pretty in pink - Real Life Weddings

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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