Like a lot of couples, Helen and Jordan’s original June 2021 wedding plans fell through due to the pandemic. While they’ve pushed their big humanist celebration back to 2022, they kept their original register office date and decided to still make an occasion of it, but just do something small, quirky and meaningful and not worry too much about traditions. “I’ve never really wanted a wedding that was super traditional anyway,” Helen told us,” so planning this small ceremony and just doing it the way we wanted was a very freeing experience.”
The couple spent less than £5,000 on their day, and adopted a colour scheme of red, yellow and blue, as Helen is a lover of bright colours and knew she wanted to wear a red dress! She chose a 1950s vintage style dress from British Retro, with shoes by Wedding Converse and decided to make her own bouquet out of paper. Jordan sported a matching buttonhole in the yellow and blue hues, and their guests were invited to take the colour scheme on board for their own attire and run with it, if they so wished.
Their ceremony at Cardiff City Hall was very short and had just nine guests in attendance, so some of their party had to wait outside to celebrate with them afterwards. Helen and Jordan walked in together to a track from The Lord of the Rings, signed the register to Jordan’s choice of Always and Forever by Luther Vandross and walked out to Friday I’m In Love by The Cure – Helen’s choice.
After the ceremony they popped to a beautiful public garden for photos and then taxied down to Cardiff Bay for afternoon tea (with gin cocktails, of course) at a cafe around the corner from where they live. In the evening they then had dinner at their favourite Italian restaurant. “It was all very on-the-hoof and dun rather than feeling toon strictly planned.”
Their advice to future couples is choose to do things because you like them, or because they are meaningful to you. Most of all – go with the flow. “There may be circumstances beyond your control that will throw your plans into chaos, so you need to accept them and find a way to work within the chaos.”
“We’re so grateful to Rock n Roll Bride for being such a bright and colourful source of inspiration, and making us feel empowered to plan a wedding that truly reflected our personalities, rather than feeling that we had to do what everyone else was doing,” Helen concluded. “It was a breath of fresh air after reading several wedding publications filled with beautiful but virtually identical looking weddings. It is also the only wedding publication I’ve encountered thus far that featured people with disabilities. Jordan is registered blind so this was significant to me. Thank you for being inclusive and for being so fun and vibrant.”
