Rosie and Lauris were married in July in Lauris’ parents’ garden in Stocksfield. Being part of the LGBTQ+ community, they wanted their wedding to celebrate their love in their own way so they opted for a DIY woodland wedding. Since they both run fat-positive drag king shows down in Brighton, they also wanted to incorporate the same vibe from their drag/ cabaret shows and create a super inclusive day where everyone would have a good time and feel comfortable. “We also really enjoyed jokingly referring to ourselves as Brooms (bride/groom combo)”, they said.
This was a fully DIY wedding with it not only taking place in Lauris’ parents’ garden, but all the decor, the cake and the flowers being provided by people they already knew. Their friend officiated the ceremony, Rosie’s aunt made the bunting and Lauris’s step-mum did the flowers.
The ceremony itself, held in a small woodland area at the back of the garden, was a particularly special moment. As the couple explain, “We had an arbor built by Lauris’ dad and decorated by a family friend who used to be a florist. We had benches for everyone to sit on, and reserved a bench for family members who sadly couldn’t be there due to passing away – we strung up their pictures so they could be part of the day.
Our friend married us, and another friend played the music. We had our niece, nephew and and friend’s baby as flower children who went down the aisle first, followed by our Brooms-people in pairs (one from each side).”
“Our friend, Smashlyn, introduced the ceremony and talked through our journey so far. Lauris’s step-mum then did a reading from Winnie the Pooh about friendship. Rosie’s mum then did a reading of Being a Mother by Donna Ashworth. We exchanged our personal vows that we’d each written, exchanged rings and kissed. We walked off to The Magic Position by Patrick Wolf and were showered with petals that had been dried and collected by Rosie’s mum, Lauris’s step-mum and a few other wedding guests.”
Afterwards, they served pizza and ice cream and had some touching speeches. Following this was some incredible entertainment – including songs, poems and a quiz – put on by their amazingly talented family and friends.
“Think about what you really want and go for it”, they advise. “Try not to get bogged down in what society or other people think you should do. It’s your day so it should reflect you as a couple. We completely avoided getting involved with any aspect of the wedding industry! It wasn’t the route we wanted to go down. I think it can be quite expensive and I can imagine navigating it as a queer couple could have seen some issues around mis-gendering or similar. We just felt it wasn’t for us, and were happy not to have had to go that way.”
