Chris proposed to Leigh in Venice, Italy.  Leigh said, “ He’d taken me there for my birthday. He proposed on a water taxi between Venice and Murano…I cried, then said yes”.

Leigh and Chris chose Cornhill House because they’d visited it during one of Chris’s visits to Scotland and felt that it “perfectly embodied what we were looking for in a ‘Scottish’ venue…beautiful scenery, and classic decor. We were so glad we chose Cornhill, Mae Fraoli (the owner) was absolutely wonderful, she took care of every detail and I never felt like I had to worry about anything-she totally had it under control.”

Leigh and her bridemaid’s make up was done by Alex from Healing Hands in Lanark. Peter from The Directors Box, also in Lanark did Leigh’s hair.

Leigh told us, “My dress was a Benjamin Roberts dress from Anne Priscilla in Glasgow which I’d seen in a magazine and knew was ‘the one’, I also got my shoes from there. My jewellery came from Mica, also in Glasgow. I wore my grandmothers pearl earrings which now belong to my mother as my something old and borrowed.”

The flowers were done by Floral n’ Hardy in Lanark and the cake was supplied by Special Days.

According to Leigh & Chris, “Our minister Melville Schofield was wonderful and everyone enjoyed our service along with the Cairn String Quartet who played during the ceremony and immediately after.”  Leigh told us, “I walked down the aisle to ‘Falling Slowly‘ from the movie ‘Once’ which the string quartet played beautifully…I believe quite a few people cried! We both have a huge love for movies and that one is particularly special to both of us. For our first dance we’d taken classes and had a whole choreographed routine which was so fun to do. I got to live out my ‘Strictly Come Dancing‘ fantasy.”

Chris and Leigh explained that, “We had a ‘modern’ ceilidh, provided by The Tatties. It was amazing! We were so impressed by how much our American guests really got into the spirit of it and gave everything a go. I even managed to dance in my dress…which I never thought I could have! Our favourite moment was probably during the final 12 minute ‘Strip the Willows’ (yes, that’s 12 minutes!) when the band worked in The White Stripes ‘Seven Nation Army’”.

For photography Leigh and Chris chose Archibald Photography because Leigh remembered meeting Mark at a wedding fair quite a few years before when she was working for her Dad. As she told us “his style was exactly what we were looking for, informal and modern but also very beautiful. We were thrilled with our photographs and we both cried when we saw them for the first time.”

“It’s so hard to choose a favourite image”, confessed Leigh, “I love the one of us laughing together in the line-up, to me it really sums up our relationship and how fun the day was but I also love the one of us in front on the Cornhill which we actually have blown up in our living room.”

The best bit of the wedding day for Leigh and Chris was, “having all the people we loved with us. Our relationship has been a crazy ride and the whole visa process for me to live in the US took so long, it was just wonderful to know that it was over and we were finally together for good”.

Chris and Leigh put it simply by telling us it was, “The best day of our lives! Totally cheesy…but absolutely true”.

David and Hannah met at college when they were 18 years old; they were both studying for qualifications in photography. They kept in touch and then got chatting on Facebook in June 2009, 2 months later they got engaged.  David proposed to Hannah, just ahead of her doing the same, in the kitchen at their home after they’d been for fish and chips!

They spent a whole day scanning the internet for suitable wedding locations and were just about to give up when Hannah accidentally touched a button on the laptop and a little thumbnail of Eilean Donan appeared at the bottom of the page. They both knew that was the perfect place and were very relieved to find out that they could actually get married there. The wedding day at Eilean Donan turned out to be perfect and everything they had dreamed of.

Hannah’s dress was made by a local lady from Shardlow, called Ruth Keefe. Hannah gave her an idea of the style of dress that she liked and she worked on it until it was absolutely perfect. Hannah chose the style of dress because she very much like chinese dresses and wanted have a dress that was influenced by this style but also had a twist of something slightly fairy tale. Hannah’s shoes were made by Rachel Simpson and she chose them as they were a little more unusual than most mainstream wedding shoes. The jewellery that Hannah chose was made in South Africa buy a very talented artist, Nic Bladen.

Hannah’s mum made and decorated the wedding cake. She has been making and decorating cakes to a high standard for some years and had retired, so it meant a lot to David and Hannah to have one of her beautiful cakes for their wedding.

They chose Archibald Photography because according to Hannah “Mark’s style of photography is unusual and not mainstream in its appearance. His images have far more depth and content than most, which appealed to our artistic natures.”

When asked, Hannah and David chose their favourite images taken on the wedding day to be, firstly the one of them standing, kissing in front of the castle arch doorway and secondly the stig lid image with David grinning!

Hannah and David said, “The whole day was very special but one of our favourite moments would have to be the entrance to ‘The Chain’ by Fleetwood Mac. As we are both very much in to motor sports, it was the perfect surprise for David and made me grin from ear to ear!”

Hannah told us, “Amusingly, David had to give a speech that he really wasn’t expecting. The best man had written a poem which initially seemed to be about David’s love for me, but turned out to be all about his car!”

David and Hannah summarised their day as being, “Scary, incredible, amazing and perfect!”

Recently, one of the images from a shoot of their 1920s vintage style dresses, won Mark the title of Fashion Photographer of the Year at the Scottish Master Photographer Awards.  Thought we would just share some of our other favourite images from this photoshoot:

Dresses – Lindsay Fleming

Headpieces – Baba-C Designs

Make-up – Ainsley M

Hair – Volume Hair

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:

What a setting! Stunning in any weather, this location was simply magical for wedding photography in deep snow.

The weather was perfectly crisp, sunny and the ground was a bed of snow. This location is so beautiful and dramatic that it almost doesn’t seem real.  The backdrop for photography at the Ardanaiseig Hotel was so amazing that the ceremony was performed outside despite being a snowy December day.

Andrea and Kevin wanted some dramatic photography which really showed off this most stunning of Scottish settings. Rarely have I been anywhere this spectacular and been quite this lucky with the weather.  Another nice aspect of this day was that I got to shoot another Lindsay Fleming celtic dress design.  I have provided all the brochure and website photography for both Lindsay Fleming’s Celtic Spirit Collection and All That Jazz collection of 1920s style wedding dresses.  It was great to photograph ‘Sabina’ one of their celtic inspired creations live on a wedding day.  As an added bonus, Andrea was in the lucky position of being a bride who is also a florist so she provided the gorgeous floral details on the day.

For the newlyweds it was a day never to be forgotten and it must go down as one of my favourite weddings in my career so far.  Here are some of our favourites:

Although it was a damp cold day in January at and there was snow and ice around, both Lisa and Bill were up for getting great shots showing the beautiful surroundings at New Lanark (Lisa in high heels on ice – brave girl!). It was a great laugh at the time and just shows how the weather doesn’t have to affect a wedding day in a bad way. I’m always willing to photograph in any weather and love it when a couple feel the same way! These memories will last forever.

Here are some of our favourites of their day:

Photography by Archibald Photography Ltd

Taken at Fernie Castle, Fife

Dress from The Bride in Broughty Ferry

Read Anna & Kev’s real life wedding story here

Beth Morgan Millinery Fashion Photography

We originally got in touch with Beth when one of our brides, Pamela MacGregor, wore one of Beth’s bridal creations at a wedding Mark shot in Girona, Spain.  Images from this wedding won Mark the Best Complete Wedding Photographer Award at the MPA Scottish Awards in 2009.  Anyway …. a conversation ensued where Beth said ‘I would love if Pamela could model my full collection and Mark could photograph it’.  We happened to know that Pamela planned to be home in Scotland for Christmas so the dream became a reality.

Beth Morgan Millinery Fashion Photography

Hat and fascinator creations by Beth Morgan Couture are often worn to high society events and her bridal collection is also stunning.  Some of her designs have been worn to Buckingham Palace, to Royal Ascot and on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Beth Morgan Millinery Fashion Photography

Beth offers a really friendly, down to earth service where she is always ready to help, answer questions discuss styles, source new fabrics and generally make the impossible possible!  She will send feather and fabric samples and email mock up images of any number of designs;  she is not happy unless the customer is happy!  You can contact Beth by email beth@bethmorgan.co.uk or via her website www.bethmorgan.co.uk

Some of Mark’s images and an interview with Beth Morgan have now appeared on Love My Dress blog – an excellent style diary and wedding blog of “all things glamorous and extremely very gorgeous”.

Here are some of our favourite images from the shoot:

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: