They met at work, and bonded over the bride’s ‘mod roundel’ tattoo. Jonny asked Grace if it meant she was the queen of mods, and they struck up a friendship. A few months later they got together properly at the work Christmas party thanks to some good old fashioned Dutch courage! They were married in October in Darlington.
“Our wedding was Northern and vintage inspired, with a bit of railway industry added in for good measure!” said Grace. “Our love of history, our local town and our DIY, creative ethos inspired us. In our spare time we run a life drawing sessions, so our wedding had to represent our love of the arts.”
The ceremony was held at Head of Steam Railway Museum with the reception at a local pub. “I think getting married in a Railway Museum, which is still currently a working station was unique”, Grace continued. “It was bizarre stepping outside and seeing people waiting for the next train. We decided to enter together over the railway bridge, which crossed over tracks. We absolutely adore vinyl and 60s music, so it was only right we entered to The Kinks singing All Day and All of the Night on record. From there our ceremony was very simple with no readings and just the basics, as we both don’t enjoy being the centre of attention. We also had a pop up bar in the old ticket office, asked out guests to exit through a gift shop and insisted we had some of our photos in the Victorian toilet exhibition!”
Their total budget was £2000, which they stuck to by having their reception in a pub. not spending a lot on their outfits and keeping the decor to a minimum. “Our wedding reception venue saved us a lot of money. We didn’t have to pay any hire costs, just for the buffet. I think dropping into the pub one too many times in the past has helped us in this case. Also my dress wasn’t classed as a ‘wedding dress’ either as I purchased it from a vintage website, so didn’t have to pay any additional costs. We also had no bridesmaids or best man, because we didn’t want to put any pressure on anybody, so this also saved money.”
“The majority of our wedding was filled with DIY projects from the retro sweet favours to our vintage bottle decorations. However we were particularly proud of a ‘DIY dance floor’ we created on the floor of the pub using some cool £1 tape.”
“Our biggest expense was our photographer but Peter was well worth it. We decided to have a small budget, make a lot of things ourselves and source items from charity shops and family and friends. However we didn’t want to go cheap on our photographs, as they are something which we will treasure for life.”
Their favourite thing about their wedding was just how relaxed the whole day was. “There was no seating plans, no formal dining and everyone just enjoyed being each others company”, she explained. “We also appreciated when everyone fully let go and danced the night away!”
“Finally, our advice to other couples would be that while it’s nice to get inspiration from other people’s weddings, don’t compare yours to them, your wedding should represent you. It’s okay to be different and shun ‘tradition’, a lot of people at ours appreciated the fact we had no speeches, and no formal seating plan etc. Also ensure you have lots of colour at your wedding, I’m glad I didn’t select a plain white dress and incorporated lots of colour in other ways into our day.”
