Lizzie and Wayne got married in Derby’s Breadsall Priory where they had a big rock and roll wedding. They both met at a Zebrahead concert 10 years ago (EPIC), but Wayne didn’t introduce himself to Lizzie until five years later when she was performing burlesque at a charity event with the Nottingham Roller Derby Team. This is also how Lizzie and Wayne chose their wedding photographer Emma of Luna Photography (She’s part of the same roller derby team!). Lizzie wore a gorgeous dress by Justin Alexander and her hair and makeup was done by the amazing duo of Lucille Locks and Ms Moo Make Up to complete her glamorous rock n’ roll look
Wayne first spotted me at a Zebrahead gig in Rock City back in 2007, but he didn’t introduce himself until 5 years later! We officially met in 2012 at a fundraiser for Nottingham roller derby team, the Hellfire Harlots. I’d been invited to perform burlesque at the event and Wayne was down there with his friend Paul, who was a member of men’s roller derby team, the Super Smash Brollers.
“Dude, you pulled the stripper!” were the words that came out of his friend Paul’s mouth (and would later find their way into his Best Man’s speech!). But funnily enough, Wayne later told me that if he’d seen me perform that night, he would never have been able to speak to me. Wayne had in fact missed both of my performances and the thing that’d compelled him to approach me that night was the gig we were at 5 years earlier; he didn’t want to miss another chance to speak to me! He’s so sweet, and to this day I still have the piece of paper he gave me.
Wayne sells tools to the automotive industry for a living, so when I started to think of how to present our wedding rings on the big day, it had to be in a toolbox! Wayne’s Nephew Thomas was our ring-bearer, so we had to pick a toolbox that’d be easy for him to carry. Wayne picked this amazing little blue toolbox; the thing was covered in rust and we got it for just over £4.00 from Ebay! I had this idea to have some sentimental words written on it, and after a week or so I’d come up with a sentence I wanted to use. We then sent the toolbox down to Robyn of Miss Atomic pinstriping to be lacquered and decorated. We couldn’t fit the whole sentence on the front of the toolbox, so it continues onto the ring cushion that’s inside. It reads “All the tools we need for happy lives together”. It’s quite symbolic of our hard work, creativity and our love for each other.
My Dad is an accomplished Graphic Designer, and I knew I needed his help to give the wedding that personalised touch. It was great fun working together on ideas, and seeing them turned into these incredible finished products. I also enjoyed putting together our centrepieces and our quiz! Each table had a theme that meant something to us as an individual or as a couple. The centrepieces were an object to represent the theme, and a little sign explaining what that theme meant to us. The signs were filled with fun little facts, so I decided to use them as the basis for a quiz! There were 12 questions, one for each table/theme. To answer all 12 questions, guests had to walk around looking at each of the centrepieces and interacting with other guests in the process. Some guests got very competitive!
It was just so wonderful to see everything come together, and to see all the people we love in one place! But I guess if I had to pick one special moment, it’d be the first dance. There were times during the wedding planning when I was stressed and exhausted. Plans to socialise with friends or have a date night often went out the window. But because we’d asked Nottingham Dance Studios to choreograph our first dance, we knew that every Tuesday, we both had to get our butts into town to attend our classes! Working together in the lessons and rehearsing in our garden gave us that bit of time together. It was quite romantic too, despite Wayne’s initial protests at the thought of dance classes! It turned into a lovely first dance on the day, and I’m really proud of the work we put into it.
My advice would be if you’re planning your wedding over a year in advance – Be ready for change. I’ve heard it said in conversation that life doesn’t stop just because you’re planning your wedding. And I didn’t expect ours to. I knew that while we waited for the big day to come around, we’d still be in our usual routine- working full-time, seeing friends and family, grocery shopping, etc. But what I didn’t anticipate was the number of big life events that would happen in the 2 years between our engagement and our wedding day. We welcomed wonderful new people into our family, and saw friends bring beautiful babies into the world. But we also lost loved ones, and had to go through challenges at work and challenges with our health. But knowing this makes me proud of what we put together, and excited for what our future holds.
How amazing are Lizzie and Wayne? Thank you to them both and to Luna Photography for sharing with Marry Me Ink today!
