Hollie and Chris met through roller derby, and so they wanted their colourful wedding to be reflective of that, but other things they love too such as colour, the TV show Friends, Disney and carnivals! “It was non-traditional, just an explosion of colour, and a proper great knees-up with all our loved ones”, they said.
They also didn’t want to be influenced by anyone else, so kept all their plans secret. Hollie explained, “Right from the very first conversation Chris and I had about what we wanted to have at our wedding, FUN was the focus as we are both just big kids. Now, what is more fun than a funfair!? We knew we didn’t want anything formal, we just wanted everyone to enjoy every part of the day.”
“Guests were greeted by a beautiful vintage carousel, my bridesmaids carried lollipop bouquets that I had made, there was no formal seating – we are all family – and we didn’t allocate a certain time for eating, the food was available for about four hours, so guests could eat when they wanted to.”
A funfair theme ran through the day, with rainbows, sparkles, bubbles and a whole lot of entertainment for the guests. Hollie explained to us exactly how they created such a fun day, “I had my heart set on a carousel, and after some searching, discovered Mark at Nationwide Amusements. He went above and beyond to help deliver our dreams of a fairground wedding. We had a shooting gallery, hook-a-duck, test your strength, coconut shy, loony ladder and the all-important vintage carousel. Each stand had plush cuddly prizes – flamingos with a crown and rainbow llamas”
“We also asked our guests to enter a Bake-off competition, so the cake stand was full of homemade goodies and voting slips. Later in the evening we had a retro, 300-in-1 Arcade machine, and a retro PlayStation console, which I kept as a surprise for Chris as he is a massive gamer, as are a lot of our friends, so that went down a treat! And then of course there were the llamas in bow ties, donkeys in flat caps and Sandra the sheep from the Wellbeing Farm.”
In keeping with the unique feel of the day, Hollie wanted a fabulous outfit to match. She told us, “I had kept my dress a secret from everyone! It was unique, and so special to us as I had created it with materials that held significant importance to us. Sequins, silk, rainbows and fabulousness – oh and a ridiculously long iridescent butt cape! My headpiece was from Crown and Glory, the lovesick glitter birdcage veil, to which I added my own details to, making it more personal to us, and I wore three different pairs of Irregular Choice shoes.”
Not aligning to anyone’s expectations or any traditions took the pressure off planning, and Hollie told us, “We had absolutely no issues planning our wedding, we just wrote a list of what we wanted for our day and did it! It was so unique and ‘us’, it didn’t matter if something wasn’t quite right or forgotten – no one would know as it was unlike any other wedding they had been to, which really took the pressure off.”
She advised couples planning their own unique day, “Just do you – it’s your day, don’t let anyone influence what you want. If you spend too much time worrying about others you won’t enjoy your day. Take time away from your guests and spend some alone time with your spouse, it can be overwhelming, so take a few moments of calm with just the two of you. And make sure you take out wedding insurance!”
