Suits you Sir .... and a Roman soldier!

The main men in the Bridal party have now all been for the initial fittings for their suits. They will look so very smart. Here is a funny coincidence for MOTB to report.

When Lucy and Mark sent me the link for Greenwoods suit hire ( and just to clarify - this photo below is not the suit they will be wearing as “we” are keeping this a secret till the day) imagine my delight at discovering that the male model showing off the men’s suits was the lovely Adam - who long, long ago did some work for me at Hadrian’s Wall.

Here's the story..

Adam became a bit of a local legend as we used him in our controversial marketing campaigns to break the mould of all former marketing of the ancient World Heritage Site. 

Hadrian's Wall had previously been marketed with classic postcard views of the ancient stone Wall, whereas Adam the Roman Soldier as we called him...was put in full roman costume into a number of different contemporary settings to illustrate the range and breadth of activities visitors could do in and around Hadrian’s Wall. There was always a link to Roman times, so we'd show heated bathing, eating al fresco or enjoying fine wines – our creative genius at that time Antonio set up these scenes at venues in the Hadrian’s Wall area and the resultant photography was very memorable!!!

In the evaluation of the campaigns, we proved to be very effective – as they did exactly as intended – made all visitors really notice the adverts and brochure. The publications became collectors’ items. And we even turned some of the photos into very creative corporate Christmas cards, which colleagues told me they kept stuck on their office walls throughout the year.

So to indulge myself in nostalgia, I have dug out a few photos to share.

Who chose this chariot!

This photo below is one of the mouse mat my friend Sarah organised when I left Hadrian’s Wall. I had special memories of attending this actual photo shoot as it was the first time I met Adam. I had parked in the middle of nowhere ( middle of very rural Hadrian’s Wall Country) , walked up and down the ancient monument, heading towards what I could see in the distance a gathering of people and masses of photography equipment under a temporary white gazebo. When I got there, slightly out of breath with a ruddy complexion and very windblown hair – Adam was spread out on the picnic blanket looking drop dead gorgeous. As I was the client, I was introduced to him and his first words to me were “All right pet”. Adam was a true Geordie, a really nice guy and consummate professional. And he never seemed to mind whatever strange situations he was asked to pose in his roman soldier outfit!

Almost everyone in the Hadrian’s Wall Tourism Partnership team office and our marketing partners Wall wide envied me having to attend these photo shoots! We used to joke that we had launched Adam’s career – he went on to model for Storey’s carpet, Officers Club, Rene Lizard, Haven, Circ shampoo to name but a few and now Greenwoods wedding suits – but in truth, I suspect Hadrian’s Wall was a sideways deviation in his otherwise very successful modelling career.