Today I get to share with you the awesome wedding in Matfen, Northumberland at High House Farm Brewery of Morgan and Dan from Katie Byram Photography. Morgan and Dan both met at work where he was a student ans she was a single parent. Their story is just wonderful.
Our eyes met over the top of our computer screens at a busy call centre – a modern day fairy-tale, I Know! Dan had recently been removed from university for an unwilling to curb his ‘burning the candle at both ends’ lifestyle. I was returning to work following the birth of Grace, my first daughter. I was placed on the same team as Dan and we quickly became best mates, giving each other the nickname ‘dude’ like cheesy, American surfers or something! Dan says that he has always loved me, literally from first sight but always thought I was out of his league! I thought Dan was way too ‘cool’ for me, our lifestyles could not have been more different, typical student and single parent. Our first ‘date’ Dan managed to get out of a boring work party because his mate, Rick Danger, ran a bar where Skepta was doing a gig. I really wanted to go so I blamed the baby sitter and ditched the party early to go with Dan. I met him at his flat where he lived with his friends. I was the only girl there, it was typical student digs – they had no cups or glasses (well clean ones anyway) so he went over the road and borrowed some from Subway. It was the best night!! Supercharged with alcohol, singing, dancing and great banter…we both missed work the next day and have been pretty much inseparable since then. We are now just as happy with a few pints!
There are so many highlights to our day it’s really quite hard to narrow it down. One moment in particular really stands out and was captured perfectly on our photos to treasure forever. It was an outdoor wedding in an open barn and the one thing we couldn’t control was the weather! It started raining bang on 2pm as I stepped out of the camper van. I wasn’t worried at this point though, I was just so excited! All went well, we said our vows, had our kiss and signed the papers but our guests had been outside for a while now and were starting to look cold, it was looking like we were going to have to take it inside. So the music comes on, we are pronounced man and wife and we start our walk back down the aisle together as Mr and Mrs and as soon as we got to the end of the barn the sun came bursting out, it was blinding. It was such a special moment it felt heavenly as if our happiness was reflected in the sky.
We are a very laid back couple, un-organised some may say so for us to organise a wedding, it was never going to be typical or traditional. The most important thing for us was for everybody to enjoy themselves. We had no seating plans, we wanted people to mingle and sit with whoever they wanted. We had a hog roast, live music and picked our own playlist for the day. The lack of structure represents us perfectly, everybody was relaxed and we had the best day!
The majority of the wedding was DIY, I made the invitations, bouquets and button holes myself. I had lots of help from friends and family making the plant pots, jars, candles and bunting. We hung photos of all our late grandparents’ weddings’ in the barn. Dan made some special hot sauce for our guests to enjoy on their kebabs, we named it ‘geet wham lurve wet’ (patent pending) The most fun to do though has to be the cake buffet! We decided instead of one large traditional wedding cake we would opt for a whole buffet. We went to Bolams in Sedgefield who have an amazing in store bakery (Dan used to buy cakes there during his school lunch hour) we were spoilt for choice and really went over the top with our selection, so much so we still have a freezer full at home!
I always knew I would have a short wedding dress and that my tattoos would be visible. I had some tattoos on my feet that I was not happy with and decided to have them covered up with some better ones. I love my new tattoos they are a massive improvement and I’m proud to show them off. While I was getting the cover ups I was talking to the artist about some ideas and ended up booking in for another one on my arm, and then another on my leg. I think the tattoos compliment the style of dress I chose.
Dan has a key tattoo on his forearm and I have a matching key on the back of my neck, we had these done quite a few years ago. We had some lettering tattooed on the inside of our fingers so that when we join hands it reads ‘best mate’ that was a spur of the moment engagement present to each other. Dan said it hurt loads so we got some beers to numb the pain and celebrate while sat on the beach.
How great is tattooed bride and groom Morgan and Dan! I love that Morgan showed off her tattoos on her wedding day with a short dress from House Of Mooshki. Thank you to them both and to Katie Byram Photography for sharing their barn wedding with Marry Me Ink!
