When we first saw the pictures of this wedding, photographed by Pen and Cam of McKinley-Rodgers Photography, we were amazed by the details that made this wedding theme come together. Claire and Scott chose literature and music as the underlying theme for their wedding, and the cute details, from the invitations to the wedding readings, brought the theme together brilliantly. The ceremony was held at The Lantern Theatre in Sheffield, followed by a marquee reception at Wood Lane Countryside Centre.
“Literature and music have always been important to us, and during the planning of our wedding it soon became apparent that although we hadn’t intended to have a theme for the wedding, words and music were a recurring motif.
“Our invites were designed to look like classic orange and white vintage Penguin paperbacks, with library tickets inside for the RSVP (we’d stamped the wallet in which the library ticket sat with the key dates of our relationship). We used a Smiths’ song title, ‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’, as the title of the paperback/invite. Our place settings followed the Penguin theme, with each guest’s name replacing the author’s, and a lyric we’d individually chosen for each guest replacing the title. Inside the place settings were CDs with the key songs from the wedding day. The orders of service that were handed out at the theatre were designed to look like vintage Penguin Plays paperbacks, with the title on the cover taken from a Velvet Underground song. Our readings were taken from books, except for one, which was the lyrics of the Pulp song, ‘Something Changed’. During the service we exchanged copies of our favourite books, around which the rings were tied on a ribbon. Even the confetti followed the literary theme; using a heart-shaped hole-punch, we punched confetti from the pages of our favourite books.
“The back face of our orders of service explained the theme to our guests:”
Words and music, music and words — the things that brought us together and the motif we’ve threaded through our wedding day.
It was words that first drew me into Claire’s orbit — a pamphlet of my gauche teenage poetry shown to her by my best woman, Samantha. It was those words Claire remembered when we first met ten years later, and those words which provided the framework upon which we hung our first hopeful conversation.
Our next conversation as I walked her home was about music. The conversation that followed a few days later, on our first date, was about both — words and music, music and words — over three bottles of quickly drunk red.
That one date, that one evening alone and talking, was all it took. By the time we said goodbye, both of us knew. And so it has proved — Claire and Scott, Scott and Claire, brought together by words and music, music and words — the things that will sustain us and colour our days as we walk together into the story of our lives.
Images © McKinley-Rodgers Photography
