14 October 2023 , 21:05
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A bride's wedding was nearly derailed after sparkers ahe bought to entertain her guests caught on fire on her big day.
Sarah Jones, 33, was preparing for her wedding at Glyn Clydach Hotel in Neath, South Wales, when she was forced to flee the venue in her wedding dress before tying the knot. Luckily firefighters doused the flames in the nick of time and Sarah went ahead to marry her new husband Luke on October 7.
She said: "I had bought sparklers which were going to be used in the evening for an opportunity for cute night time photos. But on the day of the wedding, when things were being brought out of the cupboard, they all moved and it went up in flames."
"The next thing you know, we had a member of staff running into our room saying: 'There's been a fire. We walked downstairs in our bridal dressing gowns, half hair and make-up done, and there was smoke everywhere. My make-up artist grabbed her brush and finished off some of the girls outside."
The blaze was caused by sparklers she had bought to entertain evening guests (Lilybut Photography/WALES NEWS SERVICE)"As we were standing outside smoke was coming out of the double doors. All of a sudden gushes of smoke would come, then it would calm down, then more gushes of smoke would come." Sarah lost her table plan and sweet bags to give to guests in the blaze we well as the final plans for her wedding planner but managed to still go ahead on time.
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She said that despite the situation, she was "quite calm" even when people were talking about "ringing the registrars and changing the time. I told them no, it's fine. I'm a planner anyway so I planned for if anything went wrong during the ceremony. Everything went fine and still ran to time, everyone at The Glyn Clydach was amazing and handled the situation so well."
"They did the best they could in a bad situation and pulled it off, it was really good. Things happen, it was just one of those freak accidents." According to Sarah, the day "went brilliant, and went without a hitch" after that.
"I'd like to say thank you to Glyn Clydach for keeping me calm and carrying on and getting everything ready, and to the bridal party as well for carrying on like nothing happened," she said.
A spokeswoman for The Glyn Clydach said: "We are happy to confirm that no-one was hurt during the incident, and we are so pleased that Sarah and Luke's wedding day was able to go ahead as planned." The staff at The Glyn Clydach all followed our fire evacuation process, and we are pleased to say that the process was carried out with full co-operation from the guests staying at the hotel."
A spokesman for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: "At 9.35am on Saturday, October 7, the Neath and Pontardawe crews were called to an incident at the Glyn Clydach Hotel in Bryncoch, Neath. Crews responded to a fire confined to a small storage cupboard in the hotel's reception area."
"Crews extinguished the fire, ventilated the area and silenced the fire alarm panel. The fire was caused by sparklers being stored in the cupboard and the premises was evacuated while the incident was ongoing. Crews left the scene at 10.09am."