FROM ABERDEEN WITH LOVE - Real Life Weddings

RLW
Stuart Discombe and Graeme Lowe
Wedding Date Saturday 7 June 2008
Ceremony James Mackay Hall, Aberdeen University
Reception Elphinstone Hall, Aberdeen University
Photography Martin A. Leckie Photography
www.martinleckie.com T: 01467 672000
From Aberdeen
with love
Stuart and Graeme wowed their
guests with a spectacular wedding,
but the day itself held a deep
emotional meaning for the couple
Stuart and Graeme certainly cut a
dash at their James Bond-themed
wedding in Aberdeen, surprising
guests not just by dressing in tuxedos
but with their stylish arrival courtesy
of an Aston Martin. All of which was
perfect for the unique photo shoot they
enjoyed before the ceremony....
The romance started
six years earlier, when
they hit it off online –
messages began flying
back and forth in
cyberspace, and they
soon realised it was
time to make a Real Life
date. They’d arranged
to meet outside a local
pub – the trouble was,
Graeme had no idea what Stuart looked
like and although Graeme had included a
picture in his profile, Stuart nearly walked
past without recognising him. “Luckily
he soon came back!” Graeme says.
Four years later they bought a house
together and it felt like the perfect time
to get engaged. Graeme popped the
“Stuart’s a big Bond
fan and he noticed the
wedding date was going
to be the 7th, that’s
where the 007 theme
came from”
question: “It wasn’t especially romantic
though,” he admits. Stuart continues,
“I wasn’t surprised when it happened,
because we were really close beforehand
and it was the natural thing to do as our
relationship was very strong.”
They both enjoyed planning the big
day and put lots of effort into creating
something special, and
a little bit different, for
guests to remember.
Organising everything
in plenty of time meant
they were able to relax
and enjoy making all
the arrangements that
some couples find
stressful. “We knew
that finding a venue
in Aberdeen, especially for a Saturday
in the summer, would be hard, so we
started looking a year and a half before
the wedding,” Stuart says. “If you have
specific preferences, you have to book
quite far ahead.”
As a graduate of Aberdeen University,
Stuart’s most recent memories of
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Elphinstone Hall involved taking exams there, but he knew it
would be the perfect venue for the reception, with the smaller
but no less impressive James Mackay Hall for the ceremony.
Graeme remembers Stuart taking him there to see it: “I walked
in and said, ‘This is it’. It’s so impressive, with high vaulted
ceilings and oak panelling. Most venues are cramped; this
would be an opportunity to do it in style.”
Booking the venue early on meant the couple had time to
think about what else they needed to do without feeling hurried.
“You hear of some folk that rush around panicking about their
weddings, but we were quite relaxed,” Graeme says. “It helped
that we didn’t have to find dresses, shoes and hairdressers!”
They had both already decided to wear kilts in their family
tartans; Stuart’s the red-toned Robertson plaid, with Graeme’s
the predominantly green McLaren. The two best men were
also wearing their own kilts, while they took five-year-old ring
bearer Lewis (Stuart’s nephew) to choose his own little outfit
from McCalls in Aberdeen.
“He loved the kilt so much he cried when we had to take it
back after the wedding,” Stuart remembers.
For their wedding bands, Stuart and Graeme were looking
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STUART & GRAEME’S Suppliers
for something a bit different: “We’d heard that palladium rings were becoming
more popular and decided to see what they were like compared to the usual
gold and platinum,” Stuart says. “We found that John Park Jewellers had by far
the biggest selection to choose from. Although we were in the shop for quite
a while, we didn’t feel rushed and John offered us a very personal service. He
showed us a new design that had arrived just that week; it was exactly what we
were looking for.”
With the rings ordered and engraved, there wasn’t much left to be done
before the big day. Apart from throw a joint stag party celebration. So three
weeks before the wedding, the couple took their friends up to the Lochter
Activity Centre in Aberdeenshire’s Oldmeldrum, for an afternoon of archery,
‘blindfold driving’ and even a digger competition.
“The blindfold driving was hilarious,” Stuart says. “We did it in pairs and the
person who could see had to help the driver steer round a slalom course. Some
people had no idea where they were going and one of the buggies ended up on
top of a barrel! There were three other stag dos at Lochter at the same time as
us and they were all getting thrown into the water, but we were short of time,
and I think that’s what saved us.”
In the evening they had a well-deserved meal at a Vietnamese restaurant in
Aberdeen. “It was very civilised... really!” Graeme insists.
It was as they were designing the invitations that the James Bond theme came
about. “Stuart’s a big Bond fan and he noticed the date was going to be the 7th,
so the 007 theme followed from that. We then designed the logo we’d have on
all the stationery, with the date coming out of a gun.”
They decided to keep much of the Bond details secret, to surprise guests
on the day. Photographer Martin Leckie, a Bond fan himself, was inspired by
their ideas and on the morning of the wedding the three men enjoyed a unique
photo session at Aberdeen’s harbour, posing in tuxedos.
“Yeah, Martin even wore one himself!” Stuart recalls. “It was strange to
begin with, but I got into it.” Graeme laughs, “Martin kept asking if I’d been
practising because I was getting so much into the part! He did an amazing job
– he came up with some great ideas.”
Martin took photos throughout the wedding day, working up until the
reception started, with the fun two-hour session earlier in the day helping relax
the couple in time for the more traditional poses. The wacky shoot also helped
calm their nerves before the ceremony: “It was great because we didn’t have
much time to think about it,” Stuart says.
Having arrived at the ceremony in an Aston Martin they’d hired for the
weekend – another surprise for the guests – the theme continued with their
choice of entrance music. They went with ‘Goldfinger’, which may have
amused the guests but didn’t give them much time to walk down the aisle
together. Led by the ring bearer and flower girls, Stuart laughs as he remembers,
“It certainly wasn’t a slow pace! One of the guests said we were almost running
down the aisle!”
The best men waited at the top of the aisle. Stuart had chosen his old school
friend Glenn and Graeme’s was his brother-in-law Iain. All four men were
donning calla lily and thistle buttonholes, while wee Lewis wore a thistle. The
flower girls, Stuart’s seven-year-old niece Laura and Graeme’s toddler niece
Merryn, looked cute in their pink and ivory Monsoon dresses, which tied in with
the couple’s colour scheme of bold pink and purple – “very manly!” the couple
joke.
“We’d gone through magazines and picked out flowers and colours we liked, then
left it to the florist, Nicky Walker, to decide what to do. She excelled herself; the
pedestal flowers in both halls – huge alliums, arum lilies and roses – were amazing.
They looked very architectural and, despite the colours, weren’t girly.”
Graeme says the ceremony went past too quickly to remember everything that
happened. “I got emotional right from the start, and we both stumbled over our
words,” he says. “One thing I do remember, though, is nearly tripping over a bag
that was lying in the aisle!”
The couple spent a lot of time finding appropriate readings for the occasion, and
actually had to adapt one they’d chosen, since no mention of religion is allowed in a
civil ceremony. On the day, both readings proved to be quite emotional, but Stuart’s
niece and Graeme’s aunt got there in the end.
It was a beautiful day and while the more traditional photos were being taken,
the guests gathered on the lawn and tucked into Champagne and chocolate-dipped
strawberry towers, supplied by the Olive Tree of Elgin, the same company that made
what Graeme describes as “the most wonderful cake. It was decorated in chocolate,
chocolate and more chocolate!”
The Aston Martin was even more popular than the strawberries: “We should have
charged people to sit in it,” Stuart jokes. “We’d have made the hire cost back!” Hired
from Aberdeen-based company Select Specialist Rental, the car was certainly a good
move. “It was a great finishing touch to our theme, and was admired by many of our
guests, who thought that one of us had bought it as a wedding present...” Graeme
says. “If only!”
Another cool touch admired by family and friends was an impressive ice sculpture,
featuring two Bond-style male figures with guns, which marked the entrance to
Elphinstone Hall. The theme didn’t stop there though; each table was decorated
by James Bond playing cards and named after a famous character from the films.
Naturally the top table was ‘James Bond’, while the others were Bond girls.
Homemade place cards featured the 007 logo and tuxedo-shaped favour boxes
contained Thunderball lottery tickets and liqueur truffles made by Graeme. The kids
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groom to groom
“If you can, circulate among your guests between
each course of your wedding meal. They’ll appreciate
you taking the time to mingle and you’ll then have more
time to enjoy the reception later on. Take some time out to
watch your guests enjoying the day. You won’t automatically
remember everything that happens at your wedding, so try to
make the effort to take in what’s going on around you.”
STUART & GRAEME’S Suppliers
For further details and booking contact:
University of Aberdeen
King’s College
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX
Tel: 01224-272660
Fax: 01224-276246
E-Mail: conf.events@abdn.ac.uk
Web: www.abdn.ac.uk/weddings
weren’t forgotten though, with James Bond model cars for the boys and white
pussycat soft toys for the girls. The newlyweds even arrived at the reception to
the Bond theme! Now there’s a good alternative to being piped in to dinner...
The speeches were held before the meal, and throughout them departed
loved ones were on everyone’s minds, especially as it would have been Stuart’s
Dad’s 80th birthday a couple of days before.
“We gave the best men a hard time, because our speeches were very emotional,
with both of us speaking about our late fathers, but they managed to make
everyone laugh,” he says.
Throughout the meal, magician Bill (from Aberdeen’s Fifth Dimension)
performed tricks at the tables, keeping everyone entertained. “It was a good
icebreaker for people who didn’t know each other,” Graeme says.
A good north-east tradition, known as the Grand March, kicked off the
dancing with style, as Graeme explains: “The bride and groom go up first
and walk round the edge of the dancefloor to ceilidh music, then the others
gradually go up and follow. It’s great for getting everyone on the floor. Of
course, we did the ‘Gay Gordons’ as the first dance!”
Afterwards, many of the guests commented on the sheer amount of work
that had gone into planning the wedding, but, as Graeme and Stuart say, “We
didn’t just do it for ourselves, we did it for our family and friends, so that they
would have a great day.
“It wasn’t just the big things they noticed, like the stunning venue and the
Aston Martin, but also the little details, like the playing card table decorations
and tuxedo favour boxes. Everything we arranged and produced tied in to our
theme seamlessly – even down to sending out our invitations with James Bond
postage stamps.
“And although there were a few tongue-in-cheek elements and a bit of fun
injected into the wedding, it was still a serious and emotional day.”
After the wedding, Graeme and Stuart recovered with a relaxing week at
home, then enjoyed a 12-night cruise around the Mediterranean. “Going on
a cruise wasn’t something we’d thought about before,” Graeme says, “but the
Cunard brochure was among the huge pile we’d collected and we’re glad we did
it as we’ve now been bitten by the cruise bug! It was absolutely wonderful. The
service is so good, you really get spoiled. We weren’t sure what people would
think when they learned it was our honeymoon, but everyone was fantastic,
both crew and guests.”
Stuart and Graeme say that getting married showed everyone how much they
mean to each other. “It’s nice to know someone’s always going to be there,”
Stuart says. And Graeme agrees: “I know Stuart will always be there for me,
unconditionally, and the same goes for him – I’ll always be there for him, no
questions asked.”
Want to know more about Stuart & Graeme’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
image courtesy of martin a. leckie photography
Nicky Walker 59/61 St Swithin Street Aberdeen AB10 6XL
01224 323254 florist@nickywalker.com
www.nickywalker.com
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