Steph and Chris’ first date was at a burlesque show in Liverpool and they decided to recreate that atmosphere for their wedding! They infused their eclectic tastes into a perfect day of vintage, Rock n Roll, burlesque and mid-century classic style in a local historic venue. One of the acts they saw on their fist date, Suzie Sequin, even played at their reception!
They began their day with a traditional church wedding. “Although our evening was what some might consider unconventional we had a traditional wedding ceremony in a beautiful setting,” began Steph. “Port Sunlight is a historic village and Christ Church, while quite ordinary from outside, is breathtakingly beautiful inside. It is said to have the longest aisle in Britain (which didn’t help with my wedding nerves!)”
They both really enjoyed doing DIY projects together in the lead up to their wedding; they even made up envelopes with everyone’s name on, with scratch cards and a lucky sixpences inside for their name cards! “We really enjoyed designing and making our wedding board together. We also spent many evenings putting together our perfect playlists for everyone to enjoy. Our Save the Dates were magnets that we designed using a photo of us from our engagement shoot. We also made our own invitations. We used CDs to look like miniature records with all the information in the centre.”
To save money Steph did her own make up, they did a lot of DIY projects and bought non-traditional bridesmaid dresses/ They only hired one car and borrowed other vintage cars from family and friends. “As with many weddings, the food was the main expense as we had quite a few guests and we wanted to be able to cater to everyone’s dietary requirements”, she explained. “However we saved money as I did my own make up, by buying bridesmaid’s dresses which could be worn again rather than typically expensive bridesmaid dresses and by making our own wedding board (it was less than half the price of buying one!) and stationery. DIY is definitely the way forward if you want to save some money and make things more personal.”
“The cars were also a significant part of the day, not only did they fit in with the vintage theme but Chris has had a lifelong love of classic cars and both of us like going to classic cars shows. We hired a 1958 Cadillac Fleetwood from Birkdale Classics (which could have originally been one of Elvis’ many Cadillac Fleetwood’s!), had our own 1987 Mini Advantage there and borrowed a Ford Escort MK2 1968 from a family friend. It fitted in perfectly with the vintage theme.”
Their favourite part of the wedding was watching the burlesque entertainment as, as well as being amazing, also took the attention off them and gave them a few private minutes together away from their guests. “Our favourite moment was captured by our photographer Amy; when the two of us were watching Suzie Sequin perform. With everyone being so entranced by her beautiful performance it gave us a few minutes to be together and step out of the lime light for a moment. It was reminiscent of our first date and just perfect.”
“Having a burlesque dancer for entertainment was quite unusual for family and friends who haven’t experienced that sort of thing before. We weren’t sure how it would go down but everyone said they loved it! The DJ and his partner taught the guests how to do the Charleston, unfortunately we had already left to go the hotel but saw the video evidence the next day. The party went on till the early hours! Our jazz/swing band were also brilliant, even when they were warming up people were awestruck by their melodies. My mum wanted them to stay all night!”
For Steph and Chris, the best thing about planning their wedding was putting their own personal spin on things and taking into consideration both of their unique tastes. “It was great keeping track of everything and seeing it all come together to create our dream wedding. It makes it so much more special when you organise your special day together. In retrospect, the only thing we would have done differently is not worried as much! We worried that things wouldn’t go the way we hoped but thankfully they all did!”
“Our advice for future brides and grooms is to organise your dream wedding together and make sure you include all the things that you both like. It’s your day to celebrate your togetherness and love for each other. Just do things your way and don’t worry about what anyone else thinks, it’s your day and you deserve it to be perfect for you.”
