Oh my GOD! I’m sure Leanne and Kris will remember how excited I was when they told me they would be having a Lord of The Rings themed wedding! The wedding theme was specifically Bilbo’s Birthday party which takes place in The Fellowship of the Ring (without the “finest weed in Southfarthing” I might add!) in the setting of The Shire and I was absolutely among my kin on this one! We had cosplayers and costumers, marquees, lanterns and subtle theming wherever you looked!
The Beginning
(I mean, how could I not do this edit for them?!)
“We met online and started chatting. I (Leanne) had COVID right after so we couldn’t meet straight away, but then met up for a drink and arranged our second date straight away.”
The Engagement
Just look at those Eye of Sauron nails!
“Kris proposed on our hotel on a trip to the Harry Potter Studios. It was on our first anniversary and a complete shock, I had no idea. The ring he gave me is a replica of Aragorn’s ring from The Lord of the Rings, which is one of our favourite film series. We are most excited for walking back down the aisle as husband and wife!”
Meet Leanne
We had an hour of bridal prep shots with Leanne & co! Everyone was so excited and so emotional to see her in her dress. We had a lovely reveal with the bridesmaids first, then Mum held Dad’s hand and led him into the room with his eyes closed for his own special moment.
Hair & Make-up: Natalie George, The Makeover Fairy
Dress boutique: Proposals
Meet Kris
Ok so Kris didn’t have any prep shots, I first saw him in the marquee at Cherry Garth Scout Campsite but you have no idea how much I was beaming ear to ear to see him standing there in a hobbit themed suit next to his best man, the Witch-king of Angmar!
Suit boutique: Unknown
Tying the Knot
Their ceremony was so personalised and on theme I did a little internal ‘squee’ when I was watching it! Their celebrant (and long time friend of Kris) Rory did the newlyweds the most incredible ceremony which had so many nods to The Lord of The Rings franchise. The newlyweds each had to roll a D20 to land their “I do’s”. If you’re not familiar with Dungeons and Dragons; when your character makes an action you have to roll a dice to determine the level of success of the action – fortunately they both rolled high and they were able to tie the knot!
First Breakfast
We hid from the rain (boo) and in true Lord of the Rings / Hobbit fashion we had First Breakfast and Second breakfast! We enjoyed some delicious catered food courtesy of Spitting Pig and enjoyed speeches from Father of the Bride, Maid of Honour, the main man himself Kris followed by best man John.
“Given our love of The Lord of the Rings, our wedding is in the style of Bilbo’s birthday party. We have booked a marquee and want to bring a casual, garden party feel. Nothing too formal or fancy. It was really important to us that we use local businesses for the food and entertainment. Kris is a scout leader, and the money we’ve paid for the venue hire will go straight back to the Scouts.”
Family Photo Time
The rain finally stopped as the evening set in and we were able to get the family photos like none I’ve ever done before! I really thing cosplay weddings should be more of a thing!
Newlywed photoshoot
The Autumnal vibes at Cherry Garth really brought the whole theme together; reminiscent of the location Rivendell in the Lord of the Rings franchise. We took a casual walk and the newlyweds enjoyed a little pocket of time just for themselves on their wedding day.
Cake cut
Okay so there was no cake cut per se but how cool is this cheese wheel stack?! We also had loads of delicious treats from Deadly Bakes!
First dance
Leanne and Kris had a non-traditional first dance, they invited everyone to dance with them and enjoy the live music performed by Weekend Millionaires!
“Our first dance is going to be to Murder on the Dancefloor”
The dancefloor was busy the whole time I was there! We had a photobooth courtesy of Everlasting Echoes, a bubble machine and then finished off the session with some sparklers!