James and Polly’s wedding was a mixture of Halloween and autumnal themes. They were married on October 31st so it only made sense! They decided on Halloween because it’s both of their favourite holidays.
“When we chatted about getting married, we were struggling to think of a month to do it”, the bride began. “I think I jokingly said ‘What about Halloween?’ and suddenly we realised it was the perfect day since we celebrate It every year anyway! To be honest I don’t think any of our guests were surprised when they were told the date.”
“When we started planning the day and looking for wedding inspiration it soon became apparent how much we wanted the autumnal colours to play a part in the wedding too. It’s such a beautiful time of year and our ceremony venue, Sheffield Botanical Gardens, could not have provided a better backdrop. The colours in the park were so perfect.”
“Although Halloween was our chosen day to get married we wanted to keep it bright, colourful and cosy rather than the darker colours you can associate with the holiday”, she continued. “Every year we have a Halloween party and we go all out with decorations and fancy dress. I think most of our guests were assuming that’s how the wedding would be too. However we wanted them to be surprised. We wanted it to be more pretty than scary with just hints of Halloween with the table skeletons, Halloween bunting dotted and SO many pumpkins!”
The bride’s wore a short, 50s inspired dress, and they had their rings custom made and engraved their with names and wedding date by Bloody Mary Metal. “We didn’t have much money to spend on a dress so I did the unthinkable and ordered one online”, she explained. “I knew the chances of it fitting me well when it turned up were slim but I was prepared to get the dress altered and altered it was, many many times! It was a good dress in terms of quality and weight, but the sizing and shape was so off! I had to have it altered by two different people in the end who changed it a lot. In the end it looked fantastic though!”
One of the things the couple didn’t want, was any formalities. “Our reception venue was a bar which suited us perfectly and meant we couldn’t have a sit down meal. This was great though as we were trying to stay away from tradition the whole way. We had pizza provided by Nether Edge Pizza and they set up outside the venue and made us the tastiest wood fired gourmet pizzas. We had so many great comments about the food! The whole thing just felt so laid back which was perfect for us. Ultimately, we just wanted to get married and have a party without all the fuss.”
The wedding budget was £5000 and the bride says she wish she knew how much weddings actually cost before they began their planning! “With two young children we didn’t have a huge budget. This being said it’s almost impossible to stick to a small budget and the more you plan and pay for, the more you want to buy and add things!”
“I loved wedding planning”, Polly concluded. “I loved the excitement and anticipation of the whole thing. It was great that we had a lot of similar ideas and were able to make it all come together so easily. James had just as much input into the wedding if not more than me! He was great! And despite the occasional moments of stress planning a wedding, it was actually quite fun!”
