People occasionally ask whether a service station would work as a wedding or similar venue, perhaps thinking it would be novel or unusual.
It has in fact been done several times before:
- A staff member at Hilton Park services held her wedding reception in the restaurant in 1975, allowing her colleagues to attend.
- The Motel Leeming was a full-service hotel that expanded into a service station. It had full conference facilities and promoted itself as a potential wedding venue.
- There was a well-circulated story that a couple married at Thurrock services in 1991. It's not clear what role the service station played, because it didn't open to the public for another year. Reports also claim that it was both a charity bet and a radio stunt. The couple did genuinely have a tour of the recently-completed motorway as a joke honeymoon, and probably used the unfinished car park as a base.
- A couple renewed their vows at Sandbach services in December 2002. a choir sang hymns from the footbridge.
- Radio presenter Chris Arnold went viral in 2020 after he joked that he had taken his honeymoon at Tebay services. He later explained that he actually went to Thailand, but does like to visit Tebay.
- A couple held their wedding reception at Cobham services in 2024, where guests were treated to a McDonald's breakfast meal in a cordoned-off area and a gift from the operator.
- A wedding was held on the mezzanine level at Leeds Skelton Lake services in December 2024.
Another question would be, "why do service areas make such popular wedding venues".