Quirky Suffolk wedding at the Theatre Royal and Culford School

Back in July 2021 we got to travel to our old home town of Bury St Edmunds for a quirky Suffolk wedding. We’d been contacted by Meg and Jack who’d described their plans in such as way we knew we wanted to be with them for the wedding day! Meg is a teacher and a talented amateur actor with a lifelong love of The Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds. Jack is an engineer and madly clever Blacksmith! Here’s their wedding day in Meg’s words and our photos.

So, Meg, tell us a bit about yourselves.

I’m an assistant Head teacher and Head of English at a secondary school and Jack is a simulation engineer. Jack is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and he teaches it. In my spare time I train in Muay Thai (when I’m not injured) and volunteer for a feminist charity. We both have got into D&D recently and Jack is becoming a proficient dungeon master!

How did you two meet?

We met when I went to one of Jack’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu lessons. We fancied each other at first sight but were a bit too nervous to do anything about it straight away. I laughed at Jack’s terrible jokes and eventually managed to get him to come round to watch Star Trek with me.

Tell us about the proposal.

It was the ring’s fault. We’d discussed for some time that we may get married at some point, though it wasn’t important when. But then I saw “the ring” and that prompted the purchase and proposal in one day.

We planned the proposal together – we went to the Abbey Gardens in Bury St Edmunds, with Thai food. We used to do that all the time when we first met. Jack proposed to me over some Pad Thai: The woman who made the Thai food catered the evening at our wedding!

What was your vision for the wedding day?

Our vision was something personal to us. We kept it small, tried to use vendors we knew if we could, and chose venues and themes that were significant to us and our relationship.

When did you start planning the wedding, was it a long process?

We gave ourselves 9 months originally to plan – but Covid got in the way! So we ended up with an extra year! We’d started planning straight away, we aren’t fans of planning really,but it was worth it!

We booked the venues first. Everything else sort of fell into place when we remembered to do it. We were very laid back with planning. We used a checklist with a timeline, which was really helpful.

Tell us about the ceremony.

We had the ceremony at the Theatre Royal – it is an important place for me as I’ve performed on the stage there multiple times. It was small, and we had a good friend perform it as our celebrant.

On Neil’s excellent advice, we decided to get married legally just with two witnesses a few days before on Jack’s lunch break! In the end, due to Covid that turned into a year earlier! This was a great decision because we weren’t that bothered about the legal part being in front of everyone; we saved several hundred pounds on registry office fees; it gave us more flexibility with timings; and there were no legal obligations in the ceremony so we could do whatever we want!

What was the most memorable moment of the wedding?

We loved it all. We still talk about how much we just want to do it all again.

What made you laugh on the day?

• When Meg’s 18 month old nephew ring bearer didn’t want to go on stage to bring us the rings, but afterwards tried to run up onto the stage and into the wings for the rest of the ceremony!
• The food!
• Jack said “Meg’s dress”. Actually… I think this too!

Did you cry?

The ceremony made me cry. I didn’t expect to, but the feelings of telling your best friend in front of everyone that you will love them forever, was really overwhelming.

Do you have a favourite photo?

There are too many to choose! I love the picture of the wedding party jumping and me pulling a face, on my desk.

We have a great one of a bridesmaid, Shabs, with a walkie talkie which we often pair with a picture of Monica from friends at Phoebe’s wedding!

I love the pictures where the veil is floating behind me (thank you for your excellent running skills, Lisa!)

Other favourites were the artistic ones taken in the theatre. A gorgeous one with our silhouettes and one with a starry background. Also one where we are sitting in the auditorium and kissing.

Basically Lisa and Neil are so awesome – it’s hard to choose. So many favourites.

If you could do it all again, would you change anything?

Not one thing. I wish I could do the day again exactly the same!

Any additional useful stuff to say to other couples?

Yes – my dress was from House of Snow Bridal and the cake was made by the amazing Cake by Louise.

Also we loved our wedding cake topper – it was really cool to have us in our respective martial arts training gear.

Also, you guys are awesome! Probably one of the best investments of the day! Thank you so much for all you did!

We’d like to thank Meg and Jack for booking us and having us at their lovely Suffolk wedding. Also a big ‘thank you’ to Meg for contributing her words to make the blog extra special.

This Suffolk wedding was featured in ‘Rangefinder’ magazine!

Ok, so it’s tooting our own horn, but ‘Rangefinder’ is pretty much where the cool photography kids hang out. We were chuffed to bits to be approached to submit a tricky technical photography situation to the mag for a feature. While the Theatre Royal is gorgeous, it’s the kind of venue that will give pro photographers sleepless nights unless their game is on top form! Here’s our entry in the Rangefinder blog.

PS… and on English Wedding blog too!

If you’re planning your Suffolk wedding day and are looking for photographers, please give us a shout here. We’d love to hear from you. We have lots of useful help and advice plus many real weddings shown on our blog here.