3 weeks ago
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Bride crowd-surfs at Biffy on her wedding day
You are cordially invited to witness the moment a music loving bride celebrated her wedding crowd-surfing to the band that led her to meet her husband.
That might be the wording on Carla Hester's wedding invitations were she to write them again.
The 41-year-old knew she wanted a "non-traditional" wedding when planning to marry her fiancé James, 34.
The couple, from Lincolnshire, met via an online fan site for the Scottish band Biffy Clyro and bonded over a shared love of music and collecting vinyl.
When Biffy Clyro announced the appropriately-named Celebration of Beginnings tour, including three nights at the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow, the couple thought it would be the perfect wedding reception.
Euan Robertson
Carla queued outside the venue in the days before her wedding to secure her spot on the barrier
"It just started as this mad idea," Carla said.
"We thought all our mates are up there, we got together because of Biffy, it’s still a good chunk of time away, we’re talking about getting married anyway so why don’t we do it there with all our mates?"
Instead of the typical pre-wedding stress, Carla spent the days leading up to her big day camped outside the venue with friends, hoping to secure a spot at the front.
When she eventually secured the prized front and centre spot, she held up a sign reading "I'm getting married tomorrow".
The bride-to-be even bumped into some family members of the band.
She said: "We met Ben and James’ (Johnston) mum the night before the wedding, on the Friday.
"We were talking to her about the wedding and when we met James after the gig on the Saturday in our suit and dress, he said ‘you’re the guys that are getting married, my mum has been texting me telling me all about you’."
David Grant Simpson Photography
Carla and James through the Barrowland Ballroom was the perfect venue
The couple held their ceremony in Glasgow city centre, attended by friends and family who had travelled from England for the big day.
Ahead of the third and final Biffy Clyro show, the couple went to Saint Lukes & the Winged Ox, meeting up with fellow Biffy Clyro fans.
Carla said: "It was perfect, it was so chilled out. We generally meet up at gigs, we’re just one big Biffy family really."
Other fans had already heard about Carla's "daft idea" of crowd-surfing and encouraged her to carry out her plans.
As the band played There's No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake, the bride was lifted into the air and carried by fellow fans, still in her wedding dress.
David Grant Simpson Photography
James and Carla in the their wedding outfits inside the venue
Even the couple's honeymoon is a nod to their first conversation.
"I made a post on the Biffy appreciation group that I was disappointed I wouldn't be able to get the new Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes vinyl because I was working," Carla said.
"James messaged asking for my address - he had already bought it for me."
The happy couple will continue their celebrations on honeymoon in Milan, where they will see Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes in concert.
