Couple marry at Glastonbury with cake they brought

Grace Shaw
BBC News, Yorkshire
Louis Bork/Rich Brown Charlie Lowe and Charles Spires from Harrogate were married in a spiritual hand-tying ceremony in Glastonbury's Healing Field. The wedding will be formally legalised in another ceremony later this year. The celebrant Glenda, left, is wearing a red cloak with red roses in her hair. The bride is wearing a white dress and the groom is in a linen shirt and jacket Louis Bork/Rich Brown
Charlie and Charles Shires were married in a spiritual hand-tying ceremony in the Healing Field

A couple who got married at Glastonbury transported a wedding cake made by the bride nearly 250 miles (402km) to the ceremony.

Charles and Charlie Shires, from Harrogate, had a "spiritual" hand-tying wedding in the festival's Healing Field on Thursday morning.

A celebrant conducted the ceremony, which the couple attended after spending the night in a glamping site.

Mrs Shires, 31, a baker, had a "blow-dry bus" to get her hair styled in, and after the wedding they partied in the BBC Introducing tent.

"It was a brilliant day," said Mrs Shires.

"I make birthday and wedding cakes for a living and I usually make buttercream, but I wanted a challenge to see if a white chocolate ganache would melt.

"It survived!"

The couple were joined by 15 friends who also got festival tickets for the occasion, but have planned "another wedding do closer to home" in the next few months to legalise their marriage.

Charlie Shires Charlie and Charles in their white wedding clothes enjoying food from one of Glastonbury's stallsCharlie Shires
The pair bought most of their wedding outfits from second-hand online clothes shops and ate their wedding breakfast on the grass near Glastonbury's food stalls

Mrs Shires, who has been to four previous Glastonbury festivals, wore old, comfy boots while Mr Shires, an aerial surveyor who has also been to the festival six times before, wore his walking boots.

He said he "sadly" lost his jacket in a field.

"It was the only thing we lost!" he said.

The cake was kept in the couple's tent and fridges in the glamping site before it was taken to the Healing Field.

Louis Bork/Rich Brown Charlie and Charles Shires lean on a white car on a hill looking over Glastonbury Festival (2025). Charlie is holding her wedding bouquet in the air and wearing a white wedding dress; Charles is wearing a white shift and shorts and holding a yellow drinks can.Louis Bork/Rich Brown
In the evening the couple and their friends had a campfire to celebrate

The newlyweds have now returned to their "normal lives" in Harrogate and are likely to officially marry at a registry office later this year.

Mrs Shires added that her wedding dress was "ruined, muddy and stained".

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