wedding list
Things to do
Shops Manchester City Centre has all the usual chain shops (except John Lewis which is out of town in Cheadle) centred around Deansgate, King St and Market St. The Triangle in the Old Corn Exchange has lots of small but expensive shops and at the weekend  is a place of congregation for young Manchester Moshers. There are still some small independent shops - our favourites are Fred Aldous on Lever Street (for all the Arts and Crafts materials you could ever want) and The Craft Centre on Oak Street. Paul wanted to mention the comic shop Forbidden Planet on Oldham St, but he wasn't allowed to.
Football Clearly the season is over and all the footballers will be in Japan or South Korea watching other teams in the World Cup final but you can still visit Old Trafford or Maine Rd (we believe they do play football of sorts at the latter). You can go on a tour of Old Trafford and look at all their trophies, although this being a bit of a fallow year there won't be any.
Art The Lowry at Salford Quays is an impressive new building with visiting exhibitions as well as a permanent collection of Lowry's work. The City Art Gallery (junction of Princess St and Mosley St) has just re-opened after a £35 million refurbishment (it's great and has a really splendid shop). The Whitworth is a smallish gallery opposite Manchester Royal Infirmary on Oxford Road and has an impressive range of textiles as well as visiting exhibitions (the cafe's fairly good too).
Museums The Imperial War Museum (North)at Salford Quays isn't technically open yet but the outside is fairly dramatic and if you're going to the Lowry it's on the other side of the Manchester Ship Canal over a new bridge so it's worth a look.Other central museums include The Pump House People's History Museum, Bridge Street (unsuprisingly a museum looking at the people of Manchester) and The Museum of Science and Industry (Castlefield, based in one of the world's oldest railway stations). There's a decent Gallery of Costume at Platt Hall, Platt Fields.
Food Chinatown (off Princess St and George St ) is centrally placed and has both shops and restaurants. The Curry Mile in Rusholme, open early 'til late, is sparkly and vibrant (best places are the Tandoori Kitchen, Punjab Tandoori Restauarnt and Lal Halweli).
Countryside The Peak District is beautiful and is less than an hour's drive from Manchester. It's great for walking (decent walk up Kinder Scout or Mam Tor, smaller walks round Ladybower Reservoir). Lovely villages including Eyam (the plague village) and plenty of tea shops. Worth a detour this way if you're travelling back down south.
National Trust Local properties include Lyme Park (see Pride and Prejudice), Tatton Hall, Dunham Massey (good deer park, home of Lady Jane Grey's family), Styal Park and Quarry Bank Mill (lovely park with working water and steam powered mill).
Nightlife Nightclubs are a bit out of our league. We have noticed that the Hacienda has been knocked down recently (so don't try and use it as a navigating landmark). The only place we ever go in town is Aqua on Great Bridgewater St.
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen wasn't from Manchester but the recent BBC dramatisation featured Lyme Park in it - the site of Colin Firth's emergence from the lake at Pemberly if you remember.
Interesting Buildings in the Town Centre The Town Hall is itself architecturally distinguished - but you'll be seeing it anyway at the wedding. We love the reciprocal curves where the Town Hall extension meets the Central Library and Library Theatre.
The Midland Hotel (Peter St)
The Royal Exchange (Theatre, cafes and craft centre)
The City Art Gallery - recently re-opened after renovations
Urbis - new museum of 'the city' near the Printworks and the Triangle
St Anne's Church, St Anne's Square
John Ryland Library (Deansgate)
Coffee Shops There appear to be more coffee shops than shop-shops now. The only local chain is Cafe Nero which is fairly good but our favourite is the Costa Cafe in Paperchase on St Mary's Gate (mainly because it gives us an excuse to paw the paper products on the way in and out).