When my ex-husband and I got married, we had one priority that stood out from the rest – to have the best party we could. We both loved raving, so we agreed that we wanted our wedding to feel like a big festival. To do that, we ended up blowing most our budget on entertainment. I loved every minute of our three-day extravaganza, and we even managed to have minimal bickering in the lead up to the wedding.
We got married at a stunning venue in Devon. We’d gone round the country trying to find somewhere to let us party all night, which had been a bit of a struggle. A lot of places have limits on how long you can go, and our group of friends like to party all night. This venue ticked all the boxes, and we instantly fell in love with it.
And party all night we did. We had a party on the first night, the wedding ceremony on the second and even more celebrations on the third night. It was insane. Our wedding ended up setting us back almost 30k, mostly because we blew a lot of money on bands and DJs.
We kept our guests on the dancefloor with bands called Nexus and Step31. On top of that, we hired rave dancers, and even a bongo player on the Sunday. As for our first dance? A drum and bass DJ called DJ Markey, which was meaningful to us. Four years earlier, my ex and I went to a friend’s wedding in Ibiza, where we watched DJ Markey together. I’d been so tired the whole way through and kept having to sit down, which was unlike me. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was pregnant with our first child, so having our first dance to that song felt special. It wasn’t traditional, but everyone loved it – and of course we had our kids dancing with us too.
To afford all this entertainment, we had to make some sacrifices. We got married later than most of our friends and already had two kids, so we didn’t feel the need to keep things super traditional. After weighing it up, we decided not to have a professional photographer. My cousin did the photography. He was great, but by the end of the night we ended up with a lot of blurry photos. The same goes for a videographer – instead, we opted for an uncle with a camera. At the time, I thought formal wedding photos were a bit stuffy, and that there would be too much waiting around. But in hindsight, I see why people put the effort into taking them. If I’d do it again, I’d fork out a bit more on a professional photographer.
To save a bit of extra money, we didn’t have a wedding cake. Instead, my mother-in-law made lots of small cakes for all the guests. I’ve got a friend who does wedding floristry, and she organised all the plants and flowers for me. She even built a tree in the middle of the marquee, made from barks, twigs and paper hearts. It was a personal touch that felt very special.
We kept some things traditional. My dad gave me away, which was such a lovely moment. He’s got Parkinson’s so it was hard for him, but he did an amazing job. My mum bought me a beautiful dress that was designed for me, and I’ve treasured it to this day.
I’m not sure how differently I’d have done my wedding if I had it again now. Ironically, I now work in the wedding industry, and I’ve seen first-hand how the social media age means photos are more important than ever. I’d probably have a few more pictures to show for the day. But it was the perfect wedding for us at the time. Our guests loved every minute of it, and the memories will last forever.
Beccy Dickson is the founder of Branded Biophilia