Alex and Joe threw the rule book out for their day, planning a wedding inspired by their own personalities, rather than rules, traditions or other people’s opinions.

Alex explained, “I didn’t wear a white dress, we had a rock DJ and our first dance was to Metallica, Nothing Else Matters. I didn’t really mind what the wedding party wore as long as it was within the colour scheme. We ended the night moshing out to our favourite rock and metal songs. We centred the theme around who we are as a couple, what we like, what we do together and how we’ve built our relationship over the years. This meant there was bits to do with travel, nature/ woodland, pets and our metal/ alternative personalities!”

Picking up some tips from a married friend set Alex and Joe’s expectations on planning a wedding, however Alex told us the worst thing about planning was, “Choosing who to invite/not invite. Ideally we would have had everyone we know, but realistically you can’t. We followed the rule: If you’ve not seen them in the last six months and you wouldn’t take them out for a meal, don’t invite them!”

With a short and sweet ceremony, the couple still managed to fill it with all the things they loved. Alex told us, “While guests were getting seated we had some instrumental music playing from the Halo video game franchise. My dad walked me down the aisle to The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. We then did our vows, had a laugh, had a cry, exchanged the rings, and then we were married! During the register signing we had more instrumental music from Halo and other games like Bioshock and The Witcher. We walked back down the aisle as a newly wed couple to The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News.”

Alex really enjoyed getting crafty with the DIY elements of their wedding, at the same time saving them precious budget, “We collected hundreds of interesting bottles – gin, whiskey, vodka etc and put lights in them all to line the aisle”, she said. “I made all the centrepieces for the tables – each one was a round of a log with a bottle light and a mini suitcase on it and trinkets that were specific to the place they represented. The luggage tags had names of different cities we have been to together on holidays over the years. I also decorated a large log for the registrar table, which had model planes and fake passports on, as well as lots of fake flowers and other trinkets, to represent where we will go in the future.”

After such a gorgeously personal day, Alex was keen to share some advice, “Just stick to your guns with things, it’s YOUR wedding, not anyone else’s! If you don’t want to do that tradition, don’t, if you don’t want to invite that person, don’t! We pre warned some of our more conservative and elderly relatives to not expect much of a traditional wedding so it didn’t end up being too much of a shock, but chances are the people who love you and really care about you will be there for you whatever you do, so don’t worry about pleasing everyone else, please yourselves and make it a day to remember.”