A couple created their dream wedding by salvaging items from their SCRAPYARD - saving themselves an estimated £24k
- last year
A couple created their dream wedding by salvaging items from their SCRAPYARD - saving themselves an estimated £24k.
Melissa Drabble, 40, and husband Mark, 41, run scrap metal dealer Tin Man Scrap in Buxton, Derbys.
And after they got engaged they decided to build their wedding using some of the hundreds of thousands of items brought in.
The pair eventually found tables, chairs, decorations - and even their engagement rings.
Melissa and Mark estimate the wedding ended up costing them £6k in total - a huge saving on the £30k they had estimated it would come to.
Childhood sweethearts Melissa and Mark met in 1999, when they were both teenagers.
Within three years they had two children: Chloe, now 21, and Nathan, now 20.
They decided to start a small business together after entrepreneurial Mark had begun "meddling in bits of scrap."
They turned their garden shed into a tiny waste metal yard before expanding to bigger units as the business grew.
The initial idea was that people would bring their scrap metal to be weighed in and valued for Mark and Melissa to take it away and recycle.
But they were finding many items that were too good to be melted down - so they began selling on their best finds.
Their reclamation yard, Derbyshire Reclamation, was then born in 2012 - which became the source of much of their secondhand wedding.
By April 2021, they had a date set in place for September - and they began scouring their collections for unique wedding decorations.
Their chairs, candlesticks, cake stands and goblets came from their skips, which they upcycled.
That was also where they found disco balls and a real phone box to decorate their venue.
Melissa's engagement ring was brought in as scrap gold which they paid just £140 for, while her wedding ring was passed down through her family.
All the tables were free from a local pub which was being demolished, and all the plates and glasses were borrowed from a friend for free.
Melissa, who posts on TikTok under @melissa.drabble, said: "I had lots and lots of help from my close friends who helped me every single night making things and painting.
"It actually bought us closer together - that's what weddings are for."
They also scoured places like Facebook Marketplace to buy items instead of hiring - meaning they could sell them on after.
Their £1,500 marquee was found there - and sold on for the exact same price a few months after the wedding.
They also snatched up garden decorations including a 1920s merry-go-round, vintage bumper car and an elephant playground set which they restored to later sell on.
They got married in a church, but enjoyed the main reception and meal in their own garden, with a friend coming to cook in her kitchen.
They had a buffet made by Melissa's mum and brother in the evening.
Melissa Drabble, 40, and husband Mark, 41, run scrap metal dealer Tin Man Scrap in Buxton, Derbys.
And after they got engaged they decided to build their wedding using some of the hundreds of thousands of items brought in.
The pair eventually found tables, chairs, decorations - and even their engagement rings.
Melissa and Mark estimate the wedding ended up costing them £6k in total - a huge saving on the £30k they had estimated it would come to.
Childhood sweethearts Melissa and Mark met in 1999, when they were both teenagers.
Within three years they had two children: Chloe, now 21, and Nathan, now 20.
They decided to start a small business together after entrepreneurial Mark had begun "meddling in bits of scrap."
They turned their garden shed into a tiny waste metal yard before expanding to bigger units as the business grew.
The initial idea was that people would bring their scrap metal to be weighed in and valued for Mark and Melissa to take it away and recycle.
But they were finding many items that were too good to be melted down - so they began selling on their best finds.
Their reclamation yard, Derbyshire Reclamation, was then born in 2012 - which became the source of much of their secondhand wedding.
By April 2021, they had a date set in place for September - and they began scouring their collections for unique wedding decorations.
Their chairs, candlesticks, cake stands and goblets came from their skips, which they upcycled.
That was also where they found disco balls and a real phone box to decorate their venue.
Melissa's engagement ring was brought in as scrap gold which they paid just £140 for, while her wedding ring was passed down through her family.
All the tables were free from a local pub which was being demolished, and all the plates and glasses were borrowed from a friend for free.
Melissa, who posts on TikTok under @melissa.drabble, said: "I had lots and lots of help from my close friends who helped me every single night making things and painting.
"It actually bought us closer together - that's what weddings are for."
They also scoured places like Facebook Marketplace to buy items instead of hiring - meaning they could sell them on after.
Their £1,500 marquee was found there - and sold on for the exact same price a few months after the wedding.
They also snatched up garden decorations including a 1920s merry-go-round, vintage bumper car and an elephant playground set which they restored to later sell on.
They got married in a church, but enjoyed the main reception and meal in their own garden, with a friend coming to cook in her kitchen.
They had a buffet made by Melissa's mum and brother in the evening.