Chloe and Phil had a vision for a relaxed and fun wedding, without too many formalities. They wanted a party theme to run throughout the day, with plenty of streamers, bright colours and a disco ball or two. “We wanted it to basically be a big party and celebration of us and everyone we loved”, the bride said. “We love going out and socialising so we wanted that to be the theme for our wedding, a party!”
The couple wanted a traditional Catholic ceremony, in line with Phil’s faith, and chose his late Granny’s church in a tribute to her. Chloe told us, “Phil’s parents were married there so it holds special memories for their family and now it does ours too which is so lovely. We had Better Man by Paolo Nutini as I walked down the aisle, and You’ve got the Love by Florence and the Machine on the way back. The whole ceremony went perfectly, but a favourite moment was just after we had exchanged our rings and kissed, everyone cheered and we went straight into song. The sun was shining through the windows and it just felt like such a happy moment!”
Planning wasn’t without its challenges, as the company that ran their chosen venue went into liquidation, however five months before their day, the venue, Potbank, was taken over and renovated. Chloe explained, “We agreed to take this on not knowing exactly how it would look but both of us just loved the warehouse feel. We went ahead and the room was still being finished the day before as we were setting up! So having been engaged for two years we ended up planning the whole wedding in around 3 months!”
Chloe is an illustrator, so designed and painted all the stationery and signage as well as a wooden backdrop for the top table, leaving Phil to find 100 funny photos of their guests to use as table name cards. Chloe’s aunt made a photo booth and provided wigs and props for fun snaps. DIY projects saved the couple money, as Chloe admitted to us, “We initially wanted to spend £10,000 but ended up spending around £16,000 due to things going wrong with Covid – and me getting a little carried away and convincing Phil to buy things on short notice!”
Their biggest expense was food and drink, with a large party through the day and night, and although they didn’t want anything fancy, Chloe and Phil told us, “We wanted to make sure there was lots of food and lots of alcohol so everyone could relax and enjoy themselves! It was definitely worth it. The whole day was just brilliant, full of fun and happiness. With both of our families being together with us and all our friends just made the day what it was. You don’t have to stick to traditions or an idea of how you think a wedding should be. It can be however you want it to be!”
