Carly + Graeme at Tyne Bank Brewery | August 2025
“Hiring Sarah was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. She made the experience of getting married so special.”
These two are such a cool, friendly couple. And together with their little daughters, such a sweet family. Cali Carly and Geordie Graeme and their two sunshine daughters, Ruby and Daisy.
The whole wedding day was a celebration of them as a family and a nod to their transatlantic partnership. A girl who decided to give up the Californian sunshine for the north east drizzle and stay in the UK when she fell in love. As you will see, the wedding flowers had cacti in as a nod to her heritage. I mean, come on. It looked INCREDIBLE.
Little Ruby ready to make her big entrance, with dad watching on excitedly
As well as the general theme of “these two are so cool” (cacti and disco balls, tequila shots and a pre-wedding game of pool), family unity was a theme throughout the ceremony. As I welcomed all the guests I explained that, in a word, marriage to Carly and Graeme means ‘family’. And this step of getting married was, in part, for the benefit of their girls. A completing of their little, cosy team.
Photography to make you gasp by Gasp Photo
Daisy was a babe-in-arms for the grandparents, but eldest daughter Ruby got a real superstar moment, walking down the aisle ahead of her mama to ACDC’s Thunderstruck. Then Carly walked in with her dad, eyes down the aisle to her Graeme, to the cool tones of Tom Petty’s Here Comes my Girl. Music is a big theme of their love story: bonding, when they met as friends at work, over a love of gigs and nights out. And now, as parents to a young family, their favourite way to hang out is playing vinyls at home with a nice glass of something dark or spicy.
And ‘a nice glass of something’ featured in the ceremony too, and not just once but twice. It felt fitting given the wedding venue setting of Tyne Bank Brewery that the bride and groom had a sip of their favourite drinks at the top of the aisle as I welcomed them both to the ceremony, just to set the party tone and take the edge off, and then we also cracked open a bottle of beer and toasted them both once they’d said their I Dos.
We did a wedding band warming, passing their rings around all their loved ones to be imbued with love and luck
You can’t always plan cute moments with kids, but the girls were front and centre, in both planned and unplanned ways. Ruby was the ring bearer, bringing up the rings once they’d made it round all the guests and, although it was intended that the girls would sit with the grandmas for the ceremony, obviously the goings-on at the front proved too exciting. Plenty of the ceremony was spent climbing on mummy and daddy instead.
The couple’s friend, Tyler, read a wonderful poem that felt fitting for a wedding bursting with sunshine on a grey day. It’s called True Colours, by Becky Hemsley.
I looked up the word ‘yellow’ the other day.
I found so many shades of yellow that they had been distinguished by words like
gold
honey
daffodil.
I found words like fire and sand and champagne and lemon and sunbeam and I even found a song.
Now imagine someone telling yellow that it’s ‘just yellow’.
When yellow is a sunbeam and a daffodil and fire.
When yellow is a song.
Without yellow, we couldn’t make orange and we couldn’t create green and our world would be far less colourful because of it.
Yellow’s true colours are not limited to one thing.
And neither are yours.
Some days you are dark and fiery and intense.
Some days you are rich and bright and vibrant.
Some days you are buttercups and dandelions and some days you are champagne and a song.
And without you, someone’s life would be far less bright and far less beautiful.
You are you as
yellow is yellow.
And the world needs you.
Because, no matter what you think, you are not ‘just you’.
You are so much more.
And for a wedding bursting with noise and music, for a couple who were best friends before partners, they walked out to the perfect tune: You’re My Best Friend, by Queen.
“Sarah instantly feels like a best friend, and we loved every minute working with her. I had some last minute wedding issues the night before and she was the person I texted over anyone else...”