Fran and Jade planned their wedding without chasing a theme. They chose colour instead. Hot pink and orange set the tone, with multicoloured dried flowers across the tables. When it came to their outfits, they went in the total opposite direction, both choosing to wear all-black.

There was no wedding party, no first dance, and no line-up of traditions to tick off. The day began at the Leeds registry office for the ceremony, which although gave them the beautiful, intimate setting they wanted, came with a few challenges. “We found it difficult to arrange for both of us to come into the room rather than have a ‘groom’ waiting at the end of the aisle”, they told us. “We asked lots of questions during the lead up but on the day Fran was ushered into a broom cupboard with her dad to wait as there weren’t the facilities to keep two brides separate! We also would have loved to have written our own vows but the limitations with the registry office meant that wasn’t an option. We wrote each other letters in the morning to open in private and that for us was a way of exchanging our vows.”

Despite these early hiccups, the rest of the day played out exactly as they hoped. First up was a super fun portrait session with their photographer, Ryan including, but not limited to, an alleyway full of green bins which ended up being surprisingly aesthetic. They also did some pictures with their loved ones in front of the iconic ‘Me & You’ mural by Laura Wellington of In Good Company.

Then came the reception at Shears Yard, and the the magic truly began. They set everything up themselves on the morning of and although they worried about it in the run-up, the DIY details ending up looking exactly as they hoped.

“We decorated all the tables ourselves, and seeing how professional it looked (considering we had around an hour to set up) made us feel very proud of ourselves”, said Jade. “However, the most special moment of the reception was the speeches. I did a speech not only about Fran and our best/funniest moments, but having lost both of my parents quite young, I had a section raising a glass to them. The love that I felt throughout my speech when I was looking into the crowd of our nearest and dearest was possibly the most emotionally overwhelming thing I’ve ever experienced. Everyone was so engaged, laughing and crying along with us and it’s something I’ll never forget.”

Looking back, they would not change a thing. Budget fantasies of having a live band, a free bar and karaoke machine quickly faded once the day was over. Because in the end, everything was perfectly and quintessentially them.

“The one thing we would like to share with other couples is to not worry about pleasing other people”, they concluded. “Some people hold such value to things like a first dance or brides wearing white, but it just didn’t feel like us. And to the wedding industry – we touched on it earlier, but we don’t think the registry office was set up for same sex couples that both wanted to have the ‘bride experience’. Our photographer knew we wanted to be kept separate, so he stepped in and ushered us away from each other when we got dangerously close! And for that we are so grateful!”