Category Archives: Wedding

An Intimate Cardiff City Wedding – Beth & Drew

Posted on November 16, 2017 | 3 comments

Today on Marry Me Ink, I get to share with you Beth and Drew’s wedding from Elaine Willams Photography. They cancelled their “big traditional wedding” (after sending out 90 invites) and changed it to a small afternoon ceremony with just 15 close family members.

“Everything was getting out of hand, suddenly it was about the flowers and the bridesmaids, the cars, the seating plan and not about us.”

We met on my 23 rd birthday night out in a bar called Full Moon. I was supposed to be going out for posh cocktails with the girls but half way through the night we jacked it in to go to our favourite rock bar (in our over the top cocktail dresses). We were the only ones in high heels and dresses in a sea of black t-shirts and  jeans. I saw Drew walking down to the bar, smiled at him and the next thing I knew he came right up to me and said “do you fancy me? Are you single? Why aren’t we kissing yet?” A few hours later one of my best friends dragged me off him saying “He’s just a walking beard Beth. You’re not gonna marry him, and I need a McDonald’s. let’s go”… She made a point of telling everyone that at our wedding party!

There was no specific theme or dress code for the wedding, everything was so relaxed. When people asked what suits or dresses to wear we just said “come as you are and as you like”. Drew got suited and booted and I went for the big, Princess wedding dress because it was fun to do, and everyone else came in whatever suit they pleased. I think the fact that it was relaxed represented us. It
wasn’t about flowers or details, it was about us getting married.

We had an afternoon ceremony followed by Afternoon Tea at Park Plaza, it was all over by 6.30pm – there were so many magical moments during the day but I think the highlight was getting to spend the whole evening together. We got changed into our normal clothes, bought a bottle of gin then headed into town to drink and dance! It felt so personal and private, rather than spending the day entertaining hundreds of people we got to be with each other and that was perfect.

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Gifts For The Guys – Jack Daniels

Posted on October 16, 2017 | 1 comment

With just a year to go until our big day (I know, right?! It’s coming around so quickly), I’ve been looking into gifts for our bridesmaids and groomsmen to say thank you for all the group chats they’re having to put up with about dresses, suits and hotel stays for the wedding.

One type of gift I’ve been looking into is one that can be personalised (and alcoholic to calm themselves once the wedding is over!). Rob and one of his groomsmen loves Jack Daniels and is a common and easiest present to gift either of them when Christmas and birthdays come around.

Now, Jack Daniels have different batches at their distillery and I’ve sampled a couple myself – the one they gifted me with in their hamper was their Single Barrel Select. 

“Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel is finely crafted from one specially selected barrel at the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. Not just any Jack Daniel’s Barrel is granted the status of Single Barrel – with only one out of every 100 barrels being hand-selected by the Jack Daniel’s Master Tasting Panel having met the standard. Sent to mature in the highest reaches of the barrelhouse, the extremes in temperature across the seasons creates the bold and robust flavours of the whiskey inside.

With every individual bottle imparting its own exclusive taste, each is hand-labelled and marked with a unique rick number and bottling date.

Single Barrel Select offers a distinctive, full-bodied taste with notes of vanilla, toasted oak and caramel. Harbouring less sweetness and more power than the original Old No.7, the Single Barrel Select offers a much richer variation. With no two barrels producing the same whiskey, Jack Daniel’s delivers a one-of-a-kind gift.”

Thanks to Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel, picking a gift for your groomsmen (or bridesmaid if they’re a Whiskey fan!) is one less thing to worry about! As well as being able to purchase such a one-of-a-kind flavoursome spirit, they can also help by personalising the bottle at the Jack Daniel’s Store.

I’m looking forward to opening this bottle and making myself a Whiskey Sour – What’s your favourite way to drink Whiskey?

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A Gamer’s Wedding With A Tattoo Station At Middle Earth – Zarah & Rick

Posted on October 13, 2017 | 1 comment

This morning on Marry Me Ink, I get to share with you Zarah & Rick’s wedding that took place earlier this year at Heaton House Farm in Cheshire and photographed by Manchester wedding photographer Cassandra Lane. They’re both avid gamers so their wedding reception was full of retro arcade game machines and being massive Tolkien fans, had their table plan based in Middle Earth. 

I had never experienced the joys of online dating before and my best friend Luke (serial professional online dater) signed me up to a well known dating website so I could be acquainted with the whole process. He had enjoyed several (extremely funny) nightmarish dates which I loved hearing about. We both met at drama school years ago and had the genius idea to write a hilarious play about dating in the modern world but he insisted that before we start writing, I needed some of my own online horror stories. He signed me up when we were chatting about all this at a house party, uploaded some drunk selfies of me pouting and wrote some terribly cheesy things on my new profile about what a geek I am. He then spent the rest of the evening logged on as me messaging boys! The next day after my hangover had cleared and regret had set in, I fully intended to delete the profile and as I was trying to negotiate my way to the ‘delete account’ section (never easy to find!), a little message from a very handsome looking chap popped up. Well, I must say I was intrigued… so I messaged him back and we went for our first date a few days later. That dating app was immediately deleted and we married three years later. Luke was still on that dating website for another year and wouldn’t let me forget it! He was my ‘bridesman’ and took credit for the whole wedding in his speech!

Our wedding was far from traditional and really represented us as a couple which is exactly what we wanted. We just wanted to have fun. Before we met one another we never imagined we’d ever get married and when Rick proposed to me, it was a huge surprise. I couldn’t believe we were going to plan a wedding day! We are both party loving geeks and massive retro video game fans so this is what we wanted to celebrate. I am a huge Tolkien nerd so our seating plan was a huge map of Middle Earth with each table being a place from that world.

We had lots of DIY decorations throughout the venue which were inspired by all the geeky things we love such as a dalek with a bow tie, and BB8 (of star wars fame) in a top hat along with models of Link and Zelda (from The Legend of Zelda) dressed as a bride and groom. The colour scheme of the day was also ink inspired. My favourite colours (and therefore most of my tattoos!) are red and black and these colours ran throughout the day and looked stunning.

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A Radiant & Artistic Pennsylvanian Wedding, Complete With A Hand-Embroidered Gown – Nicole & James

Posted on October 5, 2017 | 2 comments

Today on Marry Me Ink, I get to share with you Nicole and James’ outdoor wedding that took place at Millbrook Marsh Nature Center in Pennsylvania earlier this year with gorgeous photos from Savita Sittler. Practically everything was DIY.. Nicole purchased her dress off Etsy and then James’ sister hand-embroidered all the cuteness on it, including gnomes and flowers.

We met each other working at a library in college, where James was studying English and Philosophy and I was studying Geography. We shared a desk shift on Thursday nights and connected over music and art, both of which remain a big part of our lives and relationship.

Our personalities definitely shined through many aspects of the wedding. The ceremony was performed by two of our sisters, not only because we love them dearly but also because we wanted a matriarchal presence. Writing our own vows and walking down the aisle together allowed us to embrace each other as equals in our marriage as opposed to some of the traditional symbolism of marriage. James’ brother played a song that James wrote for me as we walked down the aisle, and we made a playlist for before and after the band of songs that we both love and make us think of each other.

Nearly everything was DIY. I love maps, so I used old topographic maps to make pennant banners. A handful of family members made nearly all the food. Though I ordered my dress on Etsy from Pure Linen Dresses by Azulsol, James’ sister spent hours embroidering it with ferns, flowers, gnomes, a moon, and other small symbols that I love. She also did my hair, and another sister did my makeup. I made the invitations, a friend did all of the flower arrangements, and we had a crew of about 30 family members and friends helping to set everything up and decorate. We even had one of our friends, who happens to have been a brewer at a restaurant we both worked at, brew a keg of James’ favourite beer. There were so many other great DIY elements that went into our wedding day, I couldn’t possibly pick a favourite!

Since we decided to walk down the aisle together, we ended up doing a ‘first look’ right before the ceremony started. It was the only part of the day where we were truly able to relax and enjoy each other’s company without being bombarded by guests. We were pretty nervous up to that point, but having an intimate moment together before the ceremony was really comforting.

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