I met Pixie, I think , in the good old days of Twitter, when the platform was about connection and friendship. We connected way back in 2020/21 and, at the time she was thinking of using her creativity and incredible organisational skills (she’s a girl who loves a good spreadsheet and tick list!) to set up her own event planning business (Plan-it Pixie), for alternative couples and events across, I assumed, the Birmingham area.
Great name, play on words I thought. Definitely caught my imagination and we got chatting and I wanted to create some styled wedding shoots in my garden to promote both my alternative wedding/love/unity celebrant services and Cerdyn Villa as an alternative venue for ‘micro’ celebrations. Twitter worked its magic, we gathered some excellent suppliers together , all giving their time and services for free in exchange for shared use of the images we created. They were excellent. Not only that but we had the most brilliant couple of days. Pixie was extraordinary and went above and beyond, she co-ordinating the shooting of four (!) very different styles in the space of one day in mid May.
Then a few years later she and Joe got engaged. I offered my wedding celebrant services to her for free – at last I got to return the huge favour she did for me. She planned a fabulous engagement party and Hubby and I had a fabulous weekend in Birmingham and met her family and friends.
Fast forward to this year (2026) and the wedding is planned. I am delighted to be accepted as their celebrant.
22nd June 2026 Pixie and Joe get Married
Pixie and Joe selected the perfect venue for them. Surprisingly it had not hosted a wedding before. I hope it does again. It was perfect. Not least for the fact that it was already so well decorated that it needed little adding to make it stunning. Secondly the post-industrial chic location made for unique and magnificent backdrops that enhanced (if that were possible) this incredibly unique, cool/trendy (yes I’m old!) couple.
The wedding was photographed by Claire Osborne
She captured the day to perfection.
Pixie and Joe did it their way. A bit goth (lots of black, bats, coffin ring boxes), a bit glam (just check out both magnificent wedding dresses and pixies hair and nails), and very personal to them. And they did it together; they got ready together, walked down the aisle together and shared vows as “We Do”.
As Black Sabbath fans they came in to Dreamer. But they came in together. They wanted the focus of the day to be on the aesthetics and the feel, rather that them speaking publicly. They were supported and surrounded by their closest friends. The ceremony itself was short but perfect and poignant. The vows were kept simple with me asking and them simply saying in unison “we do”
Pixie had made the handfasting cords. – and pretty much everything to style the day.
Photos by Claire Osborne Photography
The wedding favours, the games, the table planners, the memory cards – nods to Ozzy Osbourne with guitar cases, and records for messages to the couple, plants and seeds for everyone to take away)! All the little details that defined it as Pixie and Joe. The day was perfect. Bride and Groom looked stunning. Pixie had a costume change mid way. If you thought the first dress was stunning the second, completely different, was equally spectacular.
Claire used the the Gas Street Basin, location to her advantage, resulting in some iconic images that Ozzy Osbourn himself would have been proud of – they even ventured over to the memorial benches a few streets away for some special shots.
Who wants a pet giraffe?
In my final blessing before presenting the couple to the congregation, I ended with this, “may you, Joe, continue to leave a glimmer of hope on Pixie’s dream of life on a narrow boat… even if it does present challenges along with a pet giraffe!!”
I am so full of gratitude to know Pixie and Joe and to have been able to share in this magical, unique wedding. I do not, on this occasion have the usual eloquence of words, but the pictures speak volumes.
Here’s just a few more of the nearly 1900 photos taken of their perfect day
