Couples booking bouncers for their wedding day
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something brute – welcome to the new generation of weddings featuring security guards and bouncers.
More couples are drafting in bodyguards on their big day for crowd control, keeping a watchful eye over expensive gifts and protection from obsessive ex-partners.
High-profile cases in the media, like the 40-person brawl sparked at a Bradford wedding by someone throwing a pork pie, are said to be behind the growing trend, as well as the rise in people getting married for the second and third time.
Ex-serviceman Ade Fowles runs Telford-based Vigilant Protector, an event security firm which has supplied staff for weddings in Shropshire. He has seen a 40 per cent rise in inquiries in the past 18 months.
Mr Fowles said weddings were becoming wilder. "I've had ex-partners trying to bribe their way into ceremonies," he said. "They turn up drunk, violent and I've even had someone drive a car at me trying to get in. Couples spend a lot of time and money planning their big day and they don't want to leave anything to chance – that's why they contact us."
Mr Fowles, from Wellington, supplies three security guards for the average wedding but has had teams of 10 and more in the past.
"If they're having a big wedding, couples use us if there's expensive gifts or property around. I've known plenty of people – organised criminals, chancers off the street, disgruntled members of staff –walk into a wedding and take things from the table of gifts and break into the cars outside. Mainly though, it's to do with jealous ex-partners who have been threatening to turn up and ruin the day."
Last month, three people were arrested and a woman had her cheek and ear bitten at the Bradford wedding reception of Wendy and Ryan Barraclough. Trouble flared after someone threw a pork pie and another guest squirted a water pistol. As punches were thrown, the bride's dress was covered with beer and WKD.
