Perhaps your train stops off at Irlam station on the way into the city centre, or you pass by The Botanist on your way into the office in MediaCity. As it turns out, these Salford landmarks are many couple’s dream wedding locations, with even those from outside of the city travelling in for their special day.
One of those couples are train lovers Andrei and Jenny Rydzkowski, who held their wedding party at Irlam station in July 2023.
Irlam station began in 1984 – the same year as the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal. Together, they played a huge role in making Salford the city that it is today. Irlam and Cadishead became major industrial areas, with many major companies like Partington Iron and Steel Works and the Ship Canal Company setting up factories due to the convenience of transporting goods.
Now, still a working station running services to and from Manchester and Liverpool, the station also has a café, bistro, and a Heritage Hub, sharing the history of both Irlam and Cadishead and the rail industry.
“I guess we’ve got a bit of a reputation of being quite quirky,” Jenny said, “but I think we’re just quite normal.
“In our family, people said, ‘It’s very Jen and Andrei!’, which we take as a compliment.”
The couple had their wedding ceremony in a church in Warrington but came over to the station with their guests in a double-decker bus.
Of course, when they arrived, there was lots of unique photo opportunities around the station, which made for a great album of images to remember their special day.
“We could have pictures with the trains, and we’ve got one in the signal box that we just love. It really has our personality in them.”
They booked out the entire station, rather than a few select rooms, so more of their guests were able to come. The guests were spread out across the narrow two floors of the venue, surrounding an open spiral staircase, where Andrei and Jenny sat on a couch at the bottom, looking up at their friends and family.
“Usually if you have a wedding all your guests stay in the same place, but we sort of just stacked them all over the venue,” Jenny laughed.
“It was quite cosy. It’s a good job we all get on!”
The couple both sang the praises of the helpful staff at the station who went above and beyond to make their day special:
“They were just really considerate all throughout,” Andrei said, “It made us feel like we were the number one priority. They were just ace.”
After calling it a night at twelve, guests conveniently caught the last train home straight from the venue.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say everything went perfectly on the day,” Jenny said.
“I mean, I don’t want to get married again. I’m sure you’ll be relieved,” she says, turning to Andrei, “but if I did, I would consider doing that again.”
“Compared to some of the other venues that we were looking at, it was quite affordable. You can have quite a quirky or fun wedding or something that reflects you without spending too much.”
‘The Smiths’ super-fans Adam and Anna Bowman had just that, after they were the second couple ever to get married at Salford Lads Club.
The couple were actually due to get married the year prior, however had to re-arrange due to the COVID-19 lockdown, when conveniently the club gained their license to hold weddings, which they now organise and host in partnership with Salford Community Leisure.
“As soon as we saw you could get married there, we just changed the whole wedding!” Anna says.
After getting engaged at the beautiful Victoria Baths, they felt a wedding at Salford Lads Club would fit nicely into a theme of iconic Manchester buildings.
Originally built in 1903 as part of a wider boy’s club movement between 1886 and 1910 to provide sports, arts and educational alternatives to teenage street gangs in industrialised cities, Salford Lads Club is now a widely known cultural location, but for a very different reason.
Despite carrying on with their services to this day, now also providing activities and clubs for girls, the club was pushed into the spotlight in 1985, when indie band ‘The Smiths’ were photographed by Steven Wright outside, with the iconic Lads Club sign displayed behind them. This image was then used in the inside sleeve of their third album ‘The Queen Is Dead’, and since, the club has become a real tourist attraction for fans all over the world eager to recreate the image.
“It’s just a beautiful building. And if you go down at 5 o’clock during the golden hour when the sun hits the red bricks, it just looks phenomenal,” says Adam.
For their first dance, the singer surprised Adam and Anna with a cover of one of ‘The Smiths’ hit songs, ‘This Charming Man’.
“When she played that, all the staff came in and were just in the room. It was just lovely,” said Anna.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time, the wedding only lasted around four hours in total, but the couple said the day panned out exactly as they wanted:
“We didn’t want anything really formal, we just wanted something that was really more us…it just turned out brilliantly,” Adam said, “That was largely down to the club organising as well. We got what we wanted but that wasn’t entirely down to us.”
Adam shared that how informal and candid the wedding felt made the day even more special:
“One of our friends had taken our younger daughter across to the shop to buy some sweets and she had one of those lollies with the whistle in them, and someone said ‘Oh, I love those things’, so I went and bought all of them and passed them around the guests. It was just informal and fun. It all felt very spontaneous.
“Considering we weren’t allowed to do very much due to COVID it was just perfect,” Anna said, “in fact, I’m glad we cancelled the first one.”
Featured Image Credit: Kate McCarthy Photography
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