WEDDING parties, transatlantic tourists and couples celebrating their anniversaries were among the guests evacuated from the five star hotel yesterday afternoon.

Birmingham-based solicitor Steven Smith, 28, was staying at The Randolph before getting married to his fiancé, Lauren Halliday at St Edmund Hall in High Street today.

The St John’s College graduate said: “For the 10 or 15 years that I’ve been coming to Oxford, I’ve never seen a building on fire.

“Then the day before my wedding, The Randolph goes up in flames.”

The whole wedding party were staying at the Beaumont Street hotel but were told they wouldn’t be able to return to the building last night.

Mother of the bride Fiona Halliday, from Coventry, said: “As we walked down the stairs [from the third floor] you could feel the heat on the wall.”

Friend Peter Moore, 43, said: “All our clothes are in there, everything for the wedding is in there.

“Luckily we got the dress out in time.”

Mr Smith added: “I don’t know what I’m going to wear. I might end up getting married in my jeans.”

David and Shirley Baldwin travelled from the Isle of Man to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary today.

Mrs Baldwin, 66, said: “At first we thought it was a routine fire alarm, so we left everything in the room.

“Our phone, our money, our medication.”

She added: “As you walked through the foyer, you could see flames and black smoke through the stained glass windows.”

Headington resident Sandra Homewood had a belated Mother’s Day celebration interrupted at the Randolph’s restaurant due to the fire.

She was joined by her daughter Shirley Ann Jeffs and her step-daughter Hayley Cousins.

Mrs Homewood said: “It is a shame, but the staff at the hotel have been wonderful.”