Over the past five years I’ve performed no less than 74 alternative wedding ceremonies for couples from all different backgrounds and walks of life. I’ve been plunged into the deep end of Victoria Baths (whilst it was empty of course!) done bespoke back garden weddings with less than thirty guests, conducted outdoor weddings in fields, and on festival sites and of course grand and quirky affairs in venues like Hope Mill Theatre, Stockport Plaza Cinema, and Victoria Warehouse to name a few. The short version is, I’ve had a lot of fun.

It’s also become quite a regular thing that friends and relatives have asked me to do ceremonies for them and last summer I had the immense pleasure to marry my Brother and Sister-in-Law in the Bride’s family’s back garden nr Harrogate. Having already been married for almost five years at a very low-key and secret wedding (that they didn’t tell any of us about until a week after it happened!) in the States, they finally decided it was time to host a celebration with their nearest and dearest back home in the UK and hired a gorgeous teepee and marquee to do just that.

I’ll be honest, I very rarely get nervous about performing ceremonies, but this time I had an audience full of my in-laws, my husband, and my 1yr old toddler to contend with. The stakes were very high! Luckily during the ceremony my little boy was distracted by a very kind family friend with the help of multiple episodes of ‘Tractor Ted’ and I managed to keep very busy right up until the ceremony began. I often find it’s that fifteen-minute window just before things kick off when the nerves are most likely to set in. I also couldn’t work out where my hubby was sitting, which was a blessing in disguise.

As luck would have it, it was a pleasantly warm summer’s day and we couldn’t have asked for a more picturesque English country setting or more gracious hosts. The Bride and Groom are naturally quite private people and so wanted their ceremony to be a very laid-back and relaxed family affair, but most of the guests were fashionably flamboyant – the least of these being the Father of the Bride in a gorgeous mustard-brown velvet tux. Quite the show stopper. My Brother-in-Law Jordan looked very dapper in his unusual burgundy suit and Erica our Bride looked classically stunning as ever in her figure-hugging dress (which we later discovered was hiding a little extra surprise underneath!) They went for Mac ‘N Cheese when it came to their wedding catering and the Father of the Bride even brewed his own craft beer for the occasion. I would have loved to have tried it, but it was so tasty my husband snaffled both of ours before I ‘d even managed to sit down. The cheek!

I’m pleased to say that I did our family proud and as it’s such a rare occasion that all seven of the original Fetterclan are in the same country at the same time we had an absolute blast. My favourite memories were seeing Grandpa Rodney get to spend some quality time with his Grandson and watching my husband dance around outside the teepee with our boy to David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’. There was some very fancy footwork involved, undoubtedly owed to that second craft ale….

Congrats to all and we can’t wait to meet the new Baby Fetterman very very soon!