Posted byYou may remember this one from the post about their awesome drumming session!
The offbeat bride: Joey, OBT Member
Her offbeat partner: Maxine
Location & date of wedding: St Audries Park, Somerset, UK — May 16th, 2010
What made our wedding offbeat: We chose to throw caution to the wind and have the big white wedding many dream of – that however is where the traditional aspect ended! We are two gay girls who wanted to firmly stamp our own mark onto our wedding as well as stick to a very tight budget. We made every thing that could possibly be made ourselves. I have renamed our wedding build up as “adventures with a glue gun!”
I looked everywhere for a cake topper that would represent us as a couple. No joy with finding a fat red headed bride and the stud with locks! So I made it myself. I was so chuffed when people asked where I brought it!
We decided to jump the broom, something not really heard of in the UK. Our best friends held this part of the ceremony for us. It was so personal, spiritual and lovely. All of our guests received a miniature broom that we had decorated ourselves as a favor. 
We had arranged a confetti moment where we made our grand entrance down the stair case and our five bridesmaids showered us with confetti from the balcony above, great photo opportunity.
After the wedding breakfast we had a surprise for our guests, we put on a drum workshop. It was a great bonding experience and we made a whole heap of noise!
It was great for us to see our friends and family getting on so well and having a great time.
Tell us about your ceremony: Our Young neice and nephew wrote these words and read them to us during the ceremony. We were so touched.
Richards are royal
I believe this is true
kind and successful
and happy people too
So now you are a Richards, Joanne
although you've always been
welcome to our family
your now part of our family tree
Maxine is my Aunty and like my big sister too
she is always playing and having fun with us.
Joanne is so sweet and lovely like a sunrise.
She makes cakes for us all we think thats great.
I love having two aunties as its double the love.
Our biggest challenge: Being a big girl (UK size twenty-four) I was worried that I wouldn't feel confident on my wedding day. I however made the decision not to diet before the wedding. My glorious partner told me that no one is expecting a size eight woman to come walking down the aisle. This helped me to put into perspective the fact that my friends and family love me the way I am and I suppose I do too! I'm so happy I was able to be a big beautiful sexy bride!
We had a strong army of bridesmaids around us, it was so precious to us that they shared in our big day. 
My funniest moment: I was surprised when my extremly shy studsband (wife) stood to make a speech- This was not in the script! She took my hand and asked me to stand. I stood, then a small envelope was slipped into my hand with the words “read me” written on the front! Then she promptly sat down!
My advice for offbeat brides: Dont be afraid to DIY, we fully enjoyed the experience and it was so awsome to see our mark stamped onto everything.
Barter with vendors! I told our photographer I loved his work but we could not afford him – He halved the price.
Get your priorities right. This is your big day, yes it's great to consider everyone coming to your wedding, but don't forget about you!
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding? That our wedding has only confirmed the love we have for each other and for our friends and family.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- My dress was brought from a local weddinng fayre and was an absolute bargain at £300
- My hair and makeup was done by a local, Lady Fiona – she was amazing
- Flowers hand tied and from a local supermarket!
- I made my hair peice from a tiara- I chopped it up and started again!
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.
I LOVE Joey’s bouquet. As a South African, it makes me so happy to see our indigenous flowers being appreciated by discerning brides in other countries (even though many south african brides would go for roses)…Aren’t the proteas gorgeous?
Beautiful. Everything. And happy and full of love!
My heart melted into a puddle when I read that poem 🙂
Wow, that wedding dress is STUNNING. STUNNING. I’m a size 22 US so I understand the challenge of finding an attractive, quality dress that makes you feel amazing. I hope you felt amazing in that because you look incredible. I loved my dress, but man, I think I’d have hunted that one down if I had seen this post before my wedding! LOL
I absolutely adore this wedding – you both look stunning. Also – yay for UK weddings 😛 though I love the fact that you brought in elements of other cultures that are important to you too.
They both look stunning. It makes me tear up to see two people so happy.
I’ve been anxiously waiting for the details on this wedding for weeks! Congrats Joey & Maxine! What an amazing looking couple…I swooned over the confetti photo and the black & white doorway photo. And that cake topper is the bee’s knees!
You two are the best looking couple I have ever seen. No, really. Absolutely gorgeous, ans such classy details. Congrats to you both!
Your wedding pictures are BEAUTIFUL! Huge congratulations to you both- you look so happy it just made me twinkle inside! Also, your cake topper is AMAZING- looks much better than any of the shop-bought ones I’ve seen!
yes, Yes, YES! This is amazing. We are soooo looking forward to Pride week. I can only hope our day is so special and happy. Congrats, you two!
This is probably one of the coolest weddings I’ve seen photos of! You look SO happy and the photos truly capture it! I love everything about your wedding – thanks for spreading the joy. Congrats!
I adore everything about this.
My partner and I had differing views… She wants a “real” wedding and I thought I would prefer a small commitment ceremony… after seeing this post though, I have definitely changed my mind!
Congratulations to both of you lovely, proud women!
Hooray for the details on the beautiful couple and their wedding!
And yay for Pride week!!!
Simply stunning.
Your smiles radiate in every picture. 🙂
Hi peoples this is Maxine here,the bridegroom…:0)..would just like to say a big Thank you for all the lovely comments recieved. You make our hearts smile even more..xx
so so beautiful!!!!
I was the Maid of Honor Joey and Max’s wedding. It was the best wedding I’ve ever been to. Joey and Max are my bessy mates. I love them dearly. They truly are beautiful people and I was so honored when asked to play a part in their special day. I feel so blessed to have them in my life. xx
It does really make me proud to be British, the fact we have civil partnerships. Your wedding looks like so much fun and you look so happy together, many best wishes for the future!
A great kick off to pride week! Congrats to the lovely couple!
Congratulations!
I love your favors and the confetti moment! And your niece and nephew’s reading is charming.
PS. I love your using the word chuffed, it reminds me of friends from a former job.
This wedding gives me the shivers every time I see the photos from it (obviously I’ve been stalking the OBT photo pool, hehe). Congratulations to you!
(Also I love “studsband.” :D)
Umm, am I the only nosey one who wants to know what was inside the ‘Read Me’ note. Just reminds me of Alice in Wonderland. Eat Me, Drink Me, Read Me hahaha. Your pics are gorgeous, you both look so happy. Congrats. I love your toppers too.
You both have the same crinkly nose smile in a lot of those photos….radiating happiness! SO CUTE!
Thank you all for your wonderful comments. It was such a precious day for us all. Thanks to OBB for giving me the confidence to realise and achieve the wedding of our dreams- it could not have been a better day and i still cry when i think about it 🙂
Simply gorgeous! 😀
MMMM! you girls look good!
If my man looks as good in his wedding suit I’ll be a happy woman!
Beautiful.
My man just told me he wants drums for the ceremony, you guys are making this look like a really good idea.
I’m a fat red head too, we’re beautiful and we rock!
The “fat” in the last comment should have “” round it. It’s not a word I use often, I try to see myself as my partner does “lovely” and the embodiment of “generousness” in body and deed!
You should totally do a DIY post on how you made your cake topper. You are both beautiful. You are just glowing! What a lovely wedding.
Joey, your dress is absolutely stunning. You look gorgeous and are just radiating confidence. And Maxine, you look beautiful – I love your boutonniere! Just looking through your photos and reading Joey’s comments, I am so moved. Gay marriage is becoming an increasing presence here in the U.S., and still has a long way to go, but stories of true love and commitment like yours make me certain that we are making progress. I wish you all the best!
Wow, the happiness absolutely exploding from these two is so beautiful. You can just feel how in love they are. What an incredible day; I love all the DIY. The cake toppers are my favorite, so cute!
I love what your niece and nephew wrote and read, that’s adorable and you two look so happy together! That’s my favorite kind of photos the ones where you can see how much two people love each other :)!
That is seriously like the most beautiful wedding dress I have ever seen. You have no idea how much I want to fly across the world and track it down.
(I mean, everything else was stunning too but that dress…)