Real Grooms: Dan Anderson

Here’s this week’s real groom, Dan Anderson, along with some damn fine photos of his Big Day, shot by Greyeye Photography. Look out for the welly-wanging, apes and the über-cool shades. With their humanist wedding in a field in Yorkshire, the Andersons rocked that country thing in style. Here’s how it all came about – Dan’s blog postings.

Your Name: Dan Anderson

Age: 33

Bride’s name: Elizabeth

Best man and ushers: Ben Mair (best man), James Bucknall, Jeremy Gatti, Kevin Lee (in alphabetical order, not order of preference).

Where did you get married? The bottom of the field at Low Farm, nr. Liversedge, West Yorkshire.

Where was your stag do – any scars?

A quiet couple of drinks on the Friday night, then I opted for a grown-up stag-do, swinging through trees on a Saturday morning at Go Ape. Everyone had a riot even though it tanked it down. From there we went on to a village pub for lunch and a couple of ales before wandering to the middle of nowhere. We’d set up camp with tents, a keg of Shannon IPA (from a local brewery), a BBQ and an old amp, sub and iPod. Totally tame in stag-do terms. We all got drunk but I didn’t get stitched up at all and not a single scar to speak of. I did lose my frisbee in a tree though – does that count as a mental scar? It was my favourite.

What did the men wear on the day?

We had a civil ceremony in Cambridge, where we didn’t stipulate at all, but for the big wedding in the field in Yorkshire we just said we’d prefer them to wear a grey suit and bought them all matching ties and sunglasses. Liz made the wedding party some truly brilliant buttonholes too and it worked really well to keep everyone in-keeping with the wedding colours without stressing out either ourselves or the wedding party with more faff than we needed. A field wedding needs to stay chilled.

What three pieces of advice could you give to other grooms going through the wedding process now?

1) With the invaluable help of our celebrant, Stuart, we wrote our own vows and I highly recommend doing this if at all possible. The words were exactly what we actually felt and it sounds daft, but we really meant them on the day – since we’d put so much time and effort thinking about and talking about what we wanted for six months or more in the run up to the day, it was perfectly personal.

2) Don’t be shocked if your emotions catch you out on the day. I was really calm all the way up to, and on, the day. As soon as I walked into the marquee for a pre-celebration drink it was like I walked into a wall. Seeing all of my family and so many great friends in one place, the realisation they were all there for us on our day was overwhelming. I spun around 180 degrees, walked straight out and couldn’t go back in until I’d composed myself a bit.

3) Get a video. Whether it’s a professional videographer or just a trusted uncle with a steady hand, record your ceremony/celebration. We didn’t, but when we found out a friend had managed to record a bit of it we were really chuffed as we only remember little chunks of the celebration – the adrenalin kicks in and it’s over in a flash.

A word for the lady, come on, say something emotional about your bride…

I fell in love with Liz on the day I met her. She’s my best friend as well as my wife and she’s always been there to support me (and put up with me) through some really tough times. She’s as daft as I am and she’s always been there to create and enjoy the good times. She’s beautiful, inside and out, but still astounded me when she walked down the aisle. I’ve never seen her looking quite that amazing.

Staggered says:

Stop it  – we’re welling up! Snivel. Anyway, these awesome photos are the best advert for binning formal shots that we’ve ever seen. Our very best wishes to Mr and Mrs Anderson – we like your style.

All photos by Greyeye Photography

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