Jenny and George wanted a wedding that represented all the things they love about life; joy, silliness, love and amazing food. They knew they wanted it to be colourful and eclectic too – being prim and proper has never really been their style! The couple made all the decorations, using recycled materials and dried flowers wherever possible. Their aisle and table decorations were made from chickpea cans which they painted lime green, purple and orange!

“To us, our wedding was colourful perfection”, Jenny writes. “We didn’t have a particular scheme, all we knew is we wanted it to be bright and vibrant. Our reception venue, GRUB, was painted with beautiful murals and bright colourful walls. Our cake was also bright orange!”

Only adding to the vibrancy, the bride chose to wear a yellow dress, made for her by a Manchester-based dressmaker, My Sewing Box. The bridesmaid were all in pre-loved dresses in different colours of the rainbow. The rainbow touches were about more than just aesthetics though.

Jenny explains, “Being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community is very important to me. I was raised by same sex parents and am pansexual myself. This was another reason for all of the colour and the rainbow bridesmaids, who each wore a floral lapel pin with trans pride colours. In our joint speech, we closed off with a toast to ‘love in all of its forms’.”

With a total spent of £11k, they had to keep costs down where they could and the catering is where they really saved money. Instead of hiring one company, or serving a fancy three-course meal, they worked with different street vendors to serve a really eclectic feast. “We’ve lost track of the amount of positive comments we had about the food, namely that it was brilliant for guests to be able to pick what they wanted”. Jenny said. “We were so impressed with our food as well. We had an Italian grazing table which everyone was so complimentary about.”

True to their hands-on approach, Jenny and George didn’t just plan their wedding; they built it themselves. “Our favorite DIY project was the wedding arch,” George recalled. “We bought a plain white arch and decorated it ourselves with colourful ribbons. We had A LOT of fun decorating the ribbon arch while drinking wine and dancing round our living room!”

Like many couples planning alternative weddings, Jenny and George encourage others to make their wedding day their own. “Don’t feel bound by tradition if they don’t work for you,” Jenny advises. “Think about your ideal day or night and build your wedding around that.”