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Harrogate couple gets wed at Glastonbury

Newlyweds: Charlie Lowe and her partner Charles Shires from Harrogate.

It was a special Glastonbury for two Harrogate revellers after they tied the knot (literally) at this year's festival. 

Charlie Lowe, 31, and her partner Charles Shires, 32, celebrated a Pagan handfasting ceremony early on Thursday morning (26th June).

The pair tied the knot as part of the ancient Celtic ceremony where a couple's hands are bound together. 

Charlie and Charles chose to mark the occasion at Glastonbury having worked at the festival in the past.

Charlie said:

“It’s the best place on earth! Everyone is so happy and joyful, and it’s just a really lovely place to be.

“We’re not planning to have our legal wedding until next year, but as Glasto isn’t on next year we wanted to make sure we could celebrate getting married in a way that was personal to us. 

“We’ve seen others have handfasting ceremonies at the Healing Fields in the past, and thought it looked really spiritual and lovely, and something that we decided we wanted to do as well.”

 

Charlie is the owner of HG1 Bakes and shared a handmade wedding cake with presenters Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac as they recorded a live episode of their podcast, Sidetracked.

The newlyweds distributed slices of the cake to the 'Glasto' audience.

Speaking about the cake, Charlie said:

“As I’m a cake maker, I decided I’d set myself the challenge of making our wedding cake - I’ve never tried to take a cake into a festival before, so wasn’t sure how it would go, but it made it successfully!

“It’s a four layer chocolate cake, with pistachio and raspberry flavours. It’s got dark chocolate ganache inside and white chocolate ganache on the outside, as well as faux flowers to decorate it. 

“It’s also got disco balls to go with the theme of the festival, and our amazing florist Lou from 4 Seasons in Harrogate made small bouquets to match with disco balls as well.”

The couple were speaking to wedding planning website Hitched.co.uk about why they chose to tie the knot at Glasto this year. 

Zoe Burke, editor of Hitched, shares the things couples actually need to think about before getting hitched at a festival this summer.

She said:

“Given the festival setting, you’ll want to keep decorations portable and your outfits as practical and simple as possible to make sure everyone is safe and comfortable throughout the event. 

“Fairy lights, colourful bunting and flags ae absolutely the type of decor you’d likely find at a festival anyway, so I’d suggest you only bring what you can carry. 

“And while wellies might not be what everyone dreams about for their wedding footwear, there’s absolutely no place for satin heels or white flats at a festival.”

For more festival wedding ideas, visit: https://www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-planning/organising-and-planning/festival-weddings/ 

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