Over the summer I got married in York. The image above and the collage below contain some of the beautiful shots taken by James Wesley Photographers. The Wedding Industry is very one-size-fits-all so we decided to inject a few personal touches to make the day reflect our personalities a bit more.

Anyone who follows me on Twitter is probably aware of my love for vintage-inspired garb so both my dress and the bridesmaid dresses were based on retro patterns. Lots of the guests gave their outfits a vintage twist, the ceremony was held in an old Tudor hall (Bedern Hall in York) and we held our reception at Castle Museum in York – a venue that comes complete with cobbled Victorian streets for you to dine in. Bags of old-school sweets on the tables for guests to share were also a hit.

Books were something of a theme at our wedding too. One of my lovely students made paper bouquets out of books and craft paper, a very kind friend made our wedding cake in the shape of three stacked books (George Orwell: Why I Write, William Goldman: The Princess Bride and Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone) and we gave away old books as wedding favours (I gave Penguins and Pelicans, the groom gave old Doctor Who volumes from Target). 

Aside from The Princess Bride cake, I did sneak another film reference in there by asking my sister to read Billy Crystal’s closing speech from When Harry Met Sally. “When you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”