pretty in pink - Real Life Weddings

GEMMA MCHUGH AND DAVID MCCUSKER
WEDDING DATE Friday 9 January 2009
CEREMONY & RECEPTION Glenskirlie House & Castle, Stirlingshire
PHOTOGRAPHY Norma Ann Photography
www.norma-ann.co.uk T: 0141 204 3388
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pretty in pink
Gemma and David planned
lots of little surprises for their
wedding guests – and they
were in for a few themselves…
Most brides-to-be spend a fair amount of time daydreaming about
their wedding day. Wondering whether they’ll get emotional during
the ceremony, picturing the scene when the groom sets eyes on her,
hoping guests will enjoy any wee surprises planned…
For forensic scientist Gemma, 28, there was a very clear
vision in her mind of the kind of day she wanted. “I loved
the idea of a castle wedding in the winter,” she says. And
she didn’t waste any time turning her idea into a vivid pink
reality. In fact, she went to a major wedding fair with hubbyto-be
David, 25, the very day after getting engaged! “My
sister’s in the beauty industry and she had a stall there,” she
explains. “Lots of people were trying to get us to book but I
kept thinking, ‘We only got engaged a minute ago!’”
The Bishopbriggs couple had been together for three years when David
popped the question, although it didn’t go exactly according to plan for the
groom-to-be. “One of my sisters had phoned from her holiday saying she’d got
“I don’t remember this
but apparently people
were saying, ‘That was
amazing, the bride was
dancing down the aisle!’”
engaged,” Gemma recalls. “When I told Dave I thought his reaction was quite
strange, and it turned out that was because he was standing in the jewellers
with a ring in his hand at the time! So his thunder was stolen and that kind of
put him off for a bit.”
Gemma was getting ready for dinner with her parents
when he made his move a few weeks later. “He said he had
a wee present for me. There was a gift box and then another
box inside that, and inside that he’d written ‘Will you marry
me?’. It was quite cute and a complete surprise; we hadn’t
even looked at rings so you can imagine I was thinking, oh
my god, what’s in this box? What if I have to say I don’t like
it!” Luckily and thanks to David’s good taste, she loved it.
Gemma is living proof that it’s easier to plan a great
wedding if you know exactly what you’re after. For this couple, there was
just no need to drive up and down the country visiting scores of venues
and potential photographers. “I’d heard of Glenskirlie and knew there was
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a new castle there, so it was the first place I thought of. We made
an appointment to see it, and booked it then and there.” Although
Gemma describes Glenskirlie generally as “absolutely gorgeous”, she
admits it was possibly the sumptuously decadent honeymoon suites
that swung it for them: “We walked in to the suite and Dave just
said, ‘Oh my god, this is it!’” Gemma laughs. It wasn’t all about the
gorgeous décor though; the couple sensibly took the location and time
of year into account too. “I wanted a castle that was fairly close by in
case the weather was horrific in January,” she explains.
Deciding on a date was just as easy as finding the venue itself; “The
Glenskirlie had January 9th 2009 free and, being a girl who likes dates
that match, it was perfect!”
Gemma’s efficient wedding planning continued when she found the
ideal bridal salon, photographer and wedding planner in the same
building, although the dress hunt wasn’t quite as straightforward as it
might have been. “I was a nightmare with the dress,” Gemma laughs.
“Me and Mum went in every single bridal shop you can imagine and
tried on just about every dress. I thought, what if I’m missing out on
something here?”
When she finally found The One, it felt right but the skirt was a bit
too voluminous (even by Gemma’s standards), so the clever ladies at
Eleganza Sposa customised the gown by incorporating the skirt from
one design and the top from another!
Gemma turned to Sarah Morgan Bridal for her accessories. “They
were fantastic,” Gemma enthuses. “Their veils and tiaras are amazing
– totally outstanding compared to all the other companies I found –
and when you walk in you feel like you’re in a fairytale dressing room!
It’s a mother and daughter who run the place and they were lovely.”
As Gemma wanted to wear boots rather than wedding shoes on the
day, this made it a bit harder to find something suitably ‘bridal’. “But
I’d spotted the Westend Wedding Boutique at a wedding fair,” she
says, “and knew they had a really wide range, and luckily when I went
in they had just the thing.”
With her own outfit in the bag, Gemma turned her attention to
kitting out her eight bridesmaids; best friend Roslyn, plus four of
her own sisters and three of Dave’s. “Originally I was thinking about
getting them in puff ball skirts but all my sisters were like, are you
kidding?” she laughs. “Then I had this thing in my head about cerise
and black, so I put my sisters in black and Dave’s in pink. Luckily
Roslyn wanted pink so that evened it out.”
Although it was slightly stressful trying to sort out a full outfit for
eight bridesmaids, on the plus side they got a free flower girl dress from
Etiquette Bridal Couture for buying in bulk! “Etiquette Bridal were
great,” Gemma remembers. “The owner Victoria was very helpful and
she’s a great girl, a really good laugh. The atmosphere was very relaxed
and every time we went in she made us feel really welcome, and always
gave us cups of tea and biscuits!”
Gemma was more excitable than stressed out as the wedding drew
closer, bar a few minor panics. “The paperwork for the ceremony
was a nightmare because Dave [who works for an oil company] was
working away at the time. Basically, if you’re born after a certain date
you have to supply them with your passport when you apply for
a wedding licence. We went along to the registry office in Kilsyth
assuming that was the right one, but when we got there they told us
we should have gone to the one in Denny!” Gemma giggles. “So we’d
driven all that way and as it turned out Dave didn’t have his passport
on him anyway. This was the Friday and he was flying away again on
the Monday. What a palaver!”
They managed to sort all the legalities out with seconds to spare, so
thankfully the ceremony was still on. But there were a couple more
sticky moments before Gemma could walk down the aisle.
The wedding day started serenely enough, with Gemma up early
after a late night (“I thought I’d better go to bed at 1am, which is way
past my bedtime”) and Mum on roll and sausage duty. “Everyone was
saying how calm I was – probably because I wasn’t over-thinking it too
much, that’s when you get yourself into a panic isn’t it?”
When the hairdresser arrived at 9am they got a production line
going to get ten sets of hair and make-up completed on schedule.
“The photographer Ryan was a great help,” Gemma says, “He said,
‘Right, you go fourth’, so I jumped in saying ‘OK, I’m next!’ I think
he was sick of taking pictures of me with my rollers in! But he was
brilliant, he was like my wee clock, telling me when to go and get
dressed. I was glad he was there.”
The excitement turned a bit nervy after a slight wardrobe
malfunction; “We had a wee catastrophe when the zip came off my
sister’s dress. Thankfully another sister knew a seamstress who lived
nearby so they gave her a call and went over to get it fixed. But by then
the cars were waiting outside and we’d been ready for ages.”
Having remained calm all morning, Gemma was suddenly extremely
keen to get the marriage ball rolling. However, she would have to wait
just a little longer: “We’d hired VW camper vans for the bridesmaids
and one of them broke down,” Gemma laughs incredulously. “We
were nearly at Glenskirlie when I saw smoke coming out the back;
we got to a roundabout and it conked out. The driver managed to
start it up but then it stopped again.” Eventually chief bridesmaid
Roslyn jumped in the front with the bride’s father (Gemma’s dress
took up the whole of the back seat) and the rest of the girls managed
to squeeze in the other camper van. Gemma didn’t turn even a bit
bridezilla though – she actually found it quite funny. “These things
happen,” she says placidly. “There was no point making a fuss. And
it’s a great story to tell,” she giggles.
With the bride arriving a whopping 50 minutes late, the poor piper
had his work cut out for him, but at least the assembled party had
been told what was happening. And the extra wait no doubt added to
the sense of anticipation!
Gemma remembers both her and David giggling their way through
the Humanist ceremony. “There were no tears from us, although the
celebrant, Linda Britton, did hand me a tissue when Dave’s auntie
read a poem [‘On Your Wedding Day’]. Dave’s Mum set me off I
think.”
The ceremony mixed sentiment and humour in a way that was
completely personal to the couple. “The Humanist ceremony was
ideal for Dave and I as neither of us are religious. We loved that it
was more like a celebration of your love. We were really happy that
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be inspired
Gemma’s experience shows how well an events
company can bring your ideas to life
Gemma knew she wanted a beautiful pink wedding. “We’ve been
to so many weddings where you see ivory linens and I knew I
didn’t want that. I also wanted the room decorated.” So she
called on Jordana Patrick [of Jordana Event & Wedding Planner]
to help her achieve the right look. “Jordana was a godsend!
Booking her was probably the best thing we could have done. She
decorated the whole room, which looked stunning, organised the
favours (T-shirts, personalised newspapers and lottery tickets) and
designed all the stationery too.”
Although most of the ideas came from the bride herself, as she
says, “you can’t always really see in your head how it’s going to
look, so that’s where her knowledge really came in handy. For
example Jordana suggested the pink lights, and what a difference
it made. I didn’t recognise the room. She did a great job, it was
really pink!”
At the heart of the sea of pink was the unusual cake creation by
Michael at Special Days Cakes. “I met Michael at a few wedding
shows and he was lovely,” Gemma says. “The cake was customised
and turned out exactly the way I’d imagined it… and it tasted
amazing too!”
Jordana also provided the couple with unusual table centrepieces.
“They looked amazing. Half the tables had big black candelabras
with jewels hanging from them, the other half had gel-filled vases
with orchids and a light plate underneath them. Everything tied
in perfectly.”
Even little details like the table names (based on Beatles songs as
“Dave’s Beatles daft”) complemented the theme: “Jordana had
written the names in pink and then put them in silver frames. The
table plan was gorgeous as well; it was a black tree with all the
names hanging off the branches.”
we could make it personal, liked that it was about us and that you’re free
to do pretty much whatever you want. On the day Linda was fantastic, just
brilliant.”
The ceremony was also a chance to give guests a bit of background about
them as a couple, and included a few funny stories and the tale of how they
met. In case you’re wondering, it was through one of Dave’s friends on a night
out – Dave’s first words were that Gemma was “hot”, and she thought he was
cute in a Paul Weller sort of way.
The service also included a symbolic candle lighting ceremony; “We lit a
candle each at the beginning of the ceremony, then one together at the end.”
After the lighthearted humour of the service, there was a less planned
comedy moment when they were pronounced man and wife: “People clapped
at the end, and we had confetti canons pulled as we walked back down the
aisle. But Dave had forgotten about them and got a fright when they went off
right in his ear,” Gemma laughs.
Perhaps David was also a little unnerved by the bride’s unorthodox exit
too… “I don’t remember this but apparently people were saying, ‘That was
amazing, the bride was dancing down the aisle!’” she laughs. “We’ll have to
wait for the DVD to check that!”
And what about the groom’s reaction when he first saw the stunning bride?
“I think Dave was quite relieved actually, because I’d been winding him up
that the dress was so big it wouldn’t fit in my car. He knows I’m a bit off the
wall anyway and probably thought I’d have gone for some Jordan-esque dress
and arrived in a crystal carriage,” she grins.
As guests left the ceremony they were given a copy of a tabloid-style mockup
newspaper with the happy couple’s wedding story splashed across the front
page. “That was one of [events planner] Jordana’s suggestions,” Gemma says.
“She was great for coming up with ideas.”
While the guests celebrated with canapés and post-nuptial drinks (pink
cocktails for the girls, Corona for the boys), David and Gemma were ushered
outside before the last of the daylight disappeared. “The timings worked out
quite nicely really, because we managed to get some shots with the sun setting.
The photographer was getting very excited!”
The couple booked Norma Ann Photography quite early, “in that stage
when you’re quite excited and just want to book everything. The people at
Glenskirlie had recommended them but I knew they were ideal as soon as I
saw their portfolio, their pictures are lovely.”
Before being piped in to dinner, the couple had a receiving line, just a wee
one with the bride and groom rather than the mammoth bridal party. “I think
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GEMMA & DAVID’S SUPPLIERS
bride to bride
“We didn’t go on honeymoon till
the Wednesday, which I would
definitely recommend. It was ideal
as you have time to reminisce about
the wedding beforehand, rather than everybody
having forgotten about it by the time you get
back. It also meant we didn’t have to think
about it until after the wedding and had time to
go shopping on the Monday and Tuesday.”
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EVENT & WEDDING PLANNER
Fabulous weddings don’t just
happen, we design them.
GEMMA & DAVID’S SUPPLIERS
it was a good idea to greet people, especially anyone that I hadn’t met before, as
it meant we could just relax afterwards and not worry about it,” the bride says.
The Glenskirlie provided an impressive four-course winter menu with a
choice of chicken wrapped in bacon or roast beef teriyaki for the main course,
followed by heart-shaped blueberry cheesecake. “Because of the time of year I
didn’t think anyone would go for the cold option, but the room was warm so
lots of people did in the end.” And just when the guests thought they couldn’t
possibly eat ever again, they discovered a personalised candy buffet (another
of Jordana’s ideas) stationed outside the function suite. “I was still sitting at
the top table and everyone was coming in with these pink and white bags. I
thought, they’re going to demolish it before I’ve even seen it!”
Before guests could tuck in to anything, there were a few toasts to be made.
“The speeches didn’t go on too long,” Gemma says. “I got up and said a few
words at the end too, as I wanted to say thanks. I didn’t really plan it, I just
thought if I feel like doing it at the time I will… I didn’t want to sit there like
Lady Muck letting everybody else do the hard work!”
That wasn’t the only way the speeches defied tradition either: “Dave’s Dad
got up again after me, then my Dad said a few more words… maybe they did
go on a bit actually! Then the dads decided they were putting on a free bar for
an hour, so that was the next announcement.”
Another surprise awaiting the guests came courtesy of entertainers for the
evening DJ Cammy and his son (collectively known as The Rejects). “Cammy’s
a guy my uncle knows. The band’s great as they do a bit of disco, a few oldies
and some of their own music too. But one of the reasons we chose them was
that Cammy does a comedy set as well. The jokes just rolled off his tongue,
everyone was in stitches. He did an Amy Winehouse impression too… no
Dave it wasn’t Tina Turner, I think you must have been away at the bar at that
point!”
That wasn’t the end of the evening’s unexpected treats: “My uncle’s a pretty
good singer so he got up at one point and did a bit of karaoke, a few Rolling
Stones tunes. And later on we had fireworks, which were absolutely amazing.
Before we knew it the night was over. It was like, how did that happen?”
Luckily for the newlyweds, they could make the most of the fabulous bridal
suite by staying for their first two nights as a married couple.
A couple of months after the wedding, the memories are still fresh for
Gemma, and like most brides she finds it hard to pinpoint the highlights. Even
little mishaps like the car breaking down will be remembered positively by the
couple; “The car company [Waterside Weddings] were really great about it. In
fact they were brilliant all the way through, not just when the van broke down.
And they definitely made up for it by driving us to the airport and back… in a
Bentley! Dave felt just like James Bond.”
Gemma put so much time and effort into making the reception exciting
and special for friends and family, but naturally it’s the unique ceremony they
remember most fondly; “We were both a wee bit nervous during the vows, but
we really enjoyed it and just giggled at each other like we did the whole day
really. People still mention the ceremony to us all the time, I don’t think they’d
really seen anything like it. And they certainly hadn’t seen a bride dancing back
down the aisle before!”
Want to know more about Gemma & David’s wedding?
If you would like to find out more about any of the suppliers involved in this wedding
please contact us on editorial@reallifeweddings.co.uk
Celebrate the one life we have
Humanist Weddings in
Scotland are legal
www.jordanaevents.com
201a Bath Street Glasgow G2 1HZ
tel 0141 222 2749 mob: 07908 464650
how we
honeymooned
“We went to a Sandals resort in
Antigua. It was amazing, and we
had our own private pool!”
Gemma & David
Create you own
Special Wedding Ceremony.
Express your love and commitment
in a meaningful and personal way.
For a Humanist Wedding Ceremony
by a trained and experienced celebrant,
contact:
0870 874 9002
Humanist Society of Scotland
272 Bath Street | Glasgow G2 4JR
Scottish Charity No: SC026570
Etiquette
Bridal Couture
01698 811030
11 Main Street, Uddingston, Glasgow G71 7ES
info@etiquettebridalcouture.com
www.etiquettebridalcouture.com
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