pretty in pink - Real Life Weddings

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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 102 RLW SUMMER 2009 www.reallifeweddings.co.uk www.reallifeweddings.co.uk RLW SUMMER 2009 103
RLW 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 Special Days WINNER WEDDING CAKES & CELEBRATION CAKES CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN HIRE 54 MAIN STREET, UDDINGSTON G71 7LS Telephone 01698 327075 www.specialdayscakes.co.uk Sassy Sherbert Sorbet J a d e Lapis Pearl ...Getting Married? ...Bridesmaid? ...Mother of the Bride/Groom? ...Special Occasion? We believe in giving you more. With over 300 shoes to choose from, you won’t be disappointed. Adult shoes from 2 -12L Child shoes from 3 -8L Excellent shoe dyeing service. Beautiful tiaras, veils & jewellery also in stock. 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.” Sunset Sapphire 1 0 0 8 D u m b a r t o n R o a d W h i t e i n c h G l a s g o w T e l : 0 1 4 1 9 5 4 2 2 2 0 OPEN 7 DAYS - Thursday evening by appointment only www.westendweddingboutique.co.uk 104 RLW SUMMER 2009 www.reallifeweddings.co.uk www.reallifeweddings.co.uk RLW SUMMER 2009 105
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pretty in pink - Real Life Weddings

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