Cara & Steven

Dress

Cara The Bride: When choosing my dress I had a few different styles in mind that I wanted to try. I had been scrolling through Instagram one day when I came across the designer Eliza Jane Howell.  I instantly loved the dresses, simple but with so much detail it was mesmerizing. My mum had kindly asked if I would be ok with having only her share the special moment of choosing my dress and I happily agreed.  Having tried on five different dresses I narrowed it down to two. I tried my dress on again and Karen the lovely assistant commented that it was the only dress that I’d had the biggest smile with. My decision was made and I had found THE DRESS.  My mum and I managed to keep it a secret from everyone for 18 months, no idea how I managed it, I am terrible at keeping secrets.  My dress seemed to skim over all the right places and I felt like a million dollars. Everyone on the day said it was so “Me”.  I wanted to keep my veil simple but long so I went for the cathedral length style.  My shoes were a big purchase, I had wanted a pair of Valentino Rockstuds for years but could never justify them so as a  (very) big treat to myself I got them.  I choose a very subtle flower crown made with gypsophila, which I felt, made the dress look more bohemian.  My something old, borrowed and blue was my grandmothers sapphire pendant necklace and my mums sapphire earrings.

The Groom

Steven originally wanted to wear a suit as he said he wasn’t the ‘kilt kind of person’ I left the decision up to him but I was so pleased when he said he would be wearing a Kilt.  He chose the tartan and got his kilt made from Slanj in Glasgow.  I have to say he looked very handsome.

Bridesmaids

When looking for bridesmaid dresses I knew I wanted something a bit at different and not typical ‘bridesmaid’, so when I came across the girl’s dresses on ASOS I loved them, as did the girls.  I knew they would look amazing on all of them and go perfectly with my dress. They also had a small bunch of gypsophila in their hair.  

The Venue

After nearly booking to go abroad to get married and me having a meltdown one-morning crying that I didn’t want to go abroad anymore, the hunt was on for a venue in Scotland.  We chose to have our ceremony at Glasgow University Memorial Chapel and were able to do so with Steven being an Alumni.  The Chapel is breathtaking, as is the grounds where we had our photo session.  It’s like something out of Harry Potter! Cottiers was a lucky find for us, I had never heard of it before and so happy I came across it.  We viewed Cottiers in Autumn and the surrounding area in the West End of Glasgow was stunning, with the leaves falling from the trees, it looked so pretty and hoped it would be like that for our wedding day. I love that we managed to get some amazing photos in the streets nearby, we certainly lucked out with the weather.  Cottiers is such a unique venue and we were able to do almost anything we wanted.  I have to thank Erin our wedding planner for putting up with all my requests.

DIY/ Decor

Pinterest played a huge part in the ideas I had for the décor as did many online blogs including ‘Rock My Wedding’. I wrote a blog post about my wedding planning on my blog ‘The Wright Way’.  I wanted it to look rustic and fresh with lots of baby’s breath, roses and tea lights.  I had everyone and their gran collecting jars for me, in the end I could have built a house with the amount I had.  I glued on ribbon and hessian to the jars. To inject some colour my mum wrapped wine bottles (that she MADE me collect for her) with pastel coloured wool.  After Steven sourced tree logs, my dad cut them all down, sanded and coated them to make our centerpieces; he had them all ready and piled high in his garage for about 8 months.  My dad and I also made our table plan from an old picture frame that was gathering dust in their loft.  We had pictures of our grandparents and our parents on their wedding day, which I loved.  There was a sprig of rosemary (which is incidentally my mother in laws name) wrapped in each person’s menu, which was picked from the garden.  Our favours were passion fruit and mango curd which myself, sister in law and nephews filled and tagged.

Florist

I found I Heart Flowers on the Glasgow Wedding Collective.  My bouquet was made from the Rose Garden collection and had an array of roses and lots of greenery.  My bridesmaids had a smaller version of my bouquet.  The table flowers were kept simple with a bunch of gypsophila and a single pink rose.  We also had an amazing foliage garland for the top table.

Videographer

One aspect of the day we knew we didn’t want to scrimp on was a videographer.  We are so happy with how the video turned out, certainly not something we had ever seen before and everyone that has watched it so far has been in tears and utterly amazed by it.  We couldn’t believe that the highlight film on their Facebook has reached over 10k views.  Stuart and Alina from White Balloon Company were a pleasure to have and so unobtrusive.

Photography

When looking for a photographer we had a vision in mind that we wanted our photos to look relaxed and romantic and not awkwardly posed and therefore chose The Gibson’s.  We had an engagement shoot beforehand with Chantal and Scott which turned out amazing, even with the rain pouring down, so we knew we would be in for a treat with our wedding photos.  I loved when Chantal got a great shot, as she would let out a little happy squeak.  We had a second shooter Martin Venherm who was also fantastic.  Steven likes to tell the story where Martin, trying to get the best shot in the convertible on the way to the chapel decided to clamber over the seats and stated “I don’t care if the police stop me I need to get this shot” now that’s dedication.  Both Chantal and Martin produced the most beautiful photos that we will cherish forever.

Ceremony

We had a humanist service, which was conducted by the lovely Jennifer Buchan from the Humanist Society of Scotland.  We had my brother and Stevens’ aunt say readings for us.  We gave them free reign on what to choose and we waited until the big day to hear them which was a lovely surprise for us both. They chose ‘The Best is yet to be’ and ‘The One’.  At the end of our service we had a Quaich Ceremony, an old Scottish tradition where both sets of parents, Steven and I drank from a Quaich to represent the joining of both families.

Entertainment

With the Chapel being so grand we knew a CD playing music would just get lost so we opted for a string quartet and I walked down the aisle to the song Steven used when he proposed to me with Phoenix ‘Girlfriend’, this was a huge surprise for him!  Our band in the evening was Ernest who were fantastic and had everyone up on the dance floor all night, we would highly recommend them.