Wedded bliss: Hyatt is still accommodating after 73 years

When the marriage celebrant asked Debra Etchells, 66, if she took Karlton Jones, 63, to be her lawful wedded husband in the Hyatt Hotel’s lavender garden on 29 September, there was little doubt what her answer would be.

Not only was it joining two people in marriage, but it also marked 73 years to the day, in 1951, when Debra’s parents, Lorna and Robert, wed in the same location.

“We had the most beautiful day,” Debra, now Mrs Jones, said. “It was so special for us.”

The small wedding was attended by her three children, her brother Keith, her niece and Karlton’s daughter.

“My son and his wife gave me a gold chain with a photo of Mum and Dad in it, and I hooked that to my bouquet,” she said.

“Keith lent me our mother’s engagement ring as something borrowed. I wore a blue dress, and we also used a serving dish which was something old – which probably came from the hotel,” she joked.

Getting married at the Hyatt was high on the bucket list for Debra whose family connection to the hotel stretches back more than 70 years.

Lorna was still working and living at what was then the Hotel Canberra when she married in 1951 – and went on to have five children, 14 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.

When the Hyatt put a call-out earlier this year that, as 2024 marked its centenary, it was keen to hear from people with stories to tell about its grand old days, Debra and her brother Keith Etchells were immediately interested.

Their family connection to the Hyatt was strong – and long.

It started shortly after the hotel opened as the place to stay in the new capital city, built to house politicians when the Parliament moved from Melbourne to Canberra. It was also, according to families like the Etchells, the place to work.

Their parents met there when Mum Lorna started work as a waitress in the 1940s. She lived in the staff quarters and, according to her family, didn’t lack a social life. The nearby Albert Hall was the place to go for dances, and it was where Lorna met her future husband, Robert – although it was far from love at first sight. He stood her up on their first date, but Robert persevered; Lorna gave him another chance, and he won her over.

“That’s like Karlton and me,” Debra laughed.

“I met him through some friends, too, but I didn’t really like him at first. My friends kept saying they knew this really nice man for me, but I didn’t really like him at first. But we kept running into each other and ended up going out for dinner a few times and just grew closer.”

When they decided to get married, Debra said her husband-to-be had never been to the Hyatt Hotel, “but he loved the idea of us being there on our wedding day”.

“We had the best time,” she said. “Everyone was so kind to us. I even felt my Mum was there watching over us. Everyone was so relaxed, we didn’t want to leave.”

And they didn’t have to for at least a couple of extra days, with the hotel, as a wedding gift, upgrading their honeymoon stay to the historic Bruce suite.

Debra said getting married at the Hyatt seemed the most natural thing to do after visiting the place so much as a youngster and hearing her mother’s stories. The family connection also stretched back to her brother Richard who worked there as well in the 1980s.

He applied for a job as a kitchenhand in 1987 but ended up working as a banquet waiter and then in what was considered to be the best restaurant in town, the Oak Room.

Debra said her mother often spoke about her time at the Hyatt, especially in her later years, saying she loved working there, but that it could be challenging.

“I remember her telling us that when VIPs would come in, the waiters weren’t allowed to write down their order. They had to remember it in their head. Then, when the food was ready, they’d come out, put the dinner down, take the cloche off, and try to remember who ordered what!”

For more centenary stories visit Hyatt Canberra