Tom and John's Wedding
Life’s a Circus, enjoy the show
Themed weddings are always extra special events so when Tom and John approached us about their circus themed wedding we knew from our very first conversation that it was going to be a night to remember.
When you think “Circus” you may immediately jump to clowns and balloon animals, however Tom and John envisioned stylish 1930’s Ringling Brothers vibes and elegant Barnum & Bailey wonders.
Stage One: The BRIEF
Tom and John told us that they wanted us to create “a wild night full of mischief and memories”. They wanted to avoid a drab, middle of the road, ‘playing it safe’ type of wedding and instead wanted a colourful, creative and above all else fabulous wedding …and I think we may have just pulled it off.
Stage Two: The Venue
Gisburne Park Estate is an 18th-century country house and associated park in the Ribble Valley. Its huge outdoor space allowed for a large scale event and enabled the circus themed wedding to really take hold. The huge red and white striped circus marquees housed bench style seating decorated with shabby chic table runners, sunflowers, peacock feathers and personal bubble pots.
The paths and walkways were illuminated with vintage style festoon lights, outdoor fire pits, and hand painted wooden signs.
Stage Three: Aerial acrobatics
Nothing screams elegance quite like an aerialist, so taking note from the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus Tom and John wanted to include an aerial performer in their line up.
This posed a few challenges, the first being rigging. Unfortunately due to the placement of the bar the circus tent could not offer any suitable aerial rigging support. To overcome this the provided freestanding aerial rigging.
Our freestanding aerial rigs do not need to be fixed to any ceiling or walls and are 100% self supporting, this made it an ideal solution in this case. We also took advantage of the speedy disassemble time (which was only 15 minutes) which, after the aerial show, allowed the area to be cleared creating more floor space for guests.
Stage Four: Fire Finale
As the sun began to set it was time to turn up the heat with a fire performance. Our fire performer provided a dazzling display of fire eating along with a fire sword routine and tricks with fire fans. The added touch of having a fire performer allowed Tom and John to keep this part of the entertainment a surprise until the very last moment as the performance was to take place between two of the fire pits located on the large grass area opposite the circus marquee.
The gentle glow of the festoon lights really brought out the flames against the darkening sky and added that extra WOW factor to compliment the theme.
Stage Five: Bring In the guests!
As part of their circus themed wedding they started the day with an informal wedding breakfast (provided by a Mexican Food Truck no less) the guests were then greeted by circus stilt walkers strolling the grounds.
Sticking with the theme of a non-conventional wedding the first dance was certainly one to remember! Tom and John treated their guests to a full blown drag show with themselves as the stars. 3 quick change outfits and countless lip sync mashup’s later and it was time for the fire finale.
“Thanks so much for making it a wondeful event.”
– THOMAS REA
Gisburne Park Estate Wedding, Groom
If you’re loving the idea of a circus wedding theme and this wedding story has inspired you to run away with the circus, please use our Contact page to enquire about our Aerial Performers, Fire Performers, Stilt Walkers and more.
Alternatively, if you have your own ideas in mind and would like to discuss a custom package created just for you – drop us a message.