, who wanted Doves set off from Sully Island as a final farewell to their Mother. We could not get all the way over because of the tide, but I was quite pleased to have negotiated the rocks (with wedges on my feet) and got the 3 doves out of the heart shaped basket sucessfully for the family to hold. (we either bring a basket for each dove, or Rod takes care of this as its quite tricky) It was a beautiful and intimate service, followed by a nice cup of hot chocolate on the sea front.
So proud of our team of babies, they are proving to be the best team yet - nice and easy to handle, and are home in a flash once released. Rod has trained them well - but I still say its because they love me they come home! They have been doing weddings for 5 weeks now, thats 86 flights and not 1 single loss. Fantastic.
We purchased 2 more cages last week, which will get painted and decorated before they are put on show, and have ordered some more graphics for our exhibition stands.
Wednesday June 30th
I was just on my way to Barry to release 8 doves for the funeral of the much loved Maureen Lane, when I received a phone call from friends and family of Emma Collins to ask if we would supply our wonderful Dove Release service at her forthcoming wedding. Some may recognize the name as Emma was runner up in the recent BRIDE ON THE RUN competition held by REAL RADIO in association with the WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE. Although Emma was not the winner of the competition, her friends and family have all rallied round to reward her for her hard work, and are planning a dream wedding of their own for her. This will not take place on the set of Mama Mia, but her 2nd place achievement will allow friends and family to choose the suppliers they believe are the best to come together and create a dream wedding for someone who is obviously highly regarded in her community.
Lovey Dovey UK were delighted to be the preferred and chosen supplier of White Doves for THE BRIDE ON THE RUN RUNNER UP - EMMA COLLINS, and we will be sure to give her the best possible service, as we do with all our customers!
Sunday 13th June
Get so annoyed when I hear stories like I have this last week or 2 about the way people treat their birds! At a wedding yesterday, the company supplying the cars witnessed a DIY dove release in Llantarnam, Cwmbran 2 weeks ago where the birds just flew onto the roof and stayed there. How embarrassing for the couple - and the pigeon flyer who did it as a favour! Dont get me wrong, animals are unpredictable, but properly trained and experienced birds will just want to get off home! And a second funeral director has informed me that a "recently" set up business not too far away, has been supplying doves for funerals for longer than has been advertised - and used to leave the birds at the funeral palour overnight for the family/funeral directors to release themselves! How awful is that? No wonder we get people questionning how we care for the birds with people like that about. They dont deserve to keep animals!
Week Commencing 31st May
Sorry, been so busy I have not had time to update this page. We have done 15 weddings and 6 funerals since 1st June! Enjoyed every one of them. Had a lovely card and box of choccolates from the couple whos wedding we did at Caerphilly Castle 3 weeks ago. Thank you Andrew & Karen Stallard.
We need Gavin Henson & Charlotte Church to get back together asap! Not just because we like them both, but we have birds named after them, and cant really use them as a couple anymore....so come on kiss and make up, by next weekend would be nice!
Monday 31st May
Day off from weddings today, but 2 teams of 36 babies to train; the 1st lot were taken to Cwmbran, whilst the others up to Abercynon. All home safe! But no day off when you have 400 Welshcakes to make! These are for 2 weddings this week. I shall be glad when my professional griddle turns up!
Week Commencing 24th May
Sunday 20th may
Cea Beris Manor in Builth Wells was the beautiful venue chosen by Dawn & Richard for their blessing. The marriage took place a week earlier in Antigua, and this blessing took place outside in the lush gardens, overlooking a river. Small, intimate gathering and was totally beautiful. I even mamaged to catch the Doves in flight, something Im not usually very good at! The doves took less than 50 minutes to fly home. Our other wedding was at St Marys in Whitchurch, Cardiff. The wedding of Simone & Darren was witnessed by over 100 guests, and the bridesmaids wore scarlet red and made the whole effect stunning. This was a last minute booking that came to us from a wedding we did 3 weeks ago in Llanrumney. Doves were home in less than 10 minutes.
Sat 29th May
2 weddings today in the same church - St Peters in Dynas Powys. Kimberly turned up in a horse & carriage just as the rain stopped. She wanted to surprise her husband with the doves, and he really enjoyed them. Lots of children at the wedding, all well behaved and loved the doves! Sam too turned up in a horse drawn carriage - white Welsh pit ponies. They were lovely!
The only place you can get these is Angelbank Carriages The guests really loved our Doves and we were asked many questions about them. Thankfully the rain had gone away and beautiful sunhsine was present for the release of the Doves. Fri 28th May
Considering shopping for another camera, so we can take photos at all our weddings! 2nd lot of babies taken for their 1st training flight down to Gellihition estate; these will be trained toward Merthyr and the Gwent Valleys. 22 came home before Rod, and 3 straggled home about an hour later! I would love to know what they got up to?
Thurs 27th May
The wedding of Katie & Michael at the Coed Y Mwstwr Hotel in Bridgend at 4pm was beautiful. Despite the forecast of rain the day was sunny. Lots of children in the wedding, and they loved the doves.
Then it was off to Morgan Jones Park in Caerphilly to celebrate what would have been the 18th Birthday of Daniel Davies. Dan was tragically killed last August in a car accident, and today meant a lot to his family. They wanted 18 White Doves to mark the occasion, and 18 people - including small children did so well to hold the Doves before setting them free. There were hundreds of people there, all of which paid their tribute to this young lad, who is still sorely missed by all his family and friends. It was a real pleasure for us to attend, and hopefully we will have some images to post in our memorial section soon....including some footage taken by Angela from The Coop Funeral Service in Caerphilly (thank you Angela!)
Tues 25th
1 funeral at Western Cemetery Cardiff today for Eileen Jones, a small but emotional service was followed 3 Doves being released, all 3 home safe. 3 bookings for weddings today, 1 at Canada Lodge, another at St Marys Church Risca, and last one at The Coed Y Mwstwr.
Mon 24th
20 of our babies taken for their 5th training flight over to Caerphilly Garden Centre. After flying toward the Castle (wrong way!!) they got back home before Rod, and are now ready for their 1st event in Caerphilly on Thursday.
2 more bookings for this summer which we had to turn down as we are fully booked....I do tell people to book quickly, but some take too much time and then get disappointed.
22nd May 2010
What a Day! Rod spent the day over the bridge, starting with a beautiful memorial to remember the victims of road traffic accidents. This event was organized by the charity Road Peace, and was attended by the Mayor of Bath along with 100's of people, who all came to remember loved ones. We were honoured to be the chosen supplier for this event where 7 people released 7 Doves. Then it was off to Tortworth Court in South Gloucester for the wedding of Helen Bowley, beautiful venue, and a lovely couple. Then off to Bristol for the wedding of Jodie & Richard in a small but intimate ceremony at the village church just outside Mangotsfield. My day started at St Peters Church in Roath, Cardiff for the marriage of Nicola & Gianlucca, a beautiful Italian wedding for a beautiful couple. St Peters is a magnificent church and one wich is always a pleasure to attend. Then a quick trip to The Vale Hotel where Peter & Tina were facilitating the Dove Release for Emma & Michael. 3 Doves were released, one of which was done by 3 very handsome Page Boys! Then it was off to Caerphilly Castle to surprise the Bride & Groom...Andrew (the groom) had been meaning to book us for months, but kept forgetting! He called us on the Thursday before the wedding, and we tried to fit it in but I just couldnt see how we could manage to give him this service. I gave him the mumber of a another local company, who were going to get back to him. When they didnt call, he called them on the Saturday monring to be told it was too short notice! Andrew called me to say how disappointed he was, and thats when I started thinking how I could fit him in. So once I knew the doves were safely released at the Vale, I raced over to the Castle and surprised them all. This as you can imagine went down a storm. I could only stay for 15 minutes but every second was enjoyed by everyone and Im so glad we did it. A lovely message followed from Andrew saying we made his day - what more can we want than to be known for our excellent customer service, that sets us apart from others? Then it was off to Newport for the Wedding of Leroy & Shelly. A lovely couple with a fabulous family. Finally back to Cardiff to surprise the Bride at their evening reception at St Mellons. Helen was delighted with her surprise from Husband Peter, and there were a lot of tears about!
The day finished with a night out at The Caesers in Creigiau to thank Tina & Peter for their help.