Bethan + Ashley | May 2024
“Sarah was absolutely amazing! It felt like having a good friend do our wedding ceremony for us it was so personal, but without one of our friends having the stress of doing it!”
The way Bethan and Ashley chose to hold - to host - their wedding day was a first for me and I had so much respect for it. I knew they were a real team, it was written into my script, but witnessing them arrive together (having gotten ready together), and chat to their friends and family before the ceremony, merrily milling around together, was just glorious. It was so refreshing to see them take the western wedding day traditions and flip them left, right and upside down.
Getting wedding-ready together at home
The groom, Ashley, had been present the day Bethan chose her wedding dress, because his was the opinion that mattered the most to her.
They got ready together in the morning, because that’s how they feel happiest and most relaxed.
Photos by Paul Hawkett Photography
There was such a sense of fun threaded throughout the day - no pomp and circumstance, but a vibe that matched perfectly with a couple who met doing taekwondo at uni: table football and beers and shared friendship groups and a vegetarian feast and ceilidh.
Bolton Abbey was bathed in glorious sunshine (which none of us took for granted after a rather crappy start to “spring” 2024) and guests were able to spill out onto the grass with drinks before and after the ceremony. The whole thing felt so chilled and centred on community.
But it’s not mutually exclusive is it? Relaxed doesn’t mean it wasn’t poignant too - there were plenty of tears! One part that had a lump in all our throats was hearing how Bethan’s mum Ruth had gifted the bride and groom with Bethan’s late grandma’s wedding ring, which had been melted down to form their two wedding rings. I spoke about how with both rings created from the same molten gold they were chemically inseparable, and how Bethan and Ashley hoped the rings will bring them some of the luck and happiness from the grandparents’ 60-year-long marriage.
I honoured this give-and-take, share-everything, true partnership Bethan and Ashley have created in their wedding vows:
“I promise that if I discover something new - a board game, a song, a veggie recipe - you will always be the first person I share it with.”
What a team.
“The ceremony was the perfect blend of fun and poignant; our guests commented how lovely it was to have a ceremony which really captured us rather than the standard legal script. Can’t recommend enough!”