A Donegal husband and wife have tapped into the wedding market with their handcrafted displays for hire that include a wooden slurry tanker with ‘spread a little love’ emblazoned on the side and ‘just married, herd that?’ on the back for their ‘Valerations’ enterprise.
Terry and Valerie O’Donnell have been inundated with requests to hire pieces from their collection.
“Terry was made redundant in 2017 and had to go on the dole, which is when Donegal Local Development Company approached him about putting his woodworking skills to good use and start his own business,” said Valerie.
“Terry makes everything we hire for weddings and I paint and personalise whatever else needs to be done. He said to me: ‘I’ve a new idea for a farmers’ post box.. it’s a slurry tanker.’ I looked at him in disbelief and thought he’d lost the plot,” Valerie said.
“He started making up the plans in 2020, then Covid hit and put it on the back boiler for a while. Last year, he got back into it again.
“The tanker is made completely from wood. It took him three to four weeks to get the wood into a cylinder shape with continually steaming the wood and shaping it and another few weeks to source the right wheels. It was definitely a labour of love.
“He had always a slogan in his head of ‘spread a little love’ for the side of the tanker and ‘just married, herd that?’ on the back. Once it was completed, I took over, painting and personalising it,” she said.
The response was hugely positive, according to Valerie: “The minute we put it up for hire, the phone started ringing and hasn’t stopped since.
“The farmers absolutely love it and it has become very popular with some brides hiring it as a surprise for the groom. The tanker is quite large, just over 6ft in length and 3½ft in height,” she added.
“Also, we have a small farmers’ package with wooden crates, wooden lanterns, a milk can that says ‘udderly in love’ and a painted shovel with lights that says ‘best day ever,’ said Valerie.
“We are just a small business located in Donegal. We also have part-time jobs along side the wedding hire. We try to stay local catering to Donegal weddings and surrounding counties only.
At the moment, the business cannot travel to other counties as “time will not allow”.