You’ve all heard the depressing statistics that get thrown around in the media. One third of Australian marriages will fail. It’s staggering. That doesn’t even account for those marriages that were dissolved in their first year (so not technically counted towards the 1/3 figure). One thing is for sure though, a majority of those couples getting divorced would want nothing more to do with their wedding mementos – particularly when it involves a drive to Basket Range to pick it up, years down the track.
So when Maxwell Mason, the new face of The Manor Basket Range, was finalising the preparations for the reopening of the former Camelot Castle, he was tasked with finding the owners of hundreds of wedding plaques that formerly adorned the chapel there.
Over the last several decades, thousands of weddings have occurred at the beautiful location, which was originally built in the 1930s, and modeled on Warwick Castle in the UK. And with each wedding, came a brass plaque which was mounted on the walls inside the little chapel on the grounds. Now with the massive renovations taking place to restore the Manor to ut’s former glory, it’s time for those plaques to be reunited with their owners – and Max wasn’t too hopeful.
Mason says “Not only was the mission to find the owners of 1500 plaques dating back to as early as the 50s, a big one, but we fully expected that many of those people would have been divorced. We certainly didn’t expect the huge response we’ve had”.
“In the first couple of days since we’ve been trying to find those who were married at The Manor (formerly Warwick House, then Lancelot and Camelot Castle), we’ve had over 500 enquiries come back! With 1500 plaques in total, and many more expected as the word gets out, it goes to show that weddings here succeed! Simple moral, get married with us!”
“We’ve found a couple in Willunga who were the first to marry here on 1 January 1972… We’ve found parents and their offspring who both married here, we’ve found people wanting a memory of a lost loved one who married here, we’ve even found a couple called Castle who married at the Castle!”
So, did you get married at Warwick House, Lancelot or Camelot Castle? Better get in contact with Max Mason and claim your piece of history. Head over to The Manor Basket Range’s Facebook page here for more details.
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