Kayleigh and Dan celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary on Halloween by having a vow renewal ceremony with a handfasting in Whitby. They held their ceremony and reception in the gardens of the Youth Hostel here in Whitby, with Whitby Abbey overseeing their day.
The gardens are home to a statue of the Whitby Wyrm (look it up online), and the ceremony and celebrations were attended by another known Whitby character Vlad Dracul lll, who had ‘crossed oceans of time…’ to be there with them having met the family in Whitby previously.
Kayleigh walked into the gardens with their daughter who stole the show and who was happy Vlad Dracul lll was there as he is her friend. Kayleigh looked beautiful as she braved the winds in her sleeveless purple wedding dress, while Dan, in all black, stood waiting for his Bride.
The ceremony was created and led by Celebrant Ellie from Alternative Ceremonies UK, and Kayleigh and Dan made their own handfasting cords. They placed a smaller version on their daughter’s wrist during the ceremony, and the family poured three lots of sand from the three beaches locally into a Whitby Gin bottle, which once contained their Demeter Gin, the name of the ship which brought Dracula to Whitby in Bram Stoker’s novel. On the bottle is an ammonite shape, which was imprinted in the sand on the table during their sand ceremony.
A friend read a personalised poem she had written for them, and their guests were ready to congratulate them on their handfasting. After the ceremony, there was a black cake with pumpkins and food to celebrate. Their décor was Halloween inspired to commemorate their Halloween ceremony. With many props supplied for their guests to use, including everyone wearing vampire teeth for a group image.
Congratulations, Kayleigh and Dan, I hope you had a fangtastic day.
