Themed-wedding ceremony in Yorkshire!
‘So Lou, we would like a ceremony that links our love of Musicals, Fairy Tales, Superheroes, Roald Dahl, and Rainbows and also involves our guests as much as possible yet with a bit of tradition and symbolism also thrown in!’
This is what Ellen and Vicky told me last year when we began planning their ceremony which happened on 12th August 2017 in Lineham Farm, Leeds.
Well, the best answer was of course to write a ceremony that was a musical with a story line that included the rest of the list that Ellen and Vicky had given to me.
The woodland setting for the wedding ceremony was perfect as it conjured up a Fairy Tale feeling already so that we could tell the story of Vicky Blakey and Ellen Archer in a production called ‘Blarchers – The Musical’!
After finding out what their favourite musicals were, integrated into the ceremony were songs from Matilda, Willy Wonka, Wicked and Sister Act which helped tell the story of the two girls that had met at a York Pride march but on discovering each other they also discovered that Vicky sadly suffered from a rare disease called ‘I don’t know how to put my bra away and tidy clothes so throw them on the floor syndrome’!!
Suddenly their Fairy Godmother appeared (aka – Joe the Usher) who sang out the way to break the spell.
He/she revealed that Vicky and Ellen needed to go and find the magical rings and then have them blessed by Sister Mary Magdalene from Sister Act as well as by all of their friends and family and then they could exchange the rings with vows that would break the spell!
And so the two of them trekked into the woods and they came across a book written by a magician known as Mr Roald Dahl that told them that in order to break the spell, they would need the help of the Superheroes (aka the bridesmaids, bridesmen and ushers!)
Suddenly they all appeared and each of them shouted out their Superhero name and all promised to help find the rings which were of course at the other end of the rainbow that as superheroes, they could definitely get over!
As the thunder struck and a rainbow appeared, the Superheroes helped Vicky and Ellen cross over to the other side of the rainbow where standing holding the rings was Sister Mary (aka Louisa the Celebrant!)
However, Sister Mary pointed out that in order for the rings to be exchanged, they needed to be blessed with all the love of the fairies, pixies and elves of the kingdom (aka- the wedding guests!)
And so as the Sister Act song ‘Raise your Voice’ was sung, around the ribbons that had been laid out between all of the guests, the wedding rings were passed round for all the guests to bless before the rings reached the end of the ribbons where the Superheroes, Thor and Wonderwoman (aka Best Man and Chief Bridesmaid) collecte the rings to present them to the heroes of the story who could now exchange their blessed rings and say their vows to each other!
They of course did this and Mrs and Mrs Blarcher lived happily ever after!!
Many thanks to Esme Mai Photography for capturing the atmosphere perfectly on the day with creative photos that even caught the chicken in a posing position! Thanks also for the lift home at night so that I could enjoy being a guest of this brilliant wedding too!
Louisa Starr – Starr Gazing Ceremonies
It’s all true I was there! It was totally joyous, full of love and completely magical.