You might not think a Victorian wedding theme would work when meshed with modern technology, but with the bride being a history buff, and the groom a technology geek, it was actually the perfect joint theme for them!
Michelle and Drew were married in November at Norwood Park, Nottinghamshire. “I have a great fondness (hmm… obsession) with history”, Michelle told me. “I studied it at university and frankly, I can’t get enough! Drew said he didn’t care what he wore for the wedding so long as he could wear a top hat and carry a cane! So my Victorian gothic revival fantasy wedding was born.”
The bride’s mother made her amazing dress. “I refused from the beginning to wear white and instead chose red for my gown”, she explained. “While lots of people see white as traditional, it’s actually a fairly recent trend. Queen Victoria wore white for her wedding, but this was very new and before that, women used to just wear their best gown or if they were rich enough, they had one made. So when I thought about it, I actually felt like I was being more traditional than any bride in white! Red was an early favourite. Deep reds, bright reds and purples featured heavily as, to me, they give a sense of luxury.”
“Not wanting to be one of those brides where the wedding is all about them, I wanted Drew to have just as much influence, even though most of the time he said he didn’t mind what I did or wanted”, she continued. “But to make sure Drew’s loves were incorporated into the day, I decided that the wedding breakfast room would be Google Android themed. We had an Android cake and cupcakes, Android bunting and the tables were named after Android operating systems, accompanied by jars of sweets to match each OS name. All Androids in the room wore top hats or moustaches to match the Victorian theme of the whole day. I even managed to find a guest book decorated with a Google Doodle of Charles Dickens along with a Google quill pen!”
“One battle I had again and again was convincing people that black table linens and chair covers wouldn’t look too morbid!” she said. “People said they weren’t very ‘weddingy’, but I had to keep convincing them that black would look classy and elegant, especially with my table decorations and the burgundy sashes and table runners. In the end, people were convinced they looked elegant and it all worked brilliantly.”
“After a lot of searching and only being able to find white or silver candelabras, Drew stayed up until 1am the night before the wedding and painted them black. Drew and his best man Simon painted the cupcake holders black as, again, we could only find ones we liked in white. My chief bridesmaid Jo made the Android bunting from leftover dress fabric.”
“We decided we wanted the evening reception to be the best party we had ever been to. We enjoy punk/ska/metal/pop punk music, so in the absence of a band which fit our requirements, we made the playlist ourselves. It contained as many songs we love as we could fit in. This was difficult and took us about 6 months in all to get right, but we knew it had to be done if we were going to get music we actually liked. No One Direction here, thank you very much! We even had the string quartet play Nothing Else Matters by Metallica to sign the register to, which sounded beautiful on strings and also surprised a number of guests as they hadn’t realised how wonderful rock tunes can sound using classical instruments.”
“One of my favourite details was our Victorian themed photo booth. We consider ourselves very lucky to have found Andy and his booth. I searched the internet for Victorian booths thinking that it was a long shot and there probably wouldn’t be any. How wrong I was! As if it was meant to be, I found one only a few miles from where we live and it was fabulous! It had been kitted out with red velvet curtains and had brass buttons and old fashioned signage. The camera was made to look old and the guest book was in the Victorian style. It was completely perfect for us and our theme!”
“Our advice to other couples planning their weddings is a cliché, but do what you want and don’t let anyone tell you any different!”, Michelle concluded. “While getting advice from those who have been there and done it is certainly sensible, ultimately it is your day and is supposed to be a reflection of the two of you as a couple. Your wedding is a celebration of your relationship and in my opinion, it’s what guests want to see and experience.”
