Tom and Alex had a wedding day like no other. It was a unique combination of festival inspired fun, with a touch of Midsommar thrown in. Set on Alex’ family’s private farm, the location was both beautiful and special to the couple, as all of his brothers had also been married there.
“We wanted to create a festival-style wedding ceremony and we tried to do it as cheaply as we could, borrowing chairs from the village hall and the cricket field, and cutlery and crockery from our parents’ various collections,” they told us.
The couple used lots of personal touches to make their wedding unique. From the mirror ball tree and the enchanted woods, to Tom’s dad building an altar inspired by Midsommar. One particular highlight was Alex’ showstopping arrival by pedalo… dressed as Princess Diana and accompanied by two bridesmaids in black veils.
He explained, “We had a harpist playing until I arrived on a pedalo, with my bridesmaids both wearing black veils in the back. As I arrived, my dad panicked about getting the pedalo against the jetty we’d built out of a ladder, whipped off his trousers and waded into the water in his pants. That was quite memorable! I then stumbled out of the boat, up the slipway and down the aisle, with my bridesmaids carrying the 26-foot train (a whole foot longer than Princess Di’s). I did panic when the Deal or No Deal theme (we met while both working on the show) that the trumpeter was playing started to come to an end and started legging it, but luckily she just started again! We probably should have rehearsed that!”
The main challenge they faced when planning the wedding was doing everything on a budget. As the field had no power or water, they needed to source everything they needed. And of course, the weather was always a worry.
The ceremony was a combination of the legal bit done in the morning, and then the bigger festival-style ceremony at the farm. Tom’s dad built the altar and they borrowed chairs from the village band and decorated them with bamboo and flowers.
The reception was just as special. After the ceremony, people swam in the river and then they had Pimms up the hill by the tent. Food was cooked over a huge Asado, and speeches were made on the grass in the last bits of sunshine overlooking the river. They then moved over to one of the old pine trees which they had filled with mirror balls, where Tom’s friend AKA The State of Georgia sang as the sun set. As night fell, they set off fireworks which was also a lot of fun.
“The best part of the day was probably going for a swim”, Alex remembers. “We had been running around, we were incredibly hot and sweaty, and we finally decided to take a break and go for a swim in the river to cool off before the tide dropped too much. It was just the two of us, for the first time that day, and it was lifesaving. However, I do wish we’d made sure we had the nice photos straight after the ceremony, before I was sweaty and had been for a swim and had messy hair. I look knackered in the photos!”
When asked if there was anything else they would have done differently, Alex said she would have allocated someone to be the wedding co-ordinator on the day, someone to do little jobs, make sure people were sticking to schedules and things were in the right place at the right time.
The couple’s advice to other engaged couples is to not take it too seriously. “It’s a big, fun party, just make sure everyone’s there and the rest will fall into place depending how much time and money you have!”
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