Looking for a different kind of wedding? Ask an alpaca!
FIREWORKS? Lawn games? A wedding painter? An ice cream van?
How about some alpacas as wedding guests?
For the past few years J and J Alpacas in Dry Doddington, near Newark, have been offering something different to lovestruck couples.
The family-run business offers three wedding packages to allow couples to be joined by furry friends on their big days.
The bronze package costs £250 and involves two alpacas coming to the wedding for an hour, whereas the gold package includes four alpacas at the wedding for four hours, and the bride and groom getting a special walk and photo opportunity with them.
Jessica Stanger, one of the partners at J and J Alpacas, described the bronze package as being “short and sweet” and therefore very popular.
She added: “Our alpacas visit in-between the ceremony and the reception. The couple will have the ceremony and then grab a drink and then come to see the alpacas and give them a stroke, ask us some questions and it’s lovely for all the children but we get people of all ages that come and say hello.
“It’s something for the guests to do whilst the bride and groom are having photos and getting ready and then the bride and groom come back and can take them for a walk get some more photos as well.” She added that it was “nice” for the alpacas to be included in the day, and couples often made things for them to wear, such as bow ties and necklaces. Jessica said: “At the first wedding we did they wore pom-poms as it was a Peruvian theme, so there were hundreds and hundreds of pom-poms everywhere and they made these for them.
“The last one we did was in August or September last year and Teal and Fabian went and they had different colour bow ties for them that were really sweet.”
J and J Alpacas launched in 2005, and in December 2018 they opened up to the public with a new cafe.
There are currently 118 alpacas on the farm – as well as two llamas – and the farm offers a variety of experiences. These include alpaca trekking, meet-and-greet experiences and afternoon teas.