Holly and Tim knew they wanted a relaxed wedding day with their friends and family and a full on party/gig vibe in the evening! They were inspired to include elements of all the things they love, including Game of Thrones, Halloween and live music, to create a mash-up theme that represented them as a couple.
The couple were married at Kidderminster Town Hall in October, with a £5000 budget to bring their dream wedding day to life. Pretty much everything at the wedding was crafted; Holly made skulls out of decoupage for table decorations, as well as galaxy jars out of glass skull bottles. She’s an illustrator, so designed their table names, table plan and wedding signs. One of her favourite projects was hand-painting champagne glasses with people’s names with Tim; not only were they used as name places, but doubled up as wedding favours for guests to have a memento from their day.
Holly wore a custom Couture Company dress, paired with an old pair of Doc Martins and a Daenerys-worthy gold crown from Rock n Rose. Tim’s outfit was a combination of ASOS, Twisted Taylor and Moss Bros, with T.U.K creepers and accessories from Etsy. His buttonhole was also made by the Couture Company to match Holly’s dress. The bridesmaids chose and bought their own dresses; “I wanted them to be comfortable in what they wore,” explained Holly. “I only asked if they could pick a dress in a green colour. They weirdly all chose dresses from the same place without even knowing ( two even ordered the same dress) They bought them from Ever Pretty.”
They got married at their local town hall, with both of Holly’s parents walking her down the aisle to Last Night of Earth by Green Day. It was a really relaxed ceremony, with readings of pieces by Bob Marley and John Cooper Clarke. The officiant happened to be a family friend, which helped keep things personal and intimate. Their reception, held at the same venue, was decorated in a woodland style.
“As the venue didn’t have any outside space, and we really wanted a woodland feel, we brought the outside in and focused our decor on ivy, foliage and pumpkins,” said Holly.” They got creative with props – Holly hunted charity shops for antique looking candle holders and across the high-street for skull-related decor. They had a little help from friends and family, too; her dad made their ‘H&T’ signage from MDF, paint and fairy lights,Tom’s mum made their green velvet table runners and a family friend made their amazing dragon cake.
They knew early on in their planning that they wanted to have live music at their reception, so made sure to portion out a chunk of their budget for this; they hired the band Revolverlites, who played an acoustic set in the afternoon and a full set in the evening. They went casual for catering too, with street-food style fish, burgers, sausage and pie and chips, which went down a storm with their guests. They continued the gig vibe with a temporary tattoo box by Doris Loves to get their guests into the spirit of things, and used old vinyl records for a fun version of a guest book.
“We’re so glad we stuck to our guns and didn’t try to please anyone else with our wedding,” said Holly. “We just did things our way; we only invited the people that we wanted there and only stuck to traditional things when it felt like they suited us as a couple. Don’t try to fit into what you think a wedding should be; if you want a cake shaped like a dragon, go for it!”
