• Time from Newport to Craig y Nos Castle Wedding Venue: 1 hour 10 minutes

• Distance from Newport to Craig y Nos Castle Wedding Reception Venue: 53 miles

15. Steel manufacture ceased in 2001 and Newport is today becoming a base for technology companies.

16. There are many ambitious plans for the regeneration and expansion of Newport's residential and commercial areas, though most of these are currently on hold due to economic conditions.

17. Tredegar House was built in 1672. Set in a park of 90 acres Tredegar House is an example of a C.17th Charles II mansion. It dates back to the late C.15th. For 500 years, it was home to the Morgans who became the Lords Tredegar until 1951. The house was then a girls' school and was bought by the council in 1974.

18. Newport became part of the new local government county of Gwent in 1974. but Gwent was abolished in 1996. In 1983 due to population growth Newport was split into two parliamentary constituencies - Newport East and Newport West.

19. Wards and their communities in Newport:

• Allt-yr-yn ward: Ridgeway, Barrack Hill, Glasllwch, Gold Tops,
  

• Alway ward: Somerton, Lawrence Hill,
  

• Beechwood: Eveswell,
  

• Bettws,
  

• Caerleon ward: Christchurch, Bulmore,
  

• Gaer ward: Maesglas, Stelvio, St. Davids, Gaer Park
  

• Graig ward: Rhiwderin, Bassaleg, Lower Machen, Pentre Poeth, Fox Hill,
  

• Langstone ward: Llanmartin, Parc Seymour, Wentwood Forest, Coed-y-caerau, Cat's Ash, Kemys, Coldra, Llanbedr
  

• Llanwern ward: Underwood, Whitson, Uskmouth, Summerleaze, Wilcrick, Saltmarsh, Milton, Porton
  

• Liswerry ward: Broadmead Park, Moorland Park, Broadstreet Common
  

• Malpas ward: Hollybush
  

• Marshfield ward: Castleton, St. Brides, Blacktown, Peterstone
  

• Pillgwenlly ward: Level of Mendalgief
  

• Ringland ward: Bishpool, Treberth, Coldra
  

• Rogerstone ward: High Cross, Cefn Wood, Croesllanfro, Mount Pleasant,
  

• Shaftesbury ward: Brynglas, Crindau, Marshes, Blaen-y-pant
  

• St Julians: Riverside, Barnardtown
  

• Stow Hill: St. Woolos, Baneswell, City centre
  

• Tredegar Park: Duffryn
  

• Victoria: Maindee, Summerhill
  

20. Newport is sunnier and warmer than most other parts of Wales.

21. The Passport Office for South and West UK is based in Newport.  

22. The headquarters of the UK Office for National Statistics and the headquarters of the United Kingdom Patent Office (now known as the Intellectual Property Office) is based at Newport.

23. In the Sims Metal Management plant at the mouth of the River Usk, Newport has the world's largest industrial shredder for scrap metal and the world's largest car crusher.

24. Newport has ten bridges over the River Usk:

• Caerleon Bridge,
  

• St. Julian's railway bridge,
  

• M4 motorway Usk bridge,
  

• Great Western Railway Usk bridge,
  

• Newport Bridge,
  

• Newport City footbridge,
  

• George Street Bridge,
  

• City Bridge and
  

• Transporter Bridge, plus the
  

• Twenty Ten Bridge at the Celtic Manor Resort which is a private footbridge over the River Usk.
  

25. Newport's main shopping streets are: High Street, Newport Arcade, Market Arcade, Commercial Street, Skinner Street, Bridge Street, Upper Dock Street, Market Street, Griffin Street, Corn Street, Cambrian Road, Hill Street, Llanarth Street and John Frost Square.

26. Famous people from Newport include: Michael Sheen (actor) and Sir Terry Matthews OBE (entrepreneur; Wales' first billionaire).

27. The hull of a Medieval 15th Century sailing Ship was discovered in the banks of River Usk in June 2002 during construction of the Riverfront Theatre. The ship was excavated by archaeologists. It is the longest such ship ever discovered. Marine archaeologists date the timbers to 1465. The city council ordered it, the oldest merchant ship ever discovered in Europe, to be reburied so as not to delay the building of the arts centre. After a public protest, the timbers were preserved.

28. The Newport Transporter Bridge opened in 1906 is one of only six operational transporter bridges left in the world. Only twenty were built. It transfers cars across the River Usk in a cradle-like cage. A high level boom allows ships to pass underneath. It acts as an aerial ferry to move goods from one side of the river to the other. A suspended platform is pulled from across via a cable.

It was built because industry was expanding on the east side of the river. With the residential areas then largely on the west side, workers had to walk four miles to cross the river on the town bridge to get to work. A river ferry was not practical due to the ever changing times of the tide and its extreme rise and fall.

A transporter bridge was a cheaper answer than tunneling or building a conventional bridge. It cost just £98,000 to build. Also a conventional bridge would have had to be built quite high up for the tall ships of the day to pass under it, which would have made it more expensive still.

29. Newport once had more than its fair share of rats. In 1920, 16,000 rats were trapped or killed in Newport. Yet in 1923 it was reported that several babies were being bitten in their prams by rats. This situation is now presumed to have improved.

4. You could do the same with the shopping streets, naming your tables after the main shopping streets, which anyone from Newport will recognise. However the bridges are possibly more interesting.

5. The Newport Transporter Bridge appears to be an interesting feature of the town. You could possibly include a replica of it as either your wedding cake topper, with the a model of the bride and groom standing before it, or as a separate display on a chest for cards etc. This will help to ‘place’ you both in Newport via a recognisable landmark specific to Newport. Alternatively, since the Newport Transporter Bridge is necessarily quite tall (this is why it was built – so tall shops could go under it) you could place an icing statue of the bride and groom under it.

6. Storyboards and photographs of brides and grooms through their childhood years to adulthood are becoming more popular. You could place around the board, all the bridges of Newport, or just one on the top of the board. Why?  You might well ask! Well, a marriage is building a bridge between two families, and the many bridges of Newport allow you to present this message along with some interesting aspects of Newport to your wedding guests.