‘My wedding inspired my business’
Lindsay Hughes, 43, is the founder of Bath Vintage Hire. She lives in Bath with her husband.
‘Delving into charity and second-hand shops looking for vintage floral crockery wasn’t something I’d ever done before arranging my wedding, but in the run up to my DIY big day, I even asked my parents to help. Eventually they amassed 100 beautiful cups, saucers and plates.
It was my own nuptials that inspired me to start my company. I’d spent many years as a curator, and my husband collects, restores and sells old eclectic objects – anything from pedalos to paintings. So when it came to our wedding, we decided to take a DIY approach. He transformed stacks of old wooden doors into trestle tables, and family and friends helped us collect 200 dining chairs, crockery and candlesticks.
On the day, a few guests commented that friends they knew who were getting married were looking for tables, chairs and props just like ours. Afterwards, we stored our collection in a 40ft shipping container on a nearby farm and began letting friends borrow things. We realised there was demand, so I left my art gallery job to set up the business. It was a leap of faith, but our wedding guests’ enthusiastic reactions convinced us there was a market.
I designed the website and organised our stock. Early in 2015, my phone rang. It was a stranger enquiring about hiring chairs. I was shocked. She wanted quotes for various items, so I muddled my way through some figures, then put the phone down and screamed!
The first wedding was in Devon, so we loaded up a van with chairs and tables and dropped them off. The next day, when we went to collect the items, the couple were so thankful. Knowing they had got as much joy from our collection as we had felt amazing. We try to keep prices reasonable – £1 per mismatched cup and saucer, leather suitcases from £8 each, and £4 per vintage wooden folding chair.
After a year, we moved the collection into a barn. Now, my husband has part of it for his restoration work and I have the rest for Bath Vintage Hire. At first, I thought we might do a wedding a weekend during high season. Now, we do four or five. What started with trestle tables and chairs has grown into an Aladdin’s cave of vintage treasures, with milk churns, tin baths, brass candlesticks and a huge gilt frame chalkboard!
When you launch a business, you make lots of mistakes. Initially, we wanted to deliver nationally ourselves, but after travelling all day, we’d arrive home grumpy and tired. So we hire
drivers to do weddings further afield, which lets me focus on the website.
We’ve done so many great weddings. Couples email me photos and I love seeing how they’ve styled the collection.
The success of the business has massively exceeded my expectations. Our turnover has tripled since year one, and being part of couples’ special days is a joy and a privilege.’
• bathvintagehire.co.uk