Meghan and Brendan met through their love of tattoos: Brendan was Meghan’s tattooer! They really wanted their wedding day to feel like them; alternative in style but also to reflect their kind, soft and gentle sides. They described their theme as vintage with a bit of steampunk and, for décor, they incorporated different metals, lanterns, marquee letters and piping mixed with lace, tulle and soft flowers. It was soft, but edgy. Just like them!
“We used lanterns for my bridesmaids instead of flowers,” began Meghan, “and, instead of favours, we made donations to our two favourite charities. We gave our guests beer bottle tops (each representing $1) and asked them to choose a charity from our choices and donate their bottle top to them. We then matched the total amount given to each charity out of our wedding money. We had a friend play acoustic guitar during our ceremony and vows and had a donut cake since we love donuts more than… well a lot of things!”
When planning their wedding they were worried about how (and if) it was all going to fit together but, as you can see from the photos, it all looked great! “We were so concerned about how everything we were picking would look together. As far as colours, materials, centrepieces, decor… in our heads we kept thinking ‘this is the craziest mix of things, it’s going to look crazy!’ but it came together so beautifully on the day. Our favourite part of the wedding was the reception (I mean whose isn’t?!) Seeing it all come together and all of our family and friends in one room having a blast was awesome!”
Their ceremony was emotional and family focused. “Our ceremony was incredible. My uncle who is so very dear to me officiated it and it the most incredible writer and was moving and personal. We had our DJ (a friend of ours) play acoustic guitar during the ceremony and our vows (which was a surprise to us but made them so special, like a movie!) We were standing declaring our love to each other with our greatest friends and siblings on our sides. My husband ended his vows with ‘I F**king love you Meghan’ and everyone laughed with wet faces from crying during our written vows. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.”
For DIY projects they made their backdrop, place cards, buttonholes and Meghan’s brooch bouquet. “We made the boy’s buttonholes with different looking timepieces and a stalk of lavender. We built a backdrop out of piping and tulle and lights. My sister-in-law wrote out all of our place cards on tags in calligraphy which we attached to brass keys (that doubled as bottle openers because…beer!) I also made my own brooch bouquet filled with both of my deceased grandmothers brooches and pins. I had their and my grandfathers photos hanging on the handle of it as well, it was a very special touch to remember them by.”
Their biggest expenditure was the catering, but saved money by cutting down on flowers, “We spent the most money on catering as we had a rather large wedding and while our per plate cost wasn’t really all that expensive, it added up with our amount of guests! But it was worth every penny, the food was incredible! We saved a little money on flowers because the girls carried lanterns instead of bouquets and I carried my brooch bouquet. Those things have such large price tags and I was glad to save there so we could put a little more into our centrepieces.”
“Our advice for future brides and grooms is a piece of advise that was given to us when we were planning our wedding. That is to take a moment with your spouse, either before, during or after to take it all in… look at all the details you put so much work into, look at every single person there to celebrate you, have a quiet moment with your husband/wife because it goes by so quickly.”
“We took several moments to just slow down and appreciate every detail and person and special moment. It was worth it. We don’t feel like we missed a thing! Also remember that it’s so easy to get caught up in the little frills and details of your wedding day but the most important part is standing up there saying ‘I do’ and the people there watching you do so. So as long as that happens, the rest are just…details.”
