Win a winter wedding in the New Forest

New Forest luxury wedding venue the Balmer Lawn Hotel & Spa is offering couples the chance to win a free winter wedding worth £5,000.

Open to newlyweds-to-be willing to sing for their big day, the hotel has launched a fun marryoke competition to mark the 1,000th wedding at the venue with a free winter wedding up for grabs for the winning pair.

The prize includes catering for 50 people; a three-course meal, a glass of wine per person, tea and coffee and evening buffet, as well as a wedding video and free wedding night stay for the happy couple. Popular entertainment at weddings, marryoke usually involves guests singing along to a tune while being filmed for the wedding video. As a novel twist, the venue is inviting couples to submit their own marryoke magic ahead of their nuptials to bag the free wedding.

Michael Clitheroe, general manager at Balmer Lawn said, "When we realised we were coming up to our 1,000th wedding, we thought 'wow' we really should do something to mark the occasion. Wanting to make it fun and a little bit different, we thought we'd look to involve prospective brides and grooms too. With a little inspiration, we hit on the marryoke competition as an idea, with a free winter wedding the incentive!

"At this stage, we'd like to point out we're not expecting a duet from Pavarotti and Adele. Far from it! In the best traditions of karaoke, even if you're tone deaf, we'll take enthusiasm and choreography into consideration. The more creative the better, with bonus points for getting your family and friends involved!"

The competition is now live, and entrants are invited to submit their entries via the Balmer Lawn website, along with three reasons why they should be the deserving couple and their ideal wedding date. The deadline for entries is the 30th September. From here a top 10 will be drawn up, which will then open to a public vote to pick the best three; with the overall winner to be decided by an in-house judging panel at Balmer Lawn. The two entries in 2nd and 3rd spot will be offered a £1,000 discount off their wedding should they book with Balmer Lawn for 2020.

Michael added, "Couples are welcome to mime their entry over well-known songs, sing it themselves (bonus points) or even write their own version of a song letting us know how much they want to get married at Balmer Lawn (for even more bonus points). Everyone at Balmer Lawn loves a good wedding; especially a fun one. We're hoping the marryoke competition will inject some additional enthusiasm into proceedings, making it a day to remember before the winning couple have even married! We can't wait to see what entries come in."

Terms and conditions apply, which can be found here along with information and full details of the prize.