My best advice is to pick what’s important to you, and think about what you don’t care about – and just don’t even do it. I obviously think photos are the most valuable thing to spend on, as they’re the lasting memories and the most important commodity after the wedding is over.
But maybe music is important to you, and your guests having an amazing party – but you don’t care for cake.
Or maybe food is your fave thing ever but you don’t need flowers or favours people are going to just leave behind.
Think about what’s important to you and what you can get rid of. There are no rules – it’s your unique wedding!
Here are my top tips for planning a unique and fun wedding that’s your best day ever
Only invite people you really want to be there. You could always invite your workmates over later in the evening and ask them to bring their own drinks – like a house party when you were a teenager.
CEREMONY
All a simple ceremony involves is saying you agree with what the registrar says and signing the paper that makes you a married couple (eek ok that’s pretty exciting!)
Your official ceremony doesn’t have to be any more elaborate than that, and you can do it on the morning of your wedding day, or any day before (or after!) Then you can have a big fancy ceremony literally anywhere you like, without the restrictions of the law saying you can only legally get married in certain places by certain people.
Having a “fake” ceremony is so much more personal and beautiful than a big production with an expensive registrar and it means you can do what you like, say what you like and have it last as long (or short) as you’d like.
Celebrants are so worth it, but having a mate or a family member as your celebrant would also be fun. You’ll need to go to the town hall to do that legal paperwork, but go on a weekday and have just 2 guests (as witnesses).
VENUE
Back garden or field
Do you, your parents or close friends or family have a semi-decent sized house and back garden? If you’re not having too many guests (30-60) a normal house is perfectly fine, as long as you have a couple of loos and enough space for everyone if it rains (just get a little gazebo). I’ve shot weddings in big fancy back gardens and simple back garden weddings – you can do a lot with a back garden! Lay down some picnic blankets, and put out some chairs and tables.
If you don’t have a back garden to use, ask locals in your area if they have a field you can borrow – the extra costs would be a large marquee, tables and chairs, a van to transport everything and portaloos. And a few quid to bribe your mates to come back the next day to help clear up.
Warehouse
Aside from back gardens and fields, you could look into warehouses. I have a friend who got married in an old warehouse in London, and her 114-guest wedding came to £5k in total. Mad!
Village Hall
Village halls are a great option too, especially if they don’t do many weddings. So many of my couples have booked village halls that don’t do weddings yet, and it makes your wedding extra unique!
Pubs
Pub and bar function rooms, such as Oh So Social are great if they’re not a wedding venue.
Some bars will let you use the venue for free if you spend enough on drinks, or you could use the local village hall. For example, Iford Village Hall in Sussex near Brighton is just £1500 for 3 days.
Brewery/Taproom
Why not think outside the box? You could ask your local brewery if they’ll hold your wedding – anywhere they can sell booze to you and your mates and wouldn’t normally make much money that day is worth asking. Sally and Leya had their wedding party at Beak Taproom in Lewes and it was so unusual and cosy and fun!
QUIRKY CROCKERY
A lot of blank space venues, such as warehouses in London, require you to hire/buy your own crockery and cutlery – instead of boring plates, go on a charity shop hunt and gather mismatched plates – then give them back at the end. Then you’re also giving to charity!
Their wedding has been and gone and they’re left with 100 plates filling their spare bedroom. Get on the Rock n Roll Bride Facebook group and ask in there! I’m sure they’ll love you to take a few plates off their hands.
You could also just use your own cutlery if you’re having the wedding at home, or serve finger food only. To be eco-friendly, you can buy bamboo plates and cutlery.
TRANSPORT
If you’re getting married in London, having everyone (including you!) catch the Tube is so much fun and great for photos.
Hiring a wedding bus is very expensive and every single time my couples have asked the driver to take them to a certain place to stop for photos, the driver has decided last minute they can’t do it due to traffic. Every single time. It’s a nice idea to give everyone a bus tour of the city, but the buses are hot and stuffy and no one looks out of the window – everyone just wants to get to the venue so they can be comfortable, get a drink, go to the loo and mingle.
Fancy wedding cars are almost always not worth it as they cost a bomb and no one really sees it as they park out of the way and drop you off at the venue where everyone is indoors or elsewhere so they don’t see you. If it’s just a short drive, jump in someone’s car or get a normal taxi. Or walk!
DRESS
So many of my brides get their dress from Topshop or Asos! Asos have a fab collection. And they’re actually even more beautiful than a lot of “wedding” dresses. Amber’s dress (below) is from Asos. Rachel of the Brighton powder paint wedding‘s dress was from Zara.
SUITS
Jeans, Converse, a nice shirt, funky braces and a bowtie will do the job. You can buy a cool waistcoat and that will set you apart from the other guys. Here is some suit inspiration and ideas for guys and guys and non-binary folks.
WEDDING PARTY OUTFITS
You don’t have to have a matchy wedding party – tell them to wear whatever they want (you can always give them a style or colour palette). Or have no bridal party at all!
SHOES
If you’re having a floor-length dress no one will be able to see your shoes, so wear whatever you want! If you’re having a back garden wedding, barefoot or sandals (or barefoot sandals!) is a good idea, with Converse for the boys. For something extra special, why not both go for special wedding Converse or Doc Martens?
MAKE UP
If heavy make up isn’t your thing, find a make up artist who goes light, or just do it yourself! So many of my brides do that.
HAIR
I reckon this is a fun opportunity for a fab hairstyle! Get the do you’ve always wanted! Stick flowers in your hair, or wear a fabulous crown!
CAKE
M&S do amazing cakes. I mean, everyone loves cake, but it’s not the reason your guests are at your wedding (ok maybe it is). Pop down to M&S and pick up some cupcakes or a rainbow cake covered in sprinkles. Or there’s always the classic Colin the Caterpillar – they do a giant Colin that serves 40 people. Everyone loves Colin! They even do brides and grooms now!
I’ve found at about 90% of the weddings I’ve shot, when couples who cut and serve the cake after dinner, only about 40% of the cake gets eaten. Serve it right after the ceremony and you’ll have a 100% hit rate, making your investment worth it!
DRINKS
Have a signature cocktail, or do shots that are related to your story as a couple. These guys had fake baby Guiness as favours – you have whiskey and Baileys and pour the baileys on with a tiny spoon!
FOOD
Get creative! You could do afternoon tea, canapes, sushi, even dessert platters. Instead of canapes, crisps are always go down well – especially nostalgic ones.
DECOR
Spend a few Saturdays lurking around the charity shops and junk stores seeing what treasures you can find. Anything that will work in your home afterwords is a bonus. Or you could save up jars and tins from your dinners, wrap some nice fabric around them and pop flowers in them.
For your order of the day timeline, why not rummage round the back of a local industrial estate and take a palette of someone’s hands? You can paint them rainbow colours and paint on the timings, then lean it up against a wall at your venue.
FAVOURS
In my experience, the best favours are edible ones. Bake up a batch of cookies, freeze them til the day, and wrap them individually. Or maybe something cute and already wrapped like Tunnocks tea cakes.
ENTERTAINMENT
Get an Instax camera and a few packs of film and some funny masks. Set up a beer pong table and/or Giant Jenga. There are loads of wedding reception entertainment ideas on this post!
MUSIC
A lot of my couples know people in bands, so if you know one (or are on one) see if they fancy playing a few songs. It’s a great chance to have a break from talking to people 😉 Another good option is hiring speakers and using a Spotify playlist. The main thing is to play music you like, sprinkled in with some classic bangers. The Spotify link above has the best wedding dancefloor songs!
FLOWERS
Go on a 4am adventure to a flower market and buy a job lot! Hang them in bunches around the venue or pop them in vases – charity shops have loads and they’re always handy to have. Buttonholes only need to be a few pretty flowers tied together with string and DIY bouquets are fab. Or you could ask all guests to bring flowers instead of gifts, and to leave them on their table, like Jess and Ben did for their Pangdean wedding.
PHOTOGRAPHY
I know you know photography is super important. But what you might not know is how different we all are!
Check out some full galleries to make sure you like their style. Some don’t post everything on their website or social media, so it’s worth seeing a full gallery or two.
Style includes how they shoot, what they’re like on the day, how they approach everything, the kind of photos they choose to take and in what way, and the way they edit the photos.
My style is:
Candid, natural, fun, colourful, unintrusive, loosely posed for the portraits, I also do group photos but keep them simple and quick, and I edit colourfully and as true to life as possible. I’m quite involved on the day in terms of chatting to people, having a boogy etc, but I won’t tell anyone what to do. My manner helps people relax in front of the camera so you get really natural photos of all the things that were happening that you might have missed.
Looking for a Sussex/Brighton wedding photographer? Get in touch and let’s rock your wedding!
