A couple created their dream wedding by salvaging items from their SCRAPYARD - saving themselves an estimated £24k.<br /><br />Melissa Drabble, 40, and husband Mark, 41, run scrap metal dealer Tin Man Scrap in Buxton, Derbys.<br /><br />And after they got engaged they decided to build their wedding using some of the hundreds of thousands of items brought in.<br /><br />The pair eventually found tables, chairs, decorations - and even their engagement rings.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Childhood sweethearts Melissa and Mark met in 1999, when they were both teenagers.<br /><br />Within three years they had two children: Chloe, now 21, and Nathan, now 20.<br /><br />They decided to start a small business together after entrepreneurial Mark had begun "meddling in bits of scrap."<br /><br />They turned their garden shed into a tiny waste metal yard before expanding to bigger units as the business grew.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />But they were finding many items that were too good to be melted down - so they began selling on their best finds.<br /><br />Their reclamation yard, Derbyshire Reclamation, was then born in 2012 - which became the source of much of their secondhand wedding.<br /><br />By April 2021, they had a date set in place for September - and they began scouring their collections for unique wedding decorations.<br /><br />Their chairs, candlesticks, cake stands and goblets came from their skips, which they upcycled.<br /><br />That was also where they found disco balls and a real phone box to decorate their venue.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"It actually bought us closer together - that's what weddings are for."<br /><br />They also scoured places like Facebook Marketplace to buy items instead of hiring - meaning they could sell them on after.<br /><br />Their £1,500 marquee was found there - and sold on for the exact same price a few months after the wedding.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />They had a buffet made by Melissa's mum and brother in the evening.
