When Laura, a self-confessed elder emo, married Robin in Liverpool, she knew exactly what she wanted their wedding to be like. After a register office ceremony with just 20 guests, they had a huge live-gig inspired reception where they fully leaned into the theme – checkerboards, disco balls and live music all night long!

“I really wanted emo to be the main vibe of the day”, Laura said. “We really didn’t want to have a traditional, copy and paste wedding. We wanted our favourite colours, lots of checkerboard, gothic fonts, disco balls and moody vibes! I feel we managed to achieve this perfectly with the help from Rebecca at R&R Weddings and Events. I contacted our photographer, Amy, and asked if she could recommend a room dresser for us. I wanted someone who understood our vibe, but also had amazing ideas that we would love. Amy suggested Rebecca and when I found her Instagram, it looked just like my Pinterest board!”

The ceremony was limited to parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. Robin’s brother played Mother Tongue by Bring Me The Horizon on piano as Laura walked in. They didn’t want a huge ceremony with everyone looking at them, so breaking the day into two parts worked perfectly.

After the ceremony, the group moved across the road for a drink, then back to hotel where they had got ready that morning for an intimate meal. As day turned into night they headed to The Invisible Wind Factory where 200 people joined them for the party!

“Our evening reception was unreal! ” Laura said, “The room could be divided into two with the use of some curtains so guests arrived through the bar area where they gathered for a drinks reception first. We had Cranberry Aperol Spritz for welcome drinks which were stunning and fitted the autumn theme. During this time, Lily Kerbey sang two sets of nu-metal bangers acoustically, and our guests LOVED her. I once seen her describe her singing style as ‘singing a Slipknot song but your Nan thinks its Ed Sheeran’ and this was the perfect thing for us. I loved hearing our guests saying ‘wait, is she singing Korn?’ She was the most perfect addition to our drinks reception.”

When Lily finished her set, the curtains were opened, revealing the rest of the space. “Our guests gasped, it looked truly amazing!” she continued. “We had four rows of trestle tables with benches for guests to sit at. They were decorated to perfection with black candles, neon lights, disco balls, white pumpkins, checkerboard pumpkins, flowers, leopard print, black table runners and personalised beer mats. We had buckets of booze on every table for people to help themselves. We had a extra large disco ball hanging from the ceiling. There were also four floor to ceiling screens on the stage on which a slideshow of our ceremony photos played all evening.”

First came speeches, then they went straight into the first dance, which was Follow You by Bring Me The Horizon. “After the first dance, the party started! We had funk and soul classics performed by the coolest band ever! The Twenty Somethings were insane, everyone loved them and the dance floor was packed.” Once the band finished, they had the DJ to close out the night. “They took requests all evening so it was not my fault that Killing In The Name came on and a mosh pit broke out!” Laura laughed.

Laura and Robin praise all their suppliers for making their wedding as successful as it was but in particular, their wedding planner. “My biggest advice to anyone planning a wedding is to get a wedding coordinator and a stylist who completely understand your vision”, she said. “That way, you’ll end up with a great team who will help you to make sure your wedding runs smoothly! There is nothing we’d change about our day, it was actually perfect!”