By Talking about the wedding we know most about...
our own!
We got married in July 2024, and couldn't have asked for a better celebration. We chose fantasy elements throughout our wedding day, and although we didn't get married in The Shire or Rivendell, we still managed a nod to the genre we love the most. Below, we go through the details we included in our wedding to really bring the fantasy to life, and hopefully give you some inspiration in the process!
(There are links below to the wonderful suppliers we used for our day - we are not affiliated with them - just sharing the love for the vendors we used for our own day!
Enjoy!
Our Sword
We strongly believe that all weddings should have a sword!
As a present to each other, we visited the wonderful Oldfield Forge to forge our own sword, with the intention of cutting our cake with it!
It was such an amazing experience (although exhausting!) and it was so much fun to create, knowing the place it would have in our wedding.
Neil's Best Man carried the sword for the duration of the wedding day (as is tradition) until it was needed to cut our cake!
Highly recommend both the Forge and making your own sword. It's such good fun and a perfect couple date weekend!
(We also recommend for the two-day sword making, stay at the wonderful Garway Moon Inn which is just around the corner - their rooms are named after Tarot cards!)
Our Rings
It was never going to be diamonds as a wedding ring.
When Neil proposed, he did so with a red amethyst vintage ring from one of Sophie's favourite antique dealers. We then returned to the same dealer to buy her wedding ring, a sapphire ring, very similar to her Mum's. Both rings were under £200, so we do encourage finding a beautiful vintage piece on a budget, if that's your vibe!
Neil however...
We took a trip to Durham to meet with the amazing Ashcroft Jewellery to have Neil's bespoke ring made. He chose a tantalum ring, engraved with leaves and flecks of gold. It truly is a gorgeous piece and we cannot recommend the Ashcroft team enough. Their craftsmanship is second to none!
(An excuse to visit Durham is always welcome - such fantasy-vibe place to chat about another time!)
Our Cake topper
Neil, being a mini-painter and owner of a 3D printer, was never going to pass up the opportunity to jump on to HeroForge to create us in mini-form!
Complete with the sword we forged together!
Neil's Best Man did the painting as a gift to us, and mini Neil and Sophie sat pride of place on the top of our botanical themed wedding cake (from the amazing Elizabeth Jane Cakes)
We got so many comments about 'Mini-Us', and highly recommend it to fellow nerds to make yourself as minis!
'Mini Us' now live in our D&D cabinet overseeing our dice-rolls!
Left/Top image by our photographers - Ivy & Pine Photography
Our place settings and favours
We know that weddings can become sustainability nightmares. We really wanted to not contribute to that by making our wedding place settings our favours aswell.
We made our own photo holders which held a place card and a Tarot card, which Sophie specifically assigned to the individual who sat in that seat. We then encouraged those who wished to take home their place setting, to do so.
Some attendees now use their holders for initiative trackers in D&D and some have framed their Tarot card as wall art.
We used the Botanica Tarot Card set to follow the general botanical theme of the wedding. It was also one of the first gifts Neil bought for Sophie after they 'became official', although we bought a new set for the wedding itself.
Our decor
Again, with the sustainability aspect, and with Sophie's insatiable appetite for vintage shopping, we found ourselves clearing out all of the antique shops three-counties-over of their brass candlestick holders.
This then descended into also finding brass frogs, which Sophie hid around the venue for people to find! Turns out, brass frogs seem to be a common thing in vintage decor! It was very silly, but also very 'us'.
We didn't hire a florist for our wedding. Instead we grew our own pots of tradescantia plants to trail along tables and centrepieces. This saved us a bit of money, but did take up a lot of space in the house. Some friends took plants home on the day, which was lovely!
The candlesticks, apart from those which were bequeathed to guests on the night, were passed on to another couple for their day.
Left/Top image by our photographers - Ivy & Pine Photography
Our first and last dances
We always knew we would have a Hozier track at our wedding, and after hearing
I, Carrion (Icarian) for the first time at Hozier's Birmingham gig, we knew it had to be the one. Some could argue it was a non-traditional First Dance, however, as King of Fantasy himself, Hozier was a perfect choice for us.
Our Last Dance, or the final dance of the night, was a version of The Parting Glass. We chose this version by Emily Smith. Not strictly fantasy, but for Assassin's Creed players (if you know, you know) and general folk lovers, this seemed like a good choice. There was not a dry eye on the dancefloor. It will go down as one of those moments that will stay with us forever.
Images by our photographers - Ivy & Pine Photography
Our outfits
Finally, and by no means the last elements of our fantasy wedding, our outfits.
Sophie had her dress made custom by the team at The Couture Co in Birmingham. Her dress included leafy and botanical embroidery, and a secret frog hidden within it. She opted for a cape, rather than a veil, with trailing leaves along the train.
Neil opted for a green suit and mix-and-match waistcoat, all of which we found on Vinted after buying about 4 different suits and sizes! Still cheaper than a full suit brand new, and keeping in mind the sustainability too!
Neil paired his suit with a family-heirloom pocket watch, sword tie-pin and dried flowers for the pocket (also from Vinted!)
Our outfits were so quintessentially us, and really brought together the fantasy, botanical, whimsical vibes that we wanted for our day!
Right/Bottom image by our photographers - Ivy & Pine Photography
have we got you inspired?
We've had our day - we want to help celebrate yours!
If you are looking for a pair of dice-rolling, fantasy nerds to photograph your fantasy wedding, get in touch with us! We travel UK-wide to bring you Fantasy Wedding Photography for whatever type of fantasy lover you are!
