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The offbeat bride: Hayley, Customer Advisor
Her offbeat partner: Stephen, Theatre Technician
Date and location of wedding: Bury Town Hall, UK — April 26, 2011
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: When I was younger, I always thought that I would hop on a plane to Vegas when I got married to cut out on all the hassle and stress. However, after two children and a nan who was reminding me that she didn't have much time left, we decided to have a family wedding in the UK.
Due to having a young family, we were on a pretty tight budget. We both decided we would be happy with a simple registry office affair, but then the idea of having a theme crept into my head. I have always been in love with all things '50s. After only a few weeks of us being together, I had told Stephen how good he would look dressed as a Teddy Boy, and he said if there was ever an occasion for it then he would. I think I had found the occasion!
Having trained as a stage manager, I was keen to make as many items as possible to try and keep the costs down. We also had a lot of help from our friends. Without them, the makeup, hair, photography, wedding cake, and button holes would have been a mess.
Tell us about the ceremony: The majority of the ceremony was a pretty standard registry office wedding affair. We did try and inject some of our personality by having my dad, daughter, and her teddy bear walk me down the aisle to “Rave On” by Buddy Holly. Our son and his teddy bear stood with Stephen and the best man. After the ceremony, we walked back down the aisle to the theme tune from Happy Days.
Our biggest challenge: Our biggest challenge was finding a date that all our friends could attend as most of them work in theatre. We originally had set a date in February, but realised that none of Stephen's friends from work would be able to make it. So we decided to move it to a Tuesday in April as this is normally a quiet time in the world of theatre.
Two months before the wedding we found that an ice show had been booked for the day after our wedding, so a lot of his friends would be spending our wedding day loading in staging and waiting for water to freeze. Luckily a couple of them managed to get the day off and were able to attend. One of whom being our wonderful photographer, Andy.
My favorite moment: At the end of our first dance, “I Love How You Love Me” by Beth Orton, we got our children up on the dance floor with us. It was such a tender moment that I will always treasure.
Was there anything you were sure was going to be a total disaster that unexpectedly turned out great? Stephen's drape jacket had to be specially made. Unfortunately, a mistake was made when taking his arm measurement, so when his jacket arrived the sleeves were far too long. The jacket arrived on the Saturday before the wedding, so we spent the Sunday trying to find a shop that was open and would do alterations overnight. We found a little shop that was closed, but had a contact number in the window. We rang it and a lovely lady took pity on us and allowed us to come around to her home to drop off the jacket and pick it up the next day. What a star!
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? I recommend investing in a good wedding band, if that's your thing. The nighttime entertainment can make or break the atmosphere. Our wedding band was a rockabilly three-piece called Wild. They not only looked the part, but they had everyone up on the dance floor.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photography: friends of the couple, Andy Meyers and Keith Seddon
- Bridesmaid dresses: Vivien of Holloway
- Daughter's dress: Etsy seller Loverdoversclothing
- Drape jacket: Rockers England
- Son's drape jacket: Charismatic Cloth
- Cake: Owen's Designer Cakes
- Band: Wild
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
About the Author: Offbeat Weditors
Working tirelessly to bring you stimulating content day after day, the Offbeat Wed editors will not sleep until you've gotten your offbeat fix.
How fun! Love the dresses, all of them (and your shoes!). And, the kids’ outfits are amazing. Looks like it was an amazingly fun day. Congrats!
Thank you very much! We all had the best day!
What an amazing looking wedding, you both look boss and the kids are straight out of a fashion spread! Best wishes to your whole, darling family!
Oh my goodness, how adorable are you all??
Oh, wow! Your entire brood looks amazing, especially your children!! How adorable are those baby creepers?! I am planning a very similar theme for my wedding + I was thrilled to see your ideas. Congrats to you + your family. 🙂
Thank you! Good luck with your wedding planning! Make sure you submit it on here so i can see how you got on!
Oh my gosh I love it! Is it cheeky to ask where you got your dress?
Thank you!
It’s not cheeky at all. I forgot to include the link for it. I got it from http://www.allfordress.com I think she also has a shop on ebay. The lady was really lovely and added sleeves onto one of her designs for me.
Gorgeous! I totally feel ya on trying to work around a theatre tech’s schedule. My FH is a scenic carpenter, and although he should be able to take 2 days off for us to get married in September, a honeymoon is really out of the question until the May off season!
It’s so hard being a theatre widow! The good thing about it is when you are together you really value each others company.
The free tickets are also pretty rad!