A couple who got married in a cemetery on what is reportedly the unluckiest day of the year said the day was “pretty much perfect”.

Hannah and Mathew Parfitt, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, were married on Friday October 13 last year in a room previously used to lower coffins for cremation.

Hannah, dressed in a black dress, and Mathew, wearing a red tie covered in skulls, exchanged their vows by candlelight, with the curtains drawn.

“We actually wanted to get married on Halloween, but it rains really hard every year on Halloween,” said Hannah, 27.

“When we started looking, Friday the 13th happened to come up and we wanted to get married in October, so that seemed perfect to us.”

The wedding venue the couple chose was Arnos Vale in Bristol, a Victorian cemetery that is also an official wedding venue.

Hannah said one of the rooms they used was where a pallbearer “would lower the coffins before they were cremated… apparently they don’t use that room anymore.”

“We didn’t get married on the graves themselves because that would be disrespectful,” she said.

Asked why they chose a cemetery, Hannah said: “I’ve always really liked them. I just find them really peaceful.”

And as for choosing the supposedly unluckiest day of the year?

“We haven’t had any bad luck yet, have we?” said Mathew.

“No, we’ve been pretty good,” Hannah said. “We recently got a new house, so things are going well.”

Samantha Buca, an alternative wedding dress designer who designed Hannah’s gown, said black wedding dresses are most popular in the fall because many people get married around Halloween.

“But I just made a black dress for someone who got married in Ibiza, so there is no right or wrong with weddings anymore,” she said.

Samantha said she didn’t really believe in the superstition surrounding Friday the 13th.

“(But) I don’t tend to have people book to view wedding dresses or to pick up their dress on Friday the 13th because that obviously has a negative connotation,” she added.

No one knows exactly where this superstition comes from.

Both the number 13 and Friday are known to bring bad luck. The combination of the two gives the day its reputation.

It has been suggested that the reason for the unlucky number 13 comes from the Bible.

Judas, who betrayed Jesus, was probably the thirteenth guest to attend the Last Supper.

Friday has been considered the unlucky day of the week for hundreds of years.

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s famous Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th century, he said: “And on a Friday fell all this misfortune”.

In the United Kingdom, Friday used to be known as Hangman’s Day, as it was the day people sentenced to death were traditionally hanged.

Additional reporting by Erin Lister