A couple are getting married in an Anglo-Saxon pagan ceremony, in a wedding like no other.
Liam Liffen and Inga Dąbrowska met five years ago and joined Swords of Penda, a re-enactment group, in October last year.
Mr Liffen has always had an interest in history, a passion he would come to share with his bride-to-be.
Liam said: "I've been interested in their history for years and years. Inga has been wonderful and listened to me ramble on.
“So with that, her interest stemmed through me in that sense.”
Swords of Penda derive their name from the 7th-century King Penda of Mercia, and put on interactive re-enactment days, transporting people back to England’s past.
Christopher Poore, of the Swords of Penda, said: “We've had to take a little bit from some later Viking sources because there isn't quite so much written down in the early Anglo-Saxon period.”
Mr Poore said Anglo-Saxon weddings included the parents agreeing on a bride price, and ritual blessings using an amulet, drinking mead from a mead horn, and the binding of wrists.
The husband would often gift a weapon to the bride, such as a sword or seax, a type of knife used by Germanic tribes, which would then be passed on down to their son.
Mr Liffen said walking around as an Anglo-Saxon is very fun, and he loves dressing in the kit.
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“I think two or three events ago, Chris mentioned to me, ‘we could do like an Anglo-Saxon pagan wedding at West Stow’, and I thought that sounds actually fantastic.
“I've always wanted to re-enact at West Stow, so to also be able to have a ceremony there would be just incredible,” he said.
The couple are a bit nervous but really looking forward to taking part in such a historic ceremony which will take place at West-Stow Anglo-Saxon Village on July 25.
It is ahead of their official nuptials in Newcastle in September.
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