Inspired by (what else?!) their own style and personalities, Sue and Ian wanted their wedding to feel eccentric, colourful and full of energy. They chose a our country house venue and also included their love of birds, the bride’s own pigeons and the groom’s blue bird tattoo in particular! The main goal for the day was for them to just relax and catch up with all their favourite people.

Another unique aspect to their day was that because Ian is deaf, they chose not to have any speeches or a DJ. They also had a BSL interpreter during the ceremony and theyencouraged all our guests to use the the sign for clapping (which is basically ‘jazz hands’ instead of clapping) so that Ian and other deaf guests felt fully included.

“We walked in to the ceremony to Cosmo Sheldrake’s Bittern Wake Up Call and we had five little confetti people who threw bright paper circles from seaside buckets in lime green, fuchsia pink, purple and orange”, explained Sue. “Their outfits were black with bright glittery colour strips on them. The boys were in yellow trousers with handmade dinosaur prints in lots of matching bright colours. They walked, ran and charged down the aisle, throwing the colour all over the place. I followed with my dad then my amazing mate, Vamp Barbie, followed behind looking incredible!”

With the bride being a wedding stationer, the invitations, table plan and table decor were a big deal. Their invitations were a printed book telling the story of how they met, their lives and the run up to the wedding and on the tables, instead of floral centrepieces they had various amazing creations made from books.

“We purchased all the teapots and statues from Oxfam”, sue said, “it was really important that the wedding was reuse/recycle and that we give back. We are very fortunate to earn a good living and it was important to us that our money was spent in a way to help charity and our local community wherever possible. Our guests were asked not to give us gifts but to instead donate to the British wildlife charity, hearing dogs for the deaf and Staffordshire wildlife trust.

“I wouldn’t have changed a thing about our wedding”, Sue said. “We enjoyed every minute of it because all decisions were ours. I do think there is an absolute benefit to getting married in your 40s… no one tries to tell you what you can or can’t do!”