Josh met Emma at a burlesque club in London. Both being performers, when they came to marry on April 5th this year, they wanted their day to reflect their entertainment backgrounds.
“As I’m a burlesque dancer and Josh plays guitar in a rock band we wanted to incorporate these loves into our wedding”, Emma told me. “Although we didn’t really set out to have a theme, we just picked things we both liked so the day ended up having a sort of vintage-rockabilly-burlesque-rock theme.”
“We had three burlesque performances by our lovely friends, we had a vintage jazz singer, we had a psycho-billy band and we had the amazing eclectic playlist created by Josh. Our first dance was a mash up of Elvis Presley’s I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You and Little Richard’s Tutti Frutti and we walked out of the ceremony room, as newlyweds, to the Star Wars Throne Room music complete with a Wookie roar from one of the congregation!”
There was also plenty of DIY in this wedding – in fact nearly all of the wedding was home made! “So much of the wedding was DIY that I don’t know where to start!”, Emma laughed. “This was initially in order to save money however it soon became clear we weren’t particularly saving money by doing it! It did, however, make our wedding personal and individual.”
“The save-the-dates and invites were designed by me and were emailed to all the guests, along with a website designed by Josh. My headpiece and brooch bouquet were made by me, using brooches that I had since childhood as well as some that were given as presents. The feather fans held by the bridesmaids were made by the bridesmaids and I and the table centrepieces were handmade, using teacups and antique books collected from charity shops. Our favours were fruit liqueurs that made from home-grown fruit!”
“I also made then table seating plan, featuring places that are important to us. All the luggage labels were hand-stamped with the guest’s names on. The cakes were all handmade by friends as presents, and the confetti was made from roses that I dried from my grandmother’s garden. Finally, the rings were designed by us and were made out of the gold from my grandparents’ wedding rings that they had given me as a child.”
“My favourite part of the wedding was the actual ceremony”, she continued. “I loved seeing my mother read A Lovely Love Story about dinosaurs being in love (I have always had a love of dinosaurs!) and our very close friend, Jo, read Us Two from Winnie the Pooh. We then exchanged vows we had written ourselves.”
“My favourite part of the wedding, as corny as it sounds, was also the vows”, said Josh. “They were very personal and in equal parts funny and meaningful. My friends had a bet on me crying, which I didn’t (although I came very close) and hearing people laughing at the vows and participating in the ceremony, then being told that I made at least 4 people cry, was awesome.”
The wedding was held at Brownsover Hall in Rugby which was the biggest single expense of their £10,000 budget. “We splashed out on the venue because we fell in love with it the moment we walked through the door”, said Emma, “and when they informed us it was a haunted gothic mansion… well, that just sealed the deal!”
“I would not have done anything differently”, she concluded. “The day was perfect… the best day of my life!”
The Gallery
Suppliers
- Photographer: Sarah Ann Wright
- Venue: Brownsover Hall, Rugby
- Bride’s Dress: Berketex
- Bride's Shoes: Irregular Choice
- Hair & Make Up: Chez Titine
- Groom's Attire: Walker Slater
- Bridesmaid Dresses: eBay
- Jazz Singer: Gloria Sunset Jazz Singer
- Band: The Jack O’ Bones
- Burlesque Dancers: Belles Burlesque