Jen and Graham love Whitelees Windfarm. Graham studied renewable energy engineering at Uni and Whitelees is biggest windfarm in Europe. The couple watched the windfarm being built and were glad they opened it to the public. Graham has such a massive turbine obsession, he wanted to get one as a tattoo.  And Jen loves them because they look like “gentle giants”.

As Jen said “the day was absolutely soaking, and by the end we were drenched, but I loved it. Was so glad I wore the wellies! Graham’s converse were soaked through. Mark was running about all excited, lying on the ground. His enthusiasm is really infectious. The wind farm was so quiet since it was pouring, and everyone that was there was in full waterproof weather gear. We love that wind farm, but we were so glad we could introduce it to someone new.”

This Scottish wedding was the second of two weddings for Larry and Cilla.  The first was held in Australia, where they currently live, while the second celebration was held in chapel of Glasgow University. Larry went to Glasgow University, and several of their friends were married there previously. The couple’s reception was in Randolph Hall, adjacent to Glasgow University Chapel which Larry previously remembered as his University exam venue.  Larry told us “our venue suited our small group perfectly, and we were pleased to have both the ceremony and the reception in the same location, so that our guests did not have to travel between the two. The staff at the University looked after us wonderfully – we could not have been more supported.”

Not only did the couple have two weddings but there were also two rings and two different wedding dresses for Cilla, both from Brisbane supplier, Anita’s Fashion. The Scottish outfit was a lace and beaded gown, with a matching off-the-shoulder jacket, to contend with the cold weather.  The dress was teamed with raspberry coloured court shoes and a chapel-length, lace-edged mantilla veil. Cilla wore diamond drop earrings and matching bracelets.  Larry wore his own Lindsay tartan kilt & plain leather sporran.  Larry’s ring was a plain white-gold band, hand made by Boyce Jewellers, Queensland.  Cilla ‘s two diamond wedding bands were made by Hofstay’s Jewellers, Brisbane, and feature a single amethyst and peridot, the couple’s birthstones.

When the veil was removed for the reception, Cilla had ivory silk flowers for her hair. Her ‘something old’ was a lace hankie that her mother had carried on her wedding day, ‘something new’ were the bracelets, ‘something borrowed’ was a diamante wrist cuff which adorned the stem of the bouquet and ‘something blue’ was a sapphire and gold pendant, which had belonged to the groom’s much loved aunt  The pendant was also attached to the bouquet with ribbon.

Cilla’s hair was styled by Ruth Chalk of BeautifulYou and Cilla did her own make-up.  Ruby Flowers provided bouquets of red roses to match the bride’s shoes, with tulips, lavender and red berries, bound with the groom’s family tartan ribbon. The boys and fathers wore roses, berries and eucalyptus. The mothers wore corsages of orchids to match their outfits. Eucalyptus was included in all arrangements, to represent the bride’s Australian heritage. Church and table arrangements were tall arrangments of the same flowers, with fairy-lights woven through twigs. These arrangements were tied so that the guests could take them home.

LA Wedding Cars provided a 1940′s Beardmore taxi which took the bride and her parents to the church.

The processional in both weddings was Pachelbels’s Canon in d minor – played by string quartet in Australia and on a pipe organ in Glasgow. Glasgow had been preceded by fanfare from Te Deum – played at the start of Eurovision song contest.  Both Cilla’s parents walked her down the aisle.

The wedding cake was provided by Top Tier and was a triple stacked gingerbread cake (groom’s favourite) with ivory icing, silk roses and lace detail.  Larry’s aunt Morag had passed away at the start of 2010 and she had always planned to provide the couple’s wedding cake.  To remember her, Larry and Cilla had a framed photo of her beside the cake.  The harpist booked for the wedding unfortunately had to cancel at last minute due to a family illness so the dining music was supplied by iPod with music from the couple’s Australian wedding.  Larry told us “We had had a music failure in Australia, so we couldn’t come into our reception to our planned music – Sigur Rόs ‘Hopipolla’ (Theme from Planet Earth). Because our Glasgow musician couldn’t make it, we were able to come into the second reception to this music.”  Later in the evening, ceilidh band Benachally provided the entertainment.  Larry told us “they were concerned to see a fairly small group in a fairly small room, but everyone had a fantastic time”.

Cilla and Larry told us that they “got a copy of the Scottish Wedding Directory and checked out the websites of every single photographer. Mark of Archibald Photography was one of the first we looked at but we kept coming back to it after going through them all – we liked the look of his work.”

Larry and Cilla describe their day as “magical”. As they said “not everything went the way we planned, but everything felt just the way the way it should have been.”

Scott and Vicki chose House for an Art Lover for their ceremony and reception because it was so unique and quite contemporary. Vicki said, “We also loved the fact that we could use a different room in the house for each part of the wedding and that the entire house was ours for the day. It was the perfect venue for us and we can’t wait to go there to visit again next time we are home.”

Vicki’s dress was by Mori Lee and was bought in the Glass Slipper in Dunfermline. Vicki wanted classic, simple, and old style Hollywood glamour, she especially loved the back of it.

Vicki took a limo to the venue organised through Platinum Limo, she said, “that meant I could travel together with all of the bridal party – I’d highly recommend it”.

Vicki has her shoes custom made in Hong Kong where they live. Vicki confessed, “I’m a shoe queen and had to have a pair of shoes that I could wear again. They were a brilliant blue/purple (something ‘blue’). Not sure how I managed to not wear them until the wedding day actually…. I wore my Gran’s pearl necklace as a bracelet (something ‘old’ and ‘borrowed’) and my hair piece and earrings were also from Hong Kong. My earrings had jade in them which is a hugely popular in Hong Kong – we’ve been in Hong Kong for over 6 years now and it was important to include a little of Hong Kong in our day. My lace bolero was made for me in Hoi An, Vietnam when we were on holiday there. I sent Scott to the bar across from the tailors so he wouldn’t see it.”

Vicki’s hair was done by LOX Hair Design in Dunfermline and my make up was done by Gillian at Eclipse Beauty Treatments in Inverkeithing, Vicki said, “ they came to my parents house which was great”.  Vicki used Poppy Floral Design. Vicki explained, “I wanted a really simple hand tied bouquet with a pale pink lotus flower in it – it’s a flower I associate so much with my travels in Asia and totally love when it’s in bud form.”

Scott hired his entire kilt outfit from McCalls in Glasgow and chose the Sheriff Muir Jacket with the mandarin collar. He had his shirt tailored in Hong Kong.

Vicki and Scott told us, “ We chose Archibald Photography before we even had a venue or a date for our wedding”. Vicki explained, “ I met Mark at a wedding show and fell in love with his style of photography. Candid shots of your day as it happens, rather than the usual official line up which is not our style at all.” Vicki told us her favourite photograph of the day is the shot of them in the oval room.

They hired their band “Wildcard” through Music for Scotland, “both of which were excellent”, Vicki told us. She further explained, “We were able to go along to a practice session and talk to them to make sure they were right for us. They played songs from pretty much all of our favourite bands mixed with a few golden oldies to keep our parents, aunts and uncles happy! We had a lot of great feedback on the band and they were even happy to let our friend jam with them on the night which was pretty special for us”.

Vicki and Scott’s cake was by Celebration Cakes in Dunoon.  They told them what they liked and they made them an “amazing” chocolate cake.

Vicki and Scott said, “The best thing about our day was having all our friends and family from across the world in the same place at the same time”.

Vicki told us, “There was so much potential for things to go wrong. The volcanic ash and constant airline strikes were a bit stressful for us in the lead up to the wedding. Just in the wedding party alone, we had us flying in from Hong Kong, the best man from Shanghai and one of our bridesmaids from Canada. Thankfully, we all made it and everything went perfectly on the day”.

Vicki was piped in to Highland Cathedral and told us, “Our first dance was ‘Even When I’m Sleeping’ chosen by Scott several years before we got married. We were the only people in the room who knew it and the band had learned it especially for the night”.

Vicki and Scott said, “ It was amazing – we want to do it all over again”!

As Kirsten said “we decided to choose Contact the Elderly as I remembered seeing something about the charity on the BBC Lifeline Appeal a few years before and thinking it was such a great idea.  There are so many isolated older people and I know from personal experience how isolated my gran became after my papa died. I also think that charities for older people are probably donated to less than a lot of other charities as unfortunately in our society they’re not as emotive as e.g. children’s or cancer charities.”

The couple had information on each table telling their guests what they had decided to do and Contact the Elderly keyrings were also on the table for guests to take as a reminder.

You can read more about this story on the Contact the Elderly website

Barry and Rosa looked at quite a few venues before picking Glenbervie House Hotel (a 5 star luxury hotel in Larbert, Central Scotland) but as soon as they drove up the driveway, they both knew it was perfect. They loved the fact that you get exclusive use of the house which they said “makes it that bit more special!”.  They felt the service at Glenbervie House was brilliant throughout the run up to the wedding and on the actual day of the wedding.  Rosa told us “the staff at the venue made sure the day flowed perfectly which allowed me to just enjoy it without worrying about what needed to be done or what was happening next”.

Rosa’s dress was bought from a small independent bridal shop in West Yorkshire called Perfect Daze.  As Rosa told us “I originally tried the dress on about a year and a half before the wedding and nothing I saw after that would compare! When I went back to Perfect Daze to order the dress, I was told that the designer, Catherine Jane had gone into receivership and therefore I wouldn’t be able to get the dress.  Emma (the owner of Perfect Daze) saw how upset I was and managed to get a final one off made for me! I love everything about my dress and I’m so sad I’ll never get to wear it again!”

Rosa’s veil and tiara were her ‘something borrowed’ (from a friend) and her Mum and Dad bought her jewellery for her, which matched her tiara really well.  Rosa’s shoes were ivory pointed toes with a low heel and she got them from the Westend Wedding Boutique in Glasgow.

Millennium Hair Design in Wishaw did Rosa and her bridesmaids’ hair and Rosa commented “the girls in there were fab”.  Rosa’s make-up was done locally to the Glenbervie at Airth Castle Spa.

Flowers were provided by Alison’s Flowers in Stonehouse.  Rosa chose neutral (ivory & white) flowers to to work with their chosen colour scheme at Glenbervie House. Roses and white thistles were the main flowers used to connect the Yorkshire and Scottish backgrounds of the couple.  Their cake was made by Barry’s old Home Economics teacher.

Kilts were from Kilt Pin in Falkirk who won Best Groomswear Company 2009 at the recent VOWS Awards.

For entertainment in the evening, the couple had a band called Red Hot Poker Band.  Rosa told us that “everyone commented on how good the band were in the days and weeks after the wedding – its was a brilliant night”.  The couple’s first dance was ‘Rhythms del Mundo’ – a cuban mix of Jack Johnson’s ‘Better Together’ because as Rosa pointed out “it is better when we’re together!!”

Rosa also spoke very highly of John McIntyres in Glasgow where the couple purchased their rings.  Rosa told us that “the service was brilliant. When you purchase your wedding ring’s there you get 10% discount on any further purchases, which is good for bridesmaids gifts and jewellery. I would recommend them to everyone!”

I was interested to find out why Barry and Rosa had chosen Archibald Photography as their photographers.  Rosa said “I first saw your photographs when I searched for wedding photographers online and I knew Marks images were just the style we wanted. After visiting your studio and meeting you both we were certain that you would produce the type/style of album we wanted.  I love the images of Barry and I walking down the drive with the trees behind us. They are just beautiful, I still can’t believe its us in the pictures!”

For Barry and Rosa, the best thing about the day (other than the marriage ceremony) was having all their friends and family together in one place at one time.  As Rosa pointed out “it’s not likely to happen again anytime soon and so really does make the day extra special.”  Barry sums up the day as “awesome!”

On any wedding day, there is usually something funny that happens or doesn’t go as planned.  For Rosa and Barry, it was the cutting of their wedding cake.  According to Rosa “we did under estimate how hard it would be to cut the cake – that was quite funny and made some pretty good photos!”

From our point of view, we loved watching the slideshow for the first time with Rosa and Barry.  The sequence of images from their speeches had us all in fits of giggles and we hope their images will provide them with a fantastic lasting record of a fabulous day.

Here’s a slideshow of our favourite images from their day (turn off the volume if at work!):

Laura has a figure to die for and choose a gorgeous vintage style dress by Suzanne Neville.  Laura wore Mirabeau by Suzanne Neville, a designer at the forefront of British couture wedding design.  Her dresses are well known for their perfectly structured bodices and Laura’s choice of dress had an elegant style reminiscent of vintage French cafe society in the 1950s.

Laura had a vintage style headpiece made for her by William Chambers Millinery who have just been nominated as Accessory Designer of the Year in the Scottish Fashion Awards for the third year running.

Other suppliers worthy of note were:

Rings – Laings

Bridal Shoes – Irregular Choice

Bridal Accessories – Laura’s gloves were vintage, her earrings and garter were from Etsy and a feather shrug was purchased from Ebay

Hair – by Mark at Graeme Reid Hair

Groomswear – Slaters

Wedding Cake – Special Days Cakes

Flowers – Ruby Flowers

Bridesmaid dresses – Karen Millen

Evening Entertainment – Fat Sam’s Band who Laura said “were absolutely fantastic!” As Laura told us “my different groups of friends all bonded over dancing manically to the swing music”  Laura and James danced their first dance to ‘Kiss’  by Dean Martin because it “felt just right and had a classic old feel”.

Laura told us that she chose Archibald Photography because “the quality of photographs was very high, I really loved the reportage sort of style, and we both felt really comfortable with Mark and that we clicked with him.”

Laura had many favourite parts of the day.  As she told us “I really enjoyed getting ready with the girls in the hotel. My own speech was impromptu and I’m glad I did it. The band were absolutely fantastic and I really enjoyed seeing all my different groups of friends get on really well; here was a really laid back atmosphere all day. We weren’t allowed confetti at the church, but my family surprised us with it as we left the reception at night! I really enjoyed spending a short amount of time alone with James in the car after the ceremony, as it went down Kelvin Way on a sunny day with some champagne and my bridesmaids also surprised me with candles and rose petals in the hotel room at night. Walking down the aisle was so nerve-racking at the rehearsal, but lovely and exciting on the day.”

Laura and James’ day went very much as planned but amusingly, as the car was open topped and the couple had to go through the centre of Glasgow (down Argyle Street and up Queen Street), they got a lot of clapping and cheering.  As Laura recalled “one particularly memorable drunk shouted ‘quality’ at us.  Then on the way home, the car had to move up the street a bit whilst waiting for us because some drunks tried to get in it – I’d probably pick a more discreet car for going home if I was to change anything! My dress also was completely filthy at the end of the day, but that was OK. I lost my gloves, feather shrug, and one stocking by the end of the night!”

Laura would sum up the whole experience as “just exactly as I had imagined it would be. It was remarkably stress free, and I felt so comfortable leaving Mark alone to do his thing with the photos because I knew they’d be great, and they were. Really lovely and happy.”

Here are some of our favourite images of their day:

I’ve photographed at this venue many times and I can honestly say that these were the ideal weather conditions to show the drama of the loch. This photograph is often a favourite when I show it to couples about to tie the knot. Everyone tells you to pray for good weather on your wedding day. I suppose it depends on how you look at it. For me this was good weather because it gave me the light to make a beautiful image. No two days are ever the same in Scotland. What a boon to have the fortune to be a photographer here. This photograph is a moment which could never be replicated. It makes me happy I pressed the shutter when I did.

They have opted for a black leather understated but fantastically timeless wedding album to display their favourite shots from their wedding day and below is the finished story of their day:

Sam and Martin met in the early 90s on a night out at the cinema with mutual friends.  Sam was only 14 and Martin was 16.  They liked each other but didn’t get until together a few years later (after lots of flirting and parties) at Sam’s 17th birthday party, where she rather unromantically and drunkenly attached herself to Martin for the evening! After that the couple were just inseparable and got married shortly before their 15th anniversary as a couple.

Martin and Sam got engaged whilst sitting in a quiet corner of the Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.  They had gone on holiday for Sam’s 30th so it ended up being a double celebration in the end!  Martin didn’t say anything, he just took the ring out of his pocket and put it on Sam’s finger.  Sam told us “he was super cool about it – I was very emotional and had to run into the loos in the Rockefeller Centre to fix my make up!”

The couple chose the Malmaison at the very last minute after the venue they had originally booked went into administration and cancelled their wedding with 4 weeks to go!  Sam had been to Malmaison for a business meeting and thought it was a cool venue and well suited to their small wedding, so they went to visit and booked it on the spot.  As Sam said “the style of the building and sumptuous decor was perfect, and looking back we were much happier with it as a venue and wished we had booked it from the beginning.”

Malmaison Hotel, Glasgow

Sam and Martin’s day was a huge success and they couldn’t have asked for more.  As they told us “the rooms were set up exactly to our specifications, and the staff were attentive and efficient with our guests.  We dealt with Marie Kelly who was just fabulous – she tailored the event exactly as we wanted, and suggested a great menu.”

Sam’s hair was by Debbie at Taylor Jax in Paisley – Sam simply showed her some images she had found online and she did the rest.  According to Sam “I never thought I could do ‘big hair’ but she did an amazing job.  I did my own make-up as I knew exactly what I wanted (and it gave me a reason to run amok in Fraser‘s cosmetics department!).”

Vintage inspired bride

Sam wore a Benjamin Roberts gown from Diane Honeyman in Ayr. “They were so helpful and really know their stuff in terms of finding a dress to suit the bride’s body shape. They let me try on a ridiculous number of gowns before I came back to the one they had picked out for me in the first place!” Sam recalled.

Sam’s main accessory was a satin, tulle and wire head piece from Trina at Baba C Designs.  Trina did a bespoke design for Sam which she was absolutely over the moon with – it was a real ‘statement’ piece’!  Sam also had a really nice bespoke touch on her shoes which was a stamp showing the wedding date on the sole.  The shoes were Diane Hassall, bought from The Accessory Boutique.

The gorgeous bride

Martin was a very cool groom wearing a fedora hat – it was a genuine Stetson, bought online from Village Hats and he looked super smooth!

Wedding Fedora Hat

Sam chose Flowers by Cherry Blossom as the florist and found them really enthusiastic and “totally up for providing the unusual flowers I wanted”.  Sam told us “the bouquet and arrangements were unstructured looking, just as we wanted, and complimented the style of the wedding perfectly.

Wedding flowers

Martin and Sam had a beautiful chocolate cake from Rainbow Sugarcraft in Peebles and apparently the unusual spiky design has become legendary; their guests can’t stop talking about it. Sam also said “it tasted as great as it looked!”

Wedding cake

There was no dancing at Sam and Martin’s wedding, just a meal as they were having a very small wedding.  They did, however, make up a playlist for the ipod of lots of songs that bring back memories of all the years they’ve been together.

Sam also commented that they were very pleased with their car. “We wanted a non traditional car so we hired a Maserati Quattroporte from Maserati Chauffuer Drive.   The driver was a lovely chap and even got me to the venue early!”

Bride's arrival

On booking Archibald Photography, Sam told us “we saw some of Mark’s work featured in Real Life Weddings magazine and just thought his style was very strong and very much the informal type of images we were looking for.  I had a chat with Mark on the phone and could tell he completely understood what we were looking for, so there was no decision to make really, we didn’t need to look any further.  On the day we had an absolute ball, doing the photos was effortless and Mark was so easy going throughout.  Our guests all commented on the fact he wasn’t telling us what to do or where to stand etc and they thought that was very refreshing to see.

When the photos were ready for viewing we also thought it was really good to come to Mark’s studio and see them on the big screen.  The personal service has really made it ‘an experience’ for us and we can’t wait to do the next bit of choosing photos for our storybook.”

Sam and Martin’s favourite image is one of them looking at each other on the stairs.  As they told us “it’s really different as a ‘wedding shot’ but just captures a nice moment between us, and epitomises the reason we wanted Mark to photograph the wedding – just capturing the moment.”

Wedding Photography Glasgow

The couple found it hard to decide on one best thing about their day, but in general felt that their ‘fast and loose’ approach to the day was what made it great! As Sam said “we didn’t plan it like a military operation or schedule anything too tightly, and we were able to just go with the flow and enjoy the day as it came.  As a result there was no stress or rushing to keep up and we were able to enjoy every minute of it. We loved our Humanist ceremony.  It was very informal and the celebrant had written a lovely piece describing our relationship over the years.  Some of it was even quite amusing -  it was just really great for the ceremony to be relaxed and informal.  Both of us (well, mainly me!) were grinning from ear to ear for the duration of the ceremony.”

Just married kiss

There always something on a wedding day that happens that you don’t expect and for Sam it was when she stepped out of the car. A huge gust of wind blew the train of her dress right underneath the car and pulled out the pin that was holding the front of my hair in place.  Sam told us “my dress ended up with a huge black mark on it but I thought ‘to hell with it, no point letting it spoil my fun!” and of course my mum was on hand to fix my hair!”

Overall, Sam and Martin would sum up their day as “just the best fun ever!  Everything we hoped for and more!”

Here’s our favourite images of their day:

We offer a service where a list of favourite images can be emailed to us and we will produce a draft layout showing how we would frame the images together.  We also offer a choice of different frame mouldings to complement the selection including silver, gold, black, wood and bronze.

With this order, five black and white images were put together in a composite layout as below, framed in a premium silver frame moulding and the finished presentation was couriered down to London:

Composite frame produced from wedding images

Our customer was delighted with the finished result and emailed to say “Thanks for an excellent service”.