guests family & friends of Aaron & Sarah Browne

Guests, Family & friends of Sarah & Aaron raised £470.00 on the eve of their wedding, this came as a complete  but very pleasant surprise to us, this is the letter we received .

 Dear Support Our Soldiers,

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your involvement alongside Lesley & Danny from Chocorococo for organising a dream wedding for service personnel. Aaron & i were lucky enough to win the competition & received a fantastic wedding & honeymoon on 8th August 2010.

Aaron and i and our family & friends were so touched to receive this amazing prize that we decided to have a collection at the wedding for your charity. I am pleased to enclose three cheques on behalf of our friends, family & Colleagues. Our wedding day made us feel so privileged & special and we can’t thank everyone that was involved enough.  We hope this small donation goes some way to make others dreams & hopes come true too.

Thank you once again, Sarah & Aaron Browne.

We are sure Support Our Soldiers will put this donation to very good use,  and a very big thank you to everyone who contributed.

What have we gained from all this….. well we have met some lovely people along the way, and made some good friends & forged professional relationships .

Rachel ( Radisson) & Ian Harvey

Mark from "The Bridge" radio

Our friend - Llewella Bailey

 From the outset people have been willing to help and give their support, which goes to show the great admiration  the British people have for our troops . It would have been lovely to have helped the many people who wrote in and entered our competition, but unfortunately we couldn’t, but we would like to state that we at Chocorococo  give ALL the British Armed Services a discount on any of our services.

On a more personal note, we have received some lovely flowers , cards & messages , here are a few:

” Thank you for giving Sarah & Aaron the wedding of their dreams” Kevin & Margaurite Browne.

” Thank you so much for giving Sarah & Aaron a wedding most people can only dream about. The whole day was wonderful, we were treated like royalty & felt very priviledged – a day none of us will ever forget. A very big thank you to all involved.”  Judith & Tom Buckley.

Nick Owen & Myself

” Fantastic Lesley, so glad it all went well, good luck if you get involved again”  Nick Owen, BBC Midlands Today.

” I wish to congratulate you both on the success of the event, i know how much work was ionvolved in planning the event & you are to be commended on all your planning & efforts in making the day so special for the couple”.  Danielle Wilkins –  Civic Catering , Council House Birmingham.

” What a star you are! your efforts for the wedding were truly great , you should feel a great sense of achieveiment. A lot of hard work & energy well done for a great charity effort”  Dr. H. Hill & Mrs D. Hill

So, that brings everything to a close… it has been a wonderful 14 months, and who knows we may possibly do it all again, (on a some what smaller scale) so just keep watching this space. (c) chocorococo

CHOCOROCOCO & SUPPORT OUR SOLDIERS WEDDING OF THE YEAR.

Welcome to the wedding of Sarah & Aaron that took place at the Birmingham Council House Banqueting Suite, August 8th 2010.

clare working her magic

When we arrived at the venue at 10.30am, Clare was busy working her magic, and soon put us to work, My husband Danny was made an honorary flower arranger for the morning , yes folks this is true, he carefully carried the beautiful tall flower arrangements and placed them on the tables, with us all shouting , “Don’t Drop them” in his ears. Our son-in-law Nick and myself were given the job of scattering Lilac, purple & Ivory petals on the tables, and doing odd jobs along the way. Very soon the room was transformed into a stunning vision, with the cutlery polished, glasses neatly arranged, place cards set , chair covers on and bows neatly tied, petals scattered & the beautiful floral arrangements taking centre stage….there was only one word to say… WOW!.

Banqueting suite looking fabulous. (c) abby stonehall

The Banqueting Suite looking stunning. (c) Abby Stonehall

the stunning floral arrangement on top table (c) Abby stonehall

The colour theme was just lovely, deep purple, lilac, pale pink & ivory.. and i was right all along in my thinking, the grand room wanted big, beautiful arrangements, to give the room more of an impact, and not small centre pieces.

the beautiful White Chocolate Wedding Cake (c) abby stonehall

Cassie arrived with her stunning 3 tier wedding cake, covered in white chocolate curls, with a drape on one side to simulate the brides train &  Lilac, Pink & Ivory chocolate roses placed around & on top of the cake. I think you will agree how lovely it looked, and it tasted nice too!!!

As the clock ticked away ever closer to midday, more and more of our suppliers arrived, armed and ready for action.Our ToastmasterSteve McTeigue , commented on how beautiful our room looked, and it was one of the nicest rooms he had seen in a long time, our  dear friend & Registrar Geoff Edwards arrived ready to afficiate and our Pianist Margaret Croucher  set up her piano, and limbered up those fingers.

Geoff & Margaret chatting before the ceremony

Aaron & Niall talking to the Toastmaster, Steve.(c) chocorococo

Margaret at her piano. (c) Abby stonehall

Aaron & Niall his best man & brother  arrived shortly after midday, with Dan the grooms man . Dan & Niall were wearing pale grey morning suits, with lilac waistcoats complimented with a deep purple cravat, supplied by Slater’s of Birmingham. The bridesmaids followed shortly  looking gorgeous in their deep purple skirts & bodice with matching wraps, supplied by Debbie of Wedding World, hair by Debbie & Becky of Francesco  group, & make up provided by my lovely daughter, Louise .

Dan & Niall, looking very smart in their suits supplied by slaters of Birmingham.(c) chocorococo

Our three lovely bridesmaids, (c) chocorococo

As Aaron went for his interview with the registrar, which i understand is a legal requirement before a civil ceremony, i joined our photographers down stairs to welcome the brides mother Judith & the grooms mum Margarite, who were a little stressed at this point, and while the vintage wedding car went to collect our bride & her father Tom, our good friend, (Doc) the piper  arrived, looking very smart. ( other wedding vehicle supplied by David Humphries.)

The Piper Malcolm (doc) & yours truly

I still do not know what a Scotsman wearsunder his kilt! …I’m liking the man-bag..oops! sorry…. sporran .

As we all made our way back upstairs, our piper went to tune up…. Incidentally how does a piper tune up?  Our Toastmaster ushered the guests into the drawing room to take their seats, where Margaret entertained us with her piano playing & the giant oak doors were closed , ready to await the arrival of our bride. Very shortly we heard the piper playing, this alerted us all to the arrival of the bride, as we all stood up , the doors were opened to reveal our stunning bride.

Doc our piper tuning up, (always said he was a bag of wind)

Sarah & her father Tom by the wedding car (C) Abby stonehall

Because there is so much to show you all, we are going to have to split the blog  into sections , plus i would be at my computer for day’s….   second part of our wedding blog….  ” THE CEREMONY”   coming soon . (c) chocorococo 2010

we have ordered a brand new light surround today, can not wait to see it in operation, by all acounts it changes 7 different colours, so we should be able to match a colour to our wedding couples colour theme.

Everything going to plan so far for our forces wedding of the year, chasing up final details from our suppliers, then it will be a case of check and re check everything…….. what is the betting that the nearer it gets to D – Day … or should i say W- day, i will be a nervous wreck!!

Don’t forget it is U.K forces day on Saturday June 26th 2010, show your support for our brave men and women of the Armed Forces. (c)chocorococo

A big thank you to Mr Steve McTigue ,who has kindly offered to take the place of Mr Richard Jackson as our master of ceremonies at our  competition winners wedding, Richard will  be  undergoing an operation the week of the wedding., and will be unable to perform his duties. We wish Richard well, and thank him for his support.

After a long chat with Steve this morning, i am more than happy we are in very capable hands,  we look forward to working with you . (c) chocorococo

fountain presentation

 We have put together a presentation party for our chosen winning couple of our competition, to meet all our suppliers, who have graciously volunteered their services & time . This is a marvellous opportunity for our couple to thank everyone personally.

The press have been notified, and my local radio station hope to do a live broadcast with our winning couple , along with a bridal magazine who are wishing to feature their eventual wedding , all very exciting for them. Our winning couple will not only have the happiest day of their life, but will have one amazing wedding, with lots of memories to cherish.

Above is a picture of our fountain, beautifully presented by the Rococo cheeky girls , with our hand dipped strawberries. Our winning couple will get the special Chocorococo treatment.

the cheeky rococo girls

Well, things are quite hectic here at the competition HQ, it is now only 4 weeks until the end of the wedding competition we are running for Support our Soldiers, and entries have been coming in thick and fast over the last few day’s.

Some of the entries have been amazing, but we are still receiving some that are not quite as informative as we would like, so please if you are entering please put as much information about you as a couple as you can, it does help us a great deal.

Above is a picture of myself (on the right) and my canny assistant Lynne, otherwise known at the Rococo Cheeky Girls ! The picture was taken at a wedding we attended recently at the Mill Hotel, Alveley, where we provided hand dipped strawberries for the first time, and chocolate lollipop favors for the children, both very well received, in fact everyone loved them….. So we will be having them as a permanent feature from now on.

We will be offering Rococo Berry Arangement,  chocolate favors for the children , and wedding favors for the older guests, details will follow soon.

council house at night

We are pleased and delighted to announce that we have received permission to hold our winning couples wedding & reception at The Birmingham Council House, Banqueting Suite, situated in Victoria Square, Birmingham.

This beautiful grade 2* listed building combines traditional elegance, & the ambiance of the rooms reflect the sophistication & charm of the 19th century.

inside the banqueting suite

The Banqueting Suite has received & welcomed members of the Royal Family, World Leaders, Media & Film Stars, and now our lucky bridal couple will be added to this very privileged list.

yours truly & Maria of SOS with Nick Owen & Suzanne Verdi

Chocorococo & Maria from SOShad a fabulous time at BBC Midland last night, when we went live to launch our wedding competition to find our Chocorococo hero,  Nick Owen & Suzanne Verdi were absolutely charming, they put us at ease immediately, we were miked up had a few rehearsals, then before we knew it we were on air…brilliant.

Thank you also to Peter Wilson for the drink afterwards, Sarah Falkland for her very kind words & Satnam Rana for dealing with the updates. We look forward to doing it all again when we find our winner. (c) chocorococo