With all the guests in costume and a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show, Lea and Mazz embraced a Halloween theme for their wedding. They had masquerade masks for their aisle walk and an autumnal colour scheme.

Lea explained, “Mazz and I both adore Halloween, and coming from a pagan family myself, I’d always enjoyed making a big celebration of Samhain growing up. As Mazz and I also both love Tim Burton films, especially The Nightmare Before Christmas, it was a no brainer to take inspiration from it for our wedding. We also both love fantasy, so getting to incorporate fancy dress ticked that box for us too.”

The couple had two ceremonies; a legal one and a personal ceremony with their celebrant. With a quick, last minute change of venue for the legal bit, Lea and Mazz focused on their ‘big’ ceremony. Lea told us, “I walked down the aisle to Raise Hell by Dorothy, with our youngest son in his wolf mask and the wedding coven of bridesmaids and our flower girl. The bridesmaids performed a circle blessing and elemental blessing. We both wrote our own vows – Mazz’s vows were themed on lyrics to my favourite songs.”

Family and friends were very much included; both Lea and Mazz’s mum’s got involved in the ceremony. Lea continued, “Both our mothers presented a ribbon which was tied together for our handfasting, to represent our families coming together, and my mother conducted the handfasting ritual section. We walked back down the aisle at the end to Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant and jumped the broomstick at the end of the aisle. The broomstick itself was covered with coloured ribbons with messages on from our guests, which they wrote upon arrival before the ceremony.”

Lea admits there were a lot of tough decisions to make when planning, as with any big event, there are always challenges! She told us, “Budget and guestlist were our biggest challenges. Feeding people isn’t cheap, and with Covid concerns on top, we weren’t realistically able to have everyone we wanted there. That meant taking a long, hard look at the guestlist and making some tough decisions. When it came to budget, we really had to think about what was important to us and what was a ‘nice to have’ that we wouldn’t miss. Catering was our biggest expense, but the food was absolutely incredible so I have zero complaints! Who doesn’t want to be filled with incredible food, cupping a warm glass of something delicious, and being served by the friendliest people you could meet?!”

But it wasn’t all about the tough decisions, as Lea explained, “Planning a wedding is kind of like a big art project. You get to choose your theme, your colours, your flourishes…for me the best bit was getting to collaborate with all of the people I love and build something beautiful that meant something to all of us. It was amazing getting to see what masks everyone in the wedding party chose, or what shoes the bridesmaids fell in love with. Watching everyone really get into the theme and be inspired was wonderful.”

Lea also recognised the stress that comes with planning such an important celebration, telling us, “It’s okay to not love every second of wedding planning. It’s stressful, budget can make or break what you had in your head as your dream wedding. It’s okay to make compromises, making things can save money and relieve some of the financial stress…and above all remember why you’re doing it!”