our forces sweethearts making their wedding lists

Well, the preparations are well and truly underway for our forces sweethearts wedding in August. This weekend saw the start of all their dreams being put in to place.

Our couple , Alex & Dale arrived at Birmingham New Street station very excited on the 19th Feb, where our first port of call was the Jewellery Quarter, to choose the wedding rings. Denise at Kenneth Cooke Jewellers bought out an array of rings for them to look at & try on, after a very short space of time they had made their choice, fingers sized & order placed.

Our next port of call was Slater’s Menswearof Birmingham , were David Mann & his team could not have been more helpful if they tried. Dale explained that he would be wearing his uniform on the day, along with his best man, but he wanted something to compliment their uniform.

After a little while & with the help of  the team at Slater’s, the suits were chosen , now all we have to do is get the rest of the wedding party up to Birmingham to be fitted etc , I can not praise the team at Slaters  highly enough, for their sheer professionalism, dedication & attention to detail. We will be back in a month or so for round two (the fittings) should be fun!!

Our last call of the Day was the wedding venue, The Birmingham Council House. The staff welcomed our couple, and let them walk & view the venue at their leisure, Alex & i went to the magnificent staircase that she will walk up, & no doubt have lots of pictures taken, she was beside herself with excitement. The banqueting staff talked through all the procedures with them & gave them lots of literature to take home to browse over at their leisure, & lots of food for thought.

We finally arrived back home after a very long & tiring day, but the talk carried on until late in the evening, where i reminded them they had a busy day ahead of them on the Saturday, and maybe they should go to bed,(Please!)

Saturday 20th Feb, started with a visit to Lovebug designs for them to pick their wedding stationery, they were spoilt for choice, Claire has so many beautiful designs, but they finally decided on the stationery they wanted, and by the end of the week they will have their stationery samples sent to them & their save the date cards made, fabulous! many thanks to the lovely Claire.

Our second call of the day, wait for it!!! The bridal shop Gatehouse Brides of Worcester, where Amy was awaiting our arrival, and no  the guys did not come with us, we left them at the pub of course!!

Alex looked around the shop, like an excited child in a sweetshop, after selecting a few to try on, (oop’s did i say a few?) ………  many to try on, she narrowed it down to 2 after a few hours……….. Did she make her choice on the day?   quite possibly, but what ever she decides, she will make one beautiful bride, (Dale you are a lucky fella!!).

We ended our day with a quick visit to Wedding world uk, Bromsgrove, to view  bridesmaids attire, no decisions were made on the day , but all the bridesmaids & brides mother, along with the grooms mum will be travelling up in 3 weeks to view the dresses.

The weekend has been totally exhausting, but very productive, and i know we will be doing it all over again very shortly.( Give me a couple of weeks to catch my breath guy’s ).

Updates will follow in due course. (c) chocorococo

our winning couple Dale & Alex

Things are beginning to get very busy with only 7 months until our couple’s wedding, and all the plans made last year are beginning to fit into place. Dale & Alex will be travelling up to the Midlands next weekend to start making their wedding choices.

First port of call will be the Jewellery Quarter to choose their rings, followed by a trip to Slater’s of Birmingham, to choose the men’s attire for the day. Hopefully we will be able to pause for lunch before making our way to the Birmingham Council House, to view the rooms again & plan their wedding breakfast. Saturday will be all about choosing wedding stationery & of course the all important Wedding Dress shopping!!!! Alex is beside herself with excitement regarding all the plans we have for them for the weekend, we will hopefully be making a little diary & taking photographs of them making their decisions for you all to see.

Watch this space for more information on Chocorococo’s Forces sweethearts.(c) chocorococo

Why not come and see The Chocorococo Chocolate Fountain & Chocorococo Berry Tower at the wedding Fayre to be held at the Birmingham Council House Banqueting Suite on January 31st 2010, 10.00am til 4pm . Look forward to seeing you there.

Berry Tower

The wedding season will soon be upon us, and i dare say all would be & soon to be brides are busy planning their ideal day, have you thought about chocolate dipped strawberries? you will see that we now offer a Berry Tower as well as a chocolate fountain for your guests.

Chocolate fountains are still popular, but we have had some brides say they wish to have something different, so why not have the Berry Tower as part of your celebrations, have them as a centre piece for those guests who do not wish wedding cake, or as canapes on arrival at your venue, or even as a wedding favour in a box, tied with a colour co-ordinated ribbon, with your guests name on, this will not only act as a name place, but also as a delicious favour.

delicious wedding favour, hand dipped strawberry in a box.

We also have spared a thought for the children, we have come up with delicious, hand made Belgian chocolate (white or milk) heart shaped lollipops, we place them in a celophane bag, tied with a colour co-ordinated ribbon & flower, with the child’s name on, The children love it, not only have they a treat to eat, but they know where they are sitting too.

Should you wish the more traditional approach, we also provide wedding favours in what ever colour you desire, (well i will do my best!!) we can either fill the boxes with chocolates for you, or supply the boxes for you to fill. Below is just one of the favours we supply, (Piccalo) we  decorate them to suit your  theme,( the theme below was olive & cream.)

wedding favour, with olive green ribbon.

The much loved Chocolate Fountain, a super centre piece for any occasion, and definately more cost effective than the more traditional desserts.

chocorococo chocolate fountain

Lets not forget your entertainment, what ever kind of entertainment you desire, be it a band, dj, singer, group, etc, give Aries Entertainment a call .

Alex & Dale, the proud parents

We are pleased to announce that Alex & Dale our competition winners, are now the proud parents of a son, Matthew Tony, weighing in at 7lb 6oz, a little brother for Ellie. Mother, baby & of course Dale are all doing fine.

Many, Many congratulations from us all here at Chocorococo.

A very happy new year to all our customers, past & present, hope 2010 will be a good year for everyone.
Looking forward to a busy year ahead.

Alex Lewis & Dale Leach about to be presented with their prize.

I have been requested to post some pictures of our presentation day by numerous people, so here we go. All pictures are courtesy of Abby Stonehall of “Picture This” Redditch.

Alex & Dale with Nick Owen of the BBC .

Nick Owen presenting the prize

Nick Owen of BBC Midlands, making the presentation to our winning couple, A complete wedding & a honeymoon in Paris , with from L / R , Maria O’Ryan of SOS, Dale & Alex, Nick Owen & myself.

list of prizes

Alex & Dale toasting their success

Danny & Llewella

Myself, with Alex & Dale after a lovely day.

After such a highly emotionally charged day, There was only one place to go…. The German Market, right outside the Council House in Victoria Square, for a glass of Gluvine for the ladies & a large Stein of beer for the men….. before too long it was time to say goodbye to our couple, but not for long, as come the new year it will be all systems go for the wedding.

And once Christmas has been and gone , it will soon be upon us, and i for one am looking forward to the run up to it all, I know Alex can’t wait to try on all those wedding dresses… pick the bridesmaids outfits…choose the wedding rings…. oh crikey! better stock up on the tissues….(c)

myself with the lovely Nick Owen

Yes! He really is a lovely man…..

giving in to temptaion are Mr & Mrs Williams

Mark Williams of Bridge Radio & his wife, giving into to temptation… go on guys you know you want to!!

The lovely Dale & Alex with yours truly

WINNERS OF THE CHOCOROCOCO AND SUPPORT OUR SOLDIERS WEDDING COMPETITION.

We had just the most amazing day yesterday (17/11/09).

It was the presentation of our prize to our winning couple Dale Leach & Alexandra Lewis, at the wedding venue, The Birmingham Council House, Banqueting Suite,  all the press & media were there, along with our suppliers to meet them both. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when it came to the actual part where i had to tell everyone why they won, and what they had  both overcome, even the waitress’s were in floods.

Everyone of our suppliers came to me to say, how delighted they were to be able to offer their services to such a super couple, and how glad they were i had contacted them.

I know Dale & Alex will get the best wedding anyone could dream of, with the help from everyone there, i actually said to Alex,

“you are able to do what every woman / bride would love to do, and that is walk into a shop and say i want that one, and walk out without paying,” how cool is that!

She said it was finally sinking in what it was that they had won, be it still shell shocked, but her Fairy Godmother is going to be around for quite a while yet, and i will make sure everything is just the way they want it.

Dale is a remarkable young man, and has come so far since his injuries back in June, and i know with all the help, support, and love he gets from his family network, he will be back home before he knows it, running around after little Ellie, and looking after their new arrival in January, and Alex don’t forget Helen & i are coming to you’re hen night, (ha).

Love to you both, from everyone.x

our competition winners, Alex & Dale with daughter Ellie

we are delighted to announce our winners of our wedding competition for support our soldiers, they are Dale & Alexandra from Penarth, Wales.

Dale has been serving with the Welsh Guards for 5 years, and was posted out in Afghanistan in may where he was critically  injured by a IED. Unfortunately due to the severity of his injuries it was necessary to amputate a leg. Dale is now currently in Hedley Court, and i am assured he is doing fine, on the  road to recovery, and getting used to his prosthetic limb.

Alex has been very supportive throughout Dales recovery, and according to SSAFA, helped other injured soldiers when no one else from their respective  families were around .

We are proud ,delighted  & honoured to give this fantastic prize to such a devoted young couple, and we wish them well in their future lives together. We received many entries, and they really set the bench mark for everyone else to follow .

We are proud of all our serving men & women, and only wish we could give something to everyone that entered, but there could only be one winner, and the judges were unanimous in their decision.

We have had a lot of interest in our competition, and we will keep you all informed of the progress leading up to, and of the actual wedding.

Thank you to everyone who entered and we wish you all the very best of luck.