Joel Harper-Jackson marries Lloyd Daniels in Manchester ceremony: ‘Possibly the best day of my life’ (EXCLUSIVE)

A registry office. A Manchester garden. A ceilidh. And, by the end of the night, a basement transformed into a giant gay nightclub, complete with cardboard cutouts of Dolly Parton, Kylie and Jane McDonald. No, this wasn’t your average wedding – and that was exactly how Joel Harper-Jackson and Lloyd Daniels wanted it.

West End actor Harper-Jackson and X Factor finalist turned screen and stage talent agent Daniels tied the knot during Manchester Pride weekend, bringing together around 100 of their closest friends and family. After taking care of the legal formalities at a registry office in the morning, they headed to a friend’s house on the outskirts of Manchester, where the garden was transformed with fairy lights, flowers and Spanish moss for a second, makeshift ceremony. There was poetry, opera, Brandi Carlile and, naturally, their puppy at their feet as they exchanged vows.

For Harper-Jackson, the day was about stripping away the pomp and doing things their own way. And after the celebrations, the newlyweds escaped to the Isle of Skye for a week of exploring, staying somewhere different every night and, most importantly, laughing together. “We were already locked in,” Harper-Jackson tells Attitude, “but it was just the most gorgeous way to go into the next week after getting married.”

Attitude: Congratulations! How does it feel to finally be married?

Joel Harper-Jackson: Lovely. It’s given both of us even more certainty than we already have, I guess. The week after we got married, we went to the Isle of Skye and just had the most gorgeous week of no work, no nothing, just the two of us. We stayed in a different place every single night, and I can just remember us laughing our heads off every single night. We haven’t done that in so long, and it was just a perfect reminder of why we are together. I mean, as I say, we were already locked in, but it was just the most gorgeous way to go into the next week after getting married.

One night we stayed in a hut on this little island with no electricity, the next we stayed in this cute little Airbnb where the tide kept coming right up to the fence. All really weird, little, cool places. We stayed in one fancy hotel, but to be honest, it was the worst one – the one where we spent the most money, as always.

I feel like an adult, which is quite scary, but yeah, it’s so lush. I’m proper, proper happy.

What can you tell us about the wedding day, and what made you choose the venue?

We kind of did it in two sections. I’ve always hated and never really understood the idea of spending a fortune on a wedding and putting yourself into debt that you have to pay off for 10 years. So it’s always been on my mind that I want to do things kind of low-key.

I want to do things non-traditionally, with no formality. I just want it to be a day surrounded by our nearest and dearest, being silly and being children. I don’t want any stuffiness. I wanted the day to just feel like everyone was so at ease.

We started the day by getting married in a registry office in the morning, to do the legal aspect of it, and then we got married in my best friend’s house. He’s got a very nice house on the outskirts of Manchester, and we were like, “The garden’s stunning, he’s got a lovely grand piano,” so we did it there and we decorated the entire thing. My friend’s an art director in TV, so she lent me her skills and designed everything, wrapping everything in fairy lights and flowers and little Spanish moss.

Then, for the ending of the evening, my pal had this basement and we’d converted it into this big gay nightclub covered in – oh, it was just ridiculous. It was really, really silly and exactly what I wanted it to be.

It was quite stressful because we were doing it outside and we chose to get married in Manchester, the rainiest city in the world. So we were worrying in the lead-up to it, but fortunately, we were just so over the moon that all of our nearest and dearest were there, we didn’t even notice that it was raining.

We watched some of the wedding videos a couple of days ago, and we watched our vows and we were like, “Oh my God, it’s raining.” Had no idea.

We did the legal part in the morning and then we did another makeshift ceremony where one of our pals acted as the registrar. It essentially turned into a roast, and it was just so funny. He was so silly and ridiculous.

Then our friends read poetry, one of our pals sang some opera, someone sang Brandi Carlile, one of our favourite singers, and then our little puppy was there as well. She was at our feet when we did our vows.

It was just a very personal, lovely day that I’ll never forget. Possibly the best day of my life.

How many people were there?

100 people, thank God. Thank God, my pal has a bit of room.

What did you both wear, and were you involved in choosing each other’s outfits?

Lloyd was originally going to wear a kilt. He’s not Scottish, but he just likes them.

To be fair, that kind of came from me. I thought kilts were quite hot, so he wanted to surprise me. And then he ordered something and it was just terrible.

So we ended up wearing the same suit but different colours. I was kind of in a creamy one, and he was in a sage green, and then we did different ties. Lloyd kind of chose it all.

I’ve now realised that I thought I was the particular one, but it turns out that I don’t care. As long as people are happy and we’re all together, I’m all right.

Lloyd chose the suits, and he did. I couldn’t tell you where it was even from. I was just like, “Yeah, that’ll do. Let’s go.”

It was all done quite quickly. I think weddings can take over people’s lives and become quite stressful and sometimes not worth it. I just wanted stress-free happiness, not too much faff or fuss. I don’t want it to become this huge thing.

I think because we’re both in the arts, I already feel like we get a certain amount of fuss and attention, and that’s kind of tricky for someone who’s probably a little bit more internal and a little bit more shy. Although the day did kind of turn into that, of course it did, I didn’t want too much pomp and fuss or too much attention. I wanted it to be about everyone else being silly, I guess.

You turned your friend’s basement into a gay nightclub. Can you tell us more about that?

He’s got this basement that has three rooms. So one room was the bar. All the walls were covered head-to-toe in glittery, sequiny, fabulous campness, and then he bought all these stupid cardboard cutouts of your biggest gay icons.

Dolly Parton had just died and she was there as a cardboard cutout. Jane McDonald, Kylie, Harry Styles – it was just stupid. Like hun culture on steroids.

It was really quite stupid, but yeah, that’s kind of what I wanted it to be known for. No seriousness, just a ridiculous day.

Everyone laughed their heads off when they saw it, and it just really made it.

Did you have a first dance?

Yeah, we did. We had a ceilidh.

A ceilidh is where a group of musicians get together and they kind of talk you through choreography, and it’s all about the wedding guests getting involved and dancing together.

We did a silly little thing to begin with, just me and Lloyd, where we danced to some folk music, and then everyone started getting taught this routine.

It’s just a really perfect way to get people who don’t know each other in close proximity and having to chat and learn to dance with each other. It’s a really, really perfect icebreaker.

Again, we didn’t do something very traditional. It was all just kind of how we wanted to structure it. That was the perfect thing about it. We just wanted to structure this how we wanted to, and because of that it made the whole experience so unique, I guess.

I think there’s something to be said for just doing things your own way and not following the norm.

You got married during Manchester Pride weekend. What was the significance of that for you?

I kind of grew up in Manchester. I lived on the outskirts, but whenever I would go out, I would go out to Canal Street. It was my safe space up there, a place where I came out when I was 13, so from the get-go, as soon as I was old enough, I was out there on those streets.

I had the best time of my life. It was a place that really shaped me, and going out was such an important part of coming of age. I really found myself in Manchester.

So yeah, I felt there was a really nice significance to doing it on that weekend because Lloyd had lived there, we met in Manchester for the first time, and it’s always held a very, very special place in my heart.

I thought, what better way and time to do it than then?

What was your favourite moment of the day?

Oh my goodness, I feel like I’m too spoiled for choice. I really am. I haven’t even thought about this.

Probably just after, in the registry office. I think all of us, we’ve all – getting married has been such a fundamental part of so many people’s lives.

When you’re a child, you go, “Oh yeah, maybe at one point I’ll get married and this will be what my day will look like, and I’ll do this, and I’ll wear this, and I’ll be marrying this sort of person.” And of course that’s been in so many of our minds forever.

And it all kind of came rushing to me in the registry office. The fact that I was doing it there and then, and for some reason it just really tickled me.

I don’t know why, but I became quite hysterical and started laughing during our vows, which was probably quite disconcerting for Lloyd. But because of how silly it was, the whole room then just started to erupt in laughter as well, and I think it kind of set the tone for the day.

The celebrant didn’t really know how to handle it and just laughed with us, and then said, “Right, sit down, you two. Sit down, you two. We’re going to hear some poetry.”

I can just remember then looking at all of our guests, and then seeing them look at us and seeing how much they all loved us.

There was a time where I didn’t really know whether marriage was possible for me. I think growing up as a gay kid – and I think a lot of gay people might feel like this based on what my pals are saying – but in mainstream media, that was where we went to see ourselves, wasn’t it?

In films, I never really saw just a happy gay marriage. Gay stories were always wrapped up in some sort of horror or death, sadness or comedy. I didn’t really see just two men married, where that was secondary to the storyline.

I guess for a certain amount of time I was questioning whether it would be at all possible for me.

So the fact that I’ve now done this and am so in love with Lloyd and feel such security, and it’s a gorgeous, healthy, silly relationship, when all of our family and friends are behind us – we have such a good unit – I guess those were all the things that were flooding into my head.

That’s probably why I was laughing, because this is so different from what I once thought would be my life.

So yeah, I’d say that moment where we officially got married and I had that silly little laughing attack, and everyone began laughing with me, and then seeing their faces – I think that might be my favourite moment of the day.

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Harper-Jackson is currently playing Frank Sinatra in Sinatra: The Musical at London’s Aldwych Theatre.