A TALE TO BE TOLD

A TALE TObe toldLiz and Mitch’s day was all about their love story Images courtesy of Boutique Films

Liz and Claire (or Mitch as she’s better known as), met at work in 2010. They didn’t have much to do with each other at first, until Liz became Mitch’s boss! They soon bonded over music and comedy and had the same sense of humour. “She was my best friend within months. I’d never had a friend like her,” says Mitch. In 2014, Mitch’s relationship broke down and she went to stay with Liz and her dad for the weekend but never left. “We lived, worked, and socialised together yet never got sick of each other. I loved her more than I’d ever loved anyone and couldn’t imagine there could be more to come,” says Mitch. In 2015 they fell in love, became girlfriends, and never looked back.

A year later Liz proposed. “On the weekend of our anniversary Mitch thought we were just going for dinner but I hired a private dining area at Lost Society in Battersea and got some of our closest friends and family to meet in the main bar so we could party after,” she recalls. “I made a playlist of our favourite songs that played while we ate dinner, and we exchanged gifts.” Liz gave Mitch a necklace as a decoy, but other plans were underway. “Mitch absolutely loves dogs, so when our song came on the playlist, my friend’s dog, Dudley, came in wearing his doggie backpack that contained the ring. I’d already started crying but managed to ask her to marry me,” she says.

“We wanted our day to be personal and tell our story. For the first four years of our relationship, we lived in the Middle East where we weren’t allowed to be an open couple,” explains Mitch. “We also didn’t tell our friends and family until we’d been together for almost a year, so we wanted to show the chapter of our story that they weren’t there to see,” she says.

Here, they share the details…

Mitch: I knew I didn’t want anything too traditional. A friend put us in touch with Julian Smith who creates outfits for drag artists. He showed us some sketches and we knew he was the one to create my outfit. He managed to create the perfect balance of bridal but with a rockstar edge.

Liz: I’m not traditionally a dress wearer but when I saw Mitch’s outfit develop, I really wanted to wear something that complimented it, so I went for a full sequin dress.

Mitch: My sister did our make-up, which was so special for me. She’s an incredible artist and I just remember feeling so proud of her as I watched her concentrate on my face. There’s no one else in the world I would have trusted to make me feel the way I did that day. To tie us together, we wore matching metal belts. We also took inspiration from the chains on Mitch’s outfit and incorporated that in our hair with fine chains.

Our best maids picked their own outfits. We wanted them to be co-ordinated but true to their individual styles and they looked great next to each other. We’d already decided that navy would be our colour scheme and when we saw the venue and its styling it led us to inject some gold to tie everything together.

From the moment people entered the ceremony they were met with cocktails that had colour-coded straws and umbrellas just so they knew what kind of day it was going to be – boozy!

We wanted somewhere that had loads of character and when we saw The Bedford, we knew it was the one. It looked amazing, and the team were totally up for our party wedding.

We hung A1 photos of us around the room to tell our story – one for each year we’d been together. In the evening the photo boards became our guestbook, everyone left a message and graffitied the signs which now make a great keepsake. For our table plan and table names, we picked some memorable gigs that we’d been to as a couple. We framed pictures from the day with a little blurb on explaining why it was memorable.

We had bottle-shaped lamps and candles for our centrepieces. The colours worked perfectly and tied everything together. Liz: Mitch wanted sequined tablecloths, but they were so expensive. She was just coming to terms with having white when she came across the perfect navy sequined tablecloths. They looked great with the gold charger plates.

The tables looked amazing on the day. We’ll never forget sitting at the top table and looking out thinking ‘We did all this!’. Our welcome sign looked amazing hung from one of the large gold frames.

We decided to have shots instead of a champagne toast. It was the best idea.

Mitch: For our placenames, Liz created an illustration of each of our guests. Alongside it we wrote a personalised note. So many people cried reading them and said they loved them. It wasn’t meant to be so emotional, but it was a lovely response.

We chose to have our legal ceremony in private upstairs with just the two of us.

For the actual ceremony we had our friend and comedian Jayde Adams as the wedding overseer. Having someone that knew us made the ceremony feel incredibly personal.

We wanted a party vibe and a big part of this was the music. On the RSVP we asked guests to list their favourite romantic song and party song and incorporated that into the day’s playlist. Liz: Two of our best maids went above and beyond with their speech. They gathered us around a big screen and started playing a slideshow of old photos that broke into a video montage of them singing songs they’d rewritten about us. The whole room was singing along and it had us in tears of laughter.

We were both adamant that we wanted a live band for the evening. We spent at least a year looking for a band that would suit our day and then came across Party Manifesto, a 90s cover band. They didn’t disappoint, they really brought the party and everyone loved them!

Liz: Our day was everything I hoped it would be. The perfect balance of sentiment and party.

Mitch: Looking back, I realise how much adrenaline was racing through me, but I still managed to stay in the moment and take it all in. Having everyone we love in such an intimate and personal setting like that was very special. I designed and had the engagement ring made when we were living in Kuwait.

LIZ AND MITCH’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK Venue, The Bedford, www.thebedford.com | Photographer, Boutique Films, https://boutiqueweddingfilms.uk | Mitch’s outfit, Julian Smith, www.instagram.com/j.smithstudio; Liz’s outfit, ASOS, www.asos.com | Hair and make-up artist, Kate Mitchell Makeup Studio, www.katemitchellmakeupstudio.co.uk | Stationery, Mitchell Content Management, www.instagram.com/mitchellcontentmanagement | Rings, Affinity Fine Jewellers, www.affinityjewellers.co.uk | Band, The Party Manifesto, www.thepartymanifesto.com | Table Cloths, Elf Occasions, www.elfoccasions.co.uk