Sarah and Trev got married ten years ago, but this year, they held a vow renewal ceremony at Ashton Memorial in Williamsons Park, Lancaster – the same place they originally tied the knot a decade ago.
The couple surrounded themselves with their loved ones and enjoyed a gathering and pizza in a local bar and restaurant afterwards.
This was a super sweet, fun-filled and charming day captured beautifully by Love My Dress recommended wedding photographer, Lauren Elliot, who managed to capture all these gorgeous images in the tiny window of only two hours! Just goes to show what can be achieved when talented creative artists get to work.
A Mary Benson Wedding Dress
My dress was from Mary Benson. They were so helpful – my dress was a last-minute purchase and they ensured it arrived on time (I’m not sure what I would have done otherwise!?).
I would definitely suggest thinking outside the box when it comes to buying your dress, especially for a vow renewal.
My original wedding dress of ten years ago, was from Alice Temperley, so I’d ‘been there and done that’ with the whole dress buying experience. I just wanted a quirky, affordable dress that I could potentially wear again. I’m currently contemplating dyeing it!
I wanted to be comfy and feel like me. I regularly wear midi dresses and boots so I mimicked that but in a much more of a wedding version.
My Jacket was from River Island and my shoes were from & Other Stories.
Ceremony
We had a hand tying ceremony lead by Hazel The Rainbow Celebrant. We stumbled across hazel by pure chance, as I didn’t know a celebrant was even a thing,
Hazel popped up on my Instagram page asking for advice on how to curl her hair, her profile was bright fun and colourful and led me to praying she would be free for our ceremony 8 weeks later we were so luck she was.
The whole process with Hazel was seamless. She brought the perfect balance of humour, formality and love to our ceremony. It would not have been the same day without her.
My sister in law delivered a reading – she also did this at our original wedding. We chose the reading as we wanted something fun, but also something that truly represented being married. It is written by one of my hair clients, who kindly allowed us to use her poem…
I have this dream
I come home to you.
Maybe you’re tired, or you’ve had a hard day
Or maybe it’s me who can’t switch off.
Either way, the dinner gets made.
Sometimes in my dream we talk as we eat
But just as good is when we watch telly
Or hum to the music playing in the background,
Just happy to be near.
We wash up together in my dream,
Bubbles escaping from the sink and
You’ll let me dry instead of wash because
you know I’ve just done my nails.
Sometimes it’s winter in my dream, so
A fire is crackling in the background and
You pat the sofa next to you, I sink into it,
curl up and laugh about something and nothing.
But when it’s summer in my dream, then we throw open
a set of French doors, sit in the marshmallow light
drink a glass of wine and laugh about something and nothing.
In my dream, I go to sleep,
I wake up and you’re there still. Two slices of toast
(one more for you because you’re hungry)
two cups of breakfast tea (no milk for me, you know that).
If my dream is very long, there appears
A long lashed, sleep drenched tiny thing,
Half you half me, which I hand to you to hold,
But mostly it’s just the two of us.
And in my dream I come home to you.
Photography
Our photographer, Lauren Elliot, came highly recommended by a makeup artist friend. I was struggling to find the right person. Lauren was super easy and listened to exactly what I wanted and delivered.
I loved her style and was really impressed with the outcome of our pictures. Lauren was only with us for two hours so she pulled of a miracle really.
How They Met
We have been married for ten years and I’ve always said jokingly that if we make it to ten, then we would renew our vows in Las Vegas.
As the ten year anniversary approached, we decided that actually, this is something we would love to do, but we wanted to be surrounded by our close friends and family. So Vegas was off the cards (we’re saving that for twenty years!).
We then decided to renew our vows in the place where we originally got married.
Flowers
Sam of Free Range Floristry is just amazing. Once I’d talked her into doing my tiny renewal, she was perfect. I gave her free reign to just create what she loves with the flowers that were in season.
I knew I didn’t have to worry as everything she creates I love. I know from being a hairstylist my best work is when someone says I trust you do what you think would work best.
Reception
Informal & Relaxed
I think as this vow renewal was the revised wedding, we erased all the things society expects you to do and just did our thing, our friend and family keep saying it’s the best wedding they have ever attended. We sang happy birthday to my friend during the ceremony and bought a round of shots for everyone (as I lost a bet to a friend – lol!)
We loved the lack of formality, the fact we basically got re-married, hired a bus, did a pub crawl, ate pizza, had shots and ended up in our local pub with a dodgy disco. It was just perfect. No stress, no over planning, no crazy budget, just an amazing opportunity to get together with the people we love the most.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Have a think back to other people’s weddings do you remember the napkins being the wrong colour or the music starting 10 seconds late or the brides hair not going exactly as she has planned, of course you don’t as you don’t know what colour the napkins were meant to be.
The most important thing is that you enjoy the day, take away the things that worry you and just do you.
