A 'toss out the rule book' wedding

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There's nothing more inspiring when you're planning a wedding, than a fearless couple who toss out the rule book, and do things their own way. Claire & Ali are a Northern Irish bride and groom who got married at Orange Tree House in Co. Down. As you'll see from their real wedding, they had gorgeous style, beautiful florals and a romantic venue - so far so normal. But they also had unicorns, Storm Troopers, and a Harry Potter cake table, and that's just for starters. Pretty cool, right? Get set to fall in love with this fun couple, their fabulous movie/comic book/TV-inspired wedding (on Halloween, obviously!), and their wonderful photos by Kat Mervyn Photography...

Rock and Roll Wedding at Orange Tree House by Kat Mervyn | onefabday.com

Claire & Ali met at a school Halloween party when they were just 16, Ali was dressed as a clown and Claire was Gogo from Kill Bill, “Not sure how a clown managed to make a good first impression on me but somehow he did and after a few months of awkward mix CD exchanging and pretending I liked his music choices, he finally asked me out on a date!” It was as if their fun movie/comic book/TV-inspired theme was written in the stars!

Between travels and uni, the couple had to spend a lot of time apart over the years, but made sure to take lots of fun trips together in-between, “We often visited his family in France, I took him on his first trip to New York which is one of my favourite cities (we returned for our honeymoon!), even when he went on his round the world trip I flew to meet him halfway in Tokyo.”

The couple enjoy a few shared passions, “We both love food so a big part of our relationship consists of eating our way around the world! We are also two massive geeks so we love to visit all the comic book shops in the cities we go to and bonding over our shared loves of everything nerdy.”

Can you believe Claire made this gold crown herself? What a talented bride!

Once these two had graduated from uni, it was finally time to move in together, “We got a little sausage dog called Lola and a few years later we bought our first home together. By the time we got married we had been together for almost 12 years.” The best things in life are worth waiting for am I right?

Ali had always told Claire that he wouldn't propose on a birthday or anniversary, so she knew when he popped the question it was going to be a surprise, “We took our dog Lola for a walk through the sand dunes at Murlough beach one Sunday. I spotted a giant hill which I decided would be my challenge to climb. I reached the top and turned around and Ali was down on one knee.”

But it wasn’t quite as picturesque as it sounds, “As soon as I said yes the heavens opened and we got absolutely soaked! We always joke that it was my perfect engagement because rain is my favourite weather. I'll never forget sitting under the umbrella, wrapping the dog in a towel and taking in the views to the sound of the rain falling.” Sounds pretty perfect to me. The couple returned to Murlough a few months before their wedding with photographer, Kat for an engagement shoot.

These sparkly peep-toes are just fab!

Claire's mum's vintage car, the perfect wedding day transport.

The couple knew they wanted to reflect the season in their wedding decor, “Rich autumnal colours with touches of gold and a few little geeky details to reflect our passions… but the geeky touches sort of crept in and took over!”

These two booked the first and only venue they visited, “I run a cake business so am lucky to be familiar with plenty of wedding venues across Northern Ireland and Orange Tree House had always stood out to me as I admired the beautiful setting, all the hard work they had done on the building and the staff were always so lovely. It was the perfect size for our wedding, they were on board with all the unique touches we wanted to add and to seal the deal their food was divine! We honestly could not have asked for more!”

Claire & Ali hoped the feel of their day would be relaxed and low key, “As the months of planning went on we got more relaxed when it came to fitting a theme or colour palette and just went for everything we loved! It could have been a chaotic disaster but luckily it all came together. One of our guests remarked that it was like a classy children's wedding, and I loved that!” Now that is a wedding theme!

The couple's love of Star Wars, and their other favourite movies and TV shows featured heavily in their day, “We had a Star Wars wedding cake, little Star Wars lego characters hiding in the boutonnieres, I surprised Ali with some Stormtroopers and other characters on the day for photos and we also had each of our tables named after a place from our favourite TV shows and movies. We made all of our centrepieces were really fun for us to think up and put together! We also had a Harry Potter themed sweetie table that we decorated with help from my dad and it was a big hit.”

Awh, look at Ali's chuffed face!

And that’s before we get to the unicorns... “Yep, we had two miniature unicorns at our wedding, as I am unicorn mad. We also had a Dinky Donut van in the evening since we are both big donut lovers.” Unicorns and donuts - what’s not to love!

Claire’s nieces, Jaime and Abbie were their little flower girls in their pretty Monsoon dresses.

Claire advises other couples not to get sucked into others’ opinions, “I work in the wedding industry and I often see people being advised to go for something classic, or to avoid short-lived trends. I really think if you like something, you should go for it! I spent so much time worrying that people would think our Star Wars touches or our unicorns were stupid, or that the abundance of gold glitter was tacky or OTT and I wish I hadn't wasted so much time and energy worrying! I know a lot of couples worry about how things will age in photos, but I really feel that if you invest in a wonderful photographer your photos will always look timeless.” You tell 'em Claire!

Claire says she so glad she and Ali invested in a great photographer, “When we found Kat Mervyn we just fell in love with her portfolio and knew that she would be the perfect choice for us. Photography is always going to be an expense worth investing in, we have amazing memories captured for us now that will last a lifetime and I really would recommend prioritising it in your budget.”

Splashing out on a video was also something the couple say have no regrets about, “It was quite an expense for us but was completely worth it and I am so glad we went for it! It was so lovely to look back on the video and see things we had missed and we really felt like we got to relive it all through that lens and in that way it is completely priceless.”

The couple made it a priority not to have a huge guestlist, “To have a day that reflected us and to have our closest friends and family with us in a number that meant we actually got to spend time with lots of people without getting overwhelmed. We didn't want anything too big, and we wanted to make sure our guests were comfortable, entertained and well fed!”

The couple said making a lot of the elements themselves, or with the help of family and friends, helped them created a more personalised wedding - and they had fun doing it, “ Our friend Sarah from Blue Door Studio made our invitations as well as our order of the day signage and table plan. My mum and dad drove me to the venue in mum's 2cv which is the same age as me!

My dad crafted an amazing old wooden sign for our Harry Potter sweet table. My mother in law made a layer of fruit cake to serve to guests. I made my gold flower crown and our gold and galaxy wedding cake which was certainly a challenge and my little sister who was always the best at making chalk boards for my market stall was roped in to making some for the wedding too! Ali and I also made lots of decorations ourselves including an old palette we made into a photo display and decorating all of our favours.”

Claire works as a wedding cake baker, but this gold and galaxy cake was still a challenge to create - it looks great though!

The gorgeous florals were another focal point of Claire & Ali’s decor, “We Hollie and Rachel from The Rosehip and Berry Floral Studio to thank. We had a beautiful hanging floral installation which we were married under, and later it became the focus of our top table. The flowers were probably what we got the most comments about, everyone loved them. We had plenty of pumpkins and gourds too, as it was Halloween weekend!”

The couple returned to their beloved New York of their honeymoon, “Our jobs keep us very busy so we didn't have a long stretch of time off so a week in our favourite city was a great option for us! We stayed at The Roxy in Tribeca which was a perfect base to explore all the cool eateries, wander around some amazing comic book stores and enjoy Central Park in autumn.” City honeymoons can be so underrated!

What an amazing wedding! There's just so many unique ideas, and don't these two have incredible DIY skills? Thanks so much to Claire & Ali for sharing your day - and to Kat Mervyn Photography for sharing these beautiful photos.

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