Rick and Adam first met in a pub in July 2008. After finding each other on an internet dating site and chatting on MSN Messenger, they decided to meet up for a pint... the rest is history!

The Proposal

During a weekend away to celebrate Adam's birthday, Rick woke on the Sunday morning after an evening of drinking with friends. He went for a shower to 'try and wash away' his hangover, and when he emerged he found Adam sitting at the table in their room, wearing his suit, with an ice bucket and bottle of Champagne in front of him. Not realising what was going on, Rick asked Adam where the Champagne had come from, so Adam told him to look at the label. It turned out to be a very special bottle that his dad had given him for passing his exams a few years before, that he had been saving for his engagement. Adam then pulled out a Paul Smith watch and told Rick he had something to ask him. They sat and drank Champagne and then went shopping to find a watch for Adam too.

Stag Parties

Adam went to Amsterdam with a group friends for his stag weekend, where he was dressed in a red Ferrari boiler suit. The highlight of the weekend was a trip around the city on a bicycle-powered bar, complete with unlimited lager!

Rick and his stag group hired a 16th century manor house in the Peak District for a few nights, and had a great weekend of games, cocktails and activities including clay pigeon shooting.

The Theme

As Adam and Rick both love the art deco style they really ran with it as a theme. They also had a strict black and white dress code for their guests, with scarlet as an accent colour for the wedding party so people could tell who they were.

"I don’t think the other guests minded too much about the dress code, though we had to answer rather a lot of questions about what was and wasn’t allowed (navy blue and cream were definitely not allowed!). We chose scarlet for the wedding party’s accent colour because of Adam’s long standing allegiance to the Ferrari F1 team, and it did look wonderful next to the black and white."

The Outfits

Adam wore tails, hired from Austen Reid, and Rick had a bespoke 1930's style suit made for him by Michelsberg Tailoring in Leeds, from a locally woven wool and cashmere mix, lined with a dazzling blood red satin.

"The whole experience of having something created from scratch was superb from beginning to end, and cost much less that you might think."

The Bridal Party

Adam and Rick had three "Grooms-people" each - Adam three men and Rick three women; this included a best man and best woman. Adam hired the suits for the groomsmen at the same time as he hired his own, but Rick decided to go shopping with the girls to choose their outfits, a decision which he regretted later!

Rings

The wedding rings and art deco cuffs were designed and made by Rick. Rick's ring was made from wedding rings belonging to his grandmother and great aunt. As well as being much cheaper to do this, Rick found it nice to think that a bit of them was with him on the day. Rick also designed and made silver bracelets for the female members of the wedding party, and made himself a pair of silver cufflinks.

The Flowers and Reception Decorations

Adam and Rick decided not to have too many flowers, just two pedestal stands, an arrangement for the signing table, and orchid buttonholes, all arranged from The Wedding Flower Company. For their table centrepieces, instead of flowers they hired art deco lady lamps from 88Events, and they also hired large punch bowls for each table, with each one holding a magnum of Champagne.

The Ceremony and Reception

Rick and Adam had a civil ceremony and reception at The Queens Hotel in Leeds. They chose the hotel as their venue as they loved the art deco style. The ceremony took place in 'The Ark Royal', a beautiful room with a frosted glass ceiling and lots of original art deco features. Their guests were seated to the sound of birdsong, which then gradually changed into 'October', by Eric Whitacre. Rick and Adam then entered the ceremony separately, accompanied by their mums.

The reception took place in the 'Palm Court', an enormous art deco room flanked by mirrors and marble columns. They named the tables in the reception room after their favourite Champagne houses, and each table had a different magnum of Champagne on it. The guests found out where they were sitting by pulling the Champagne out of the ice bucket to see which house it was from.

The Cake

Rick and Adam's cake was made for them by a friend of a friend. They chose an art deco inspired three-tier design in black, white and grey, with all three tiers made of fruit cake, but each with a different alcohol to flavour it.

The Photographer

Adam and Rick chose Liam from The Crawleys as their photographer, who was recommended to Adam after he went for dinner with an old school friend who had used him for their wedding.

"Liam was funny and down to earth, and his portfolio superb! He’d never done a civil partnership before so was clearly excited about photographing ours. On the day he was brilliant; neither of us like having our picture taken very much but he managed to calm us down and make it fun."

The Honeymoon

Adam and Rick had two honeymoons, the first a week in London where they saw lots of shows and ate nice meals.

As Adam is a teacher they had a long honeymoon over the Easter holidays. They flew to Nice airport and then got a private helicopter transfer to Monaco, where they spent three nights in the beautiful Fairmont Hotel. They decided to really spoil themselves, so drove around in a Ferrari, visiting the Casino and other sights. They then flew to Rome where they spent five days seeing the historical sights, before finally taking a train to Venice where they spent three nights.

Memories

"Adam getting up to play a couple of impromptu numbers on his saxophone with the wedding band; he got the biggest cheer of the day!"

"There was a hilarious moment while we were having our pictures taken. We were in the centre of Leeds having some shots taken outside a deserted, boarded-up nightclub. We were busy posing when all of a sudden a door opened up between us and a man’s head appeared! It really made us jump and it was great that Liam managed to capture it. It’s one of our favourite photos from the day."

Tips and Ideas

"Beware of taking on too much on the day itself. We got it into our heads that the only way things would be perfect was to do everything ourselves, and so found it difficult to delegate, meaning that we left ourselves busy and frazzled in the morning when things hadn't been done the way we’d imagined them. We should have let people help - they wouldn't have let anything bad happen!"

"We should have had less to drink and savoured every second!"

See more fantastic pictures from this wedding by viewing the 'An Art Deco Themed Civil Partnership' post on The Wedding Community blog.

Photography: The Crawleys

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