NATASHA’S WEDDING DRESS GETS AN OUTING AT CAPESTHORNE HALL … TWO YEARS LATE

Natasha Dodds is finally wearing her wedding dress at Capesthorne Hall … two years after getting married somewhere else.

For Natasha - a director of the new 580-square metre Capesthorne Pavilion - will be the first model down the catwalk, there, at the annual Bridal Fair on 11 January.

Her ivory satin gown was due to be worn at Capesthorne on 1 December 2006 but Natasha’s first choice of wedding venue was already booked on that date. So she married, instead, in North Yorkshire.

“I loved the dress but only wore it for seven hours - which is always a great waste,” says Natasha, “so I jumped at the chance to bring it out again for our first public event in the new Capesthorne Pavilion.”

Natasha returns to her home county as a director of the Capesthorne Pavilion - the first permanent structure of its kind in the country to get planning permission as a wedding, corporate event and family celebration venue.

The pavilion, at the northern corner of Capesthorne Hall, Siddington, will be commercially available for conferences, exhibitions, private parties, gala balls, award ceremonies and dinners as well as wedding banquets.

“And the income from the estate’s newest 21^st century feature will be used to modernise one of the oldest parts of the 18^th century hall,” says manager Christine Mountney.

A three-year restoration programme will convert the cobbled mews yard - which has garaged horse drawn carriages and Rolls Royce cars over the past 250 years - into a 1,600 square foot hi-tech office suite. There will also be repairs to the theatre wing stonework, roofing and chimneys as well as comprehensive landscaping and planting.

Work will be funded by income from the versatile pavilion which is specifically designed to accommodate every type of corporate event. It provides event space for up to 500 people, is large enough to drive cars in for indoor motor shows, has its own kitchen and luxury toilet areas.

But weddings are expected to be the main use - adding a large single space to Capesthorne’s more traditional suite of smaller rooms overlooking the lakes and gardens

“Capesthorne is already one of Cheshire’s most romantic wedding venues,” says Kris Beaumont, general manager of Archant’s “Cheshire and Lancashire Bride” magazine - organiser of this month’s wedding fair on 11 January (12pm - 4pm).

“But the hall has always been short of a single large room for more than 100 people and the pavilion will fill that gap magnificently.  And, as a major wedding industry exhibition, we are making the most of the additional space to feature two catwalk fashion shows which will introduce the very latest outfits for both brides and grooms.”

And that’s where Natasha comes in.

“I really wanted to get married here, in my home county,” she says, “but Capesthorne just wasn’t available at the time. Coincidentally, though, we laid the foundations for the Capesthorne Pavilion on the day of my second wedding anniversary - which gave me the idea to get personally involved with the Bridal Fair.”