Your Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wedding - December/January 2024/2025 (Issue 110)

All the latest from around the regions NEWS Nearlywed THE CASTLE HOTEL WINDSOR WINS FIRST GOLD GREEN MEETINGS AWARD The Castle Hotel Windsor in Berkshire has achieved a Gold Green Meetings award on its first submission alongside retaining the Gold Green Tourism Award for the second consecutive year. This dual recognition highlights the hotel’s commitment to sustainability, particularly in its meeting and event services, offering businesses the opportunity to host eco-conscious meetings in the heart of Windsor. The Green Meetings Award reflects their efforts in creating sustainable, environmentally responsible meeting packages. The Castle Hotel excelled in key areas such as greener delegates, local experiences, low carbon activities, and promotion of destination elements like cultural heritage, events, and supporting local projects, all of which received top scores in their audit. The hotel’s dedicated green meetings package is designed to reduce the environmental impact of events. This includes the introduction of vegan delegate menus that cater to dietary preferences and sustainability goals, the use of locally sourced, eco-friendly products, and options for delegates to engage in low-carbon activities such as bike rentals and local cultural experiences. These initiatives make The Castle Hotel Windsor a leader in green conferencing, appealing to companies focused on reducing their carbon footprint. “The Castle Hotel Windsor has truly set the benchmark for green meetings. Their extensive range of sustainable initiatives—coupled with their strong engagement with local communities and projects—makes them a prime example of how eco-friendly conferences and events should be run,” praised the Green Tourism audit. While the Green Meetings Award leads the way, the hotel has also maintained its Gold Green Tourism Award for the second consecutive year, improving its overall score by 3%. This accolade recognises broader sustainable practices across the entire operation. The Green Tourism audit highlighted the hotel’s excellence in categories such as community, awareness, and food and drink, with the hotel scoring particularly high in its promotion of local produce and biodiversity initiatives such as their bug hotels to support local ecosystems. To continue this leadership in sustainability, The Castle Hotel Windsor is working closely with Mission Net Zero to refine its meeting and event practices. The hotel’s long-term commitment to sustainability is evident in every facet of its operation, ensuring that it remains a top choice for businesses looking to host responsible and sustainable events. “We are delighted to receive these prestigious awards, which reflect our ongoing commitment to sustainability and our connection with the local community,” said Sam Goss, general manager. “Our team is passionate about delivering eco-friendly solutions and creating memorable experiences while supporting local initiatives such as community litter picking, participating in the Sunflower Walk, and supporting Thames Hospice our nominated charity this year.” https://castlehotelwindsor.com OXFORDSHIRE-BASED LORDS FRAGRANCE HOUSE UNVEILS NEW GLENCOE COLLECTION The new Glencoe scent from Lords Fragrance House is ideal for fragrancing weddings. It captures this magical place in the Highlands of Scotland, a great honeymoon destination known for its natural waterfalls and trails. The unique blend of Scottish pine, honey, heather, tobacco leaf, and patchouli, over warm undertones of Tonka bean, vetiver, and cedarwood, creates this cosiest of amber smoke scents. Inspired by nature and global travels, founder Sasha Lord creates colourfully conscious, luxurious, vegan home fragrances, designed to enrich interiors. The Glencoe aroma can be experienced in natural wax candles encased within reusable pink or green glass vessels that can be given a second life as plant or tea light holders. Trim the wick between uses and allow all the top layers of wax to melt for the longevity of candle life and the best scent, £34. Hand-poured reed diffusers that are high-quality, recyclable and refillable in thick-cut amber glass bottles designed like traditional apothecary vessels are also part of the collection. Flip the reeds regularly to maximise the scent, £34 for 200ml. The Colour Emporium collaboration combines four hand-dipped, scented candles designed with vibrant purple and green stripes that provide the fragrant finishing touch to any seasonal tablescape, £27. The products are lovingly crafted from natural oils, sustainable natural waxes, and eco-friendly FSC-certified packaging. Encouraging and incentivising reuse, they offer a refill service on the diffusers and candles which can be sent to them in exchange for a discount on the next purchase. https://lordsfragrancehouse.com EDITOR LOVES Oxfordshire-based The Little Flame has launched their new geranium, cedar, mint and frankincense soy wax hand-poured candle this season as part of their Christmas Collection. www.thelittleflame.co.uk 9 LOCAL NEWS

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