Herefordshire is a popular location for weddings, with hundreds taking place in the county every year, giving rise to a thriving wedding industry.

Increasingly, couples saying "I do" already have a young family when they marry, a situation which has led to a gap in the market that Sarah Atkins, founder of Worcestershire-based Little Guests, is filling.

For 12 years, Sarah has run her wedding nanny service alongside her existing career as a nanny, before launching Little Guests in 2018 to meet the rising need for childcare at weddings across the two counties.

OTHER NEWS:

"In 2010 my cousin got married and asked me if I could do something for the kids coming to the wedding.

"The venue, the Red House in Bromsgrove, then asked for my details and it spiralled from there.

"I now have the best of both worlds, dividing my time between the office and going out and physically working with kids," she said.

Hereford Times:

Recommendations tend to come from the wedding venues and in Herefordshire, Little Guests has worked with Dewsall Court and Broadfield Court on several occasions.

"I learned that a photographer who was trying to work around a crying baby at a wedding we were at, had also recommended us to his clients," she added.

OTHER NEWS:

Little Guests can offer a range of options to couples, from a mini-creche to a bigger creche, or just a 'Mary Poppins' bag, and a dedicated wedding nanny for the happy couple's baby.

"We work to Ofsted standards and regulations," Sarah explains. "And we have a higher ratio of staff to children as we don't know the children. We can also offer one-to-one care if it's needed."

Little Guests has a core team of 10, which expands to 20 in the busy summer months. "We all have paediatric first aid qualifications, too."

Looking to the future, boss Ms Atkins has big plans, saying: "My dream is a bus that we put a creche in. I'm hoping to be able to do that in the next couple of years."