Kirsty and Mike were married on Friday 31st July at Barmbyfields Barn in York. They chose that date because it was a Blue Moon (the 2nd full moon in a month which only happens every three years) which is said to be a very powerful and magical time to get married.
“Our wedding theme evolved as we went along, but I guess you could describe it as boho hippie goes to a metal gig!”, the bride began. “It was a very eclectic mix of ideas from ourselves and our children. We collected things and recycled stuff and we kind of wanted the barn to feel like our house rather than a wedding. We even took a fireplace there and set up some logs and some trinkets and we hung a picture of My Dad it. We set our head table in front of the fireplace and we brought our own chairs from home to sit on.”
“We are really laid back people and we wanted to create a really relaxed and family friendly environment where the children could run about safely and be free and wild. It was such a perfect venue for this and we were super lucky with the weather.”
The bride’s dress was made from scraps of fabric from old clothes. saved especially for the occasion. “My wedding dress was amazing. I had been saving our old clothes that we had grown out of for years. Things like our children’s baby clothes, and dresses I wore when I was pregnant. I even had saved the top that I wore on the night that Mike and I first ever met. I knew one day that I would make a wedding dress out of them all. in the end I was so busy making everything else for the wedding, I didn’t want to have the stress of making my own wedding dress too. However I knew how I wanted it to look, so I drew a picture and managed to find a local dressmaker who loved my idea.”
“She made the basic dress and corset, and myself and my friends spent hours cutting out all the colourful fabric squares for the bottom part. However at 11pm the night before, when I tried it on, it didn’t look quite how I’d imagined it so I decided to cut the bottom bit off the dress and add loads more colour! Of course everyone said ‘Nooooo! You cant do that, you are getting married tomorrow!’ but I didn’t listen. We got a huge pair of scissors and literally hacked off the bottom of the dress and so we got to work adding more colourful fabric and reshaping it. An hour later I finally had the dress of my dreams!”
The bride did so much DIY for the wedding. “We did so much DIY I don’t know where to start! I held a craft night once a week for about 12 months. I really enjoyed this part of it. Mike would go to band practice and I would get to hang out with my mates and make loads of cool stuff and eat cake. We made a large family tree candle for each table, the guest place names were individually hand painted stones (there were 120 of them!) and for the kids I made each of them a set of ‘story stones’ – about 8 -10 each with different animals on. Mike and I also made some handmade soap for favours.”
“We made all the signs, seating plan, and the flower confetti. We collected glass jars and china cups and plates for the tables and made the dreamcatchers which we hung up everywhere. The day before the wedding I went to the local flower market and spent £140 on lots of bunches of flowers. The night before the wedding, myself and my bridesmaids made all the bouquets and buttonholes.”
They also saved a ton on their catering. “For our canapés we bought cheese, biscuits and nibbles from M&S. We have a large family and most of our friends have many children. We knew caterers were expensive and we didn’t want to have to exclude people from our wedding due to the fact that we couldn’t afford to have them there. So we asked our guests to cook their favourite dishes and bring them along to share. It was amazing. The food was delicious and there was such a variety. Everybody made such an effort with the food they cooked. You could tell that they had really thought about what special dish to cook to share at a wedding feast. Two of our friends even made us a three tiered naked wedding cake as a dessert! For the evening we hired the fabulous Artisan Pizza Company. They have an old French van that they have lovingly restored and they make and cook fresh pizza in their woodfired pizza oven.”
“Our handfasting ceremony was really special. The main part it was for all six of us (myself, Mike and our four children) to unite together as one. We did a candle sand ceremony. We each chose a different colour and scented jar of candle sand.”
“However one of the best moments for me was performing at the end of the night. My father sadly passed away 2 ½ years ago. He was my absolute hero. He took me to see really cool bands play when I was younger and he played the drums. If he had still been alive he would have played in a band at my wedding, So instead I secretly learned how to play them so I could do a song on the drums in honour of my dad. He loved Marilyn Manson and so we chose one of his favourite songs, Beautiful People, and I learned to play it. No one had a clue it was going to happen. Afterwards, my Mum and family came rushing over after to give me a huge hug. They were so proud and rather emotional. My Dad would have been the proudest man there.”
“The best thing about the wedding was the sense of community and togetherness we achieved”, Kirsty concluded. “We have many circles of friends and a lot of them have never really met each other. We have friends with children, friends we play music with, friends we do gaming with… Whilst we were planning our wedding all of these people came together to help us create a truly magical and unique day. We wouldn’t have done anything differently at all. We had the best day ever. I want to do it all over again.”
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Suppliers
- Photography: Esme Mai
- Venue: Barmbyfields Barn, York
- Officiant: Louisa Starr
- Bride's Dress: DIY
- Hair & Make Up: Reflections Hair Salon
- Bridesmaid Make Up: Julie Mercer
- Groom's Attire: Ted Baker
- Catering: Artisan Pizza Company
- Band: The Bronze
- Band: The Mothers