A Simple, Joyous, Loch Lomond Wedding with Family at the Heart

I’m delighted to be writing my first wedding feature for Love My Dress, and what an incredible wedding it is! I’ve had a lovely, albeit grey and drizzly, January day here in Bristol.

The photos from Jess and Gabs wedding have been like a ray of sunshine! The weather for their day was glorious, and with the addition of rolling hills and loch-side views, I know you’ll be immediately transported to their beautiful July 2017 wedding. I was really struck by the absolute love and joy in these photos from everyone involved, and I am so excited to share it with you.

Jess, a Primary School teacher, and Gab, a structural engineer, got married on 8^th July 2017 at St. Mahew’s Church in Cadross followed by their reception at Portnellen Farm in Gartocharn, Loch Lomond. The couple initially met at school and after being best friends for many years, love blossomed and eight years after leaving school, Gab proposed.

“I have never been a huge lover of overly fussy things or lots of colour so we decided quite early on that we wanted a neutral pallet with lots of greenery. We absolutely loved seeing how happy everyone was. I know that’s a bit cringe but it was just such a great atmosphere. We really felt incredibly lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing people!”

Film by Desire Studios

Jess chose the stunning Lottie dress from Stephanie Allin, who proved to be a dream-come-true when there were problems at the alterations company.

“I bought the dress from the London shop on Chiltern Street. I had actually seen the dress in two other shops in Scotland and finally decided to try it on again in the London shop. I’m so glad I bought the dress straight from Stephanie Allin because they were so helpful. I had taken my dress to an alterations company in Scotland and unfortunately the shop had an accident and stained the dress 5 weeks before the wedding. Obviously, I was pretty stressed by this but when I called Stephanie Allin they gave me an appointment the very next day and got a new dress made within 3 weeks to my exact measurements so I didn’t need to have it altered again. Both Mandi and Laura from the London shop were just so kind and helpful.”

Images by ArcadianCity

Jess’s beautiful bridesmaids wore dresses by ASOS with shoes from & Other Stories. The bride presented each of her maids with a bracelet bearing their initial from A Box For My Treasure.

“We choose ASOS dresses in a putty coloured crepe fabric. I absolutely loved them and they moved beautifully. The girls wore grey suede sandals from & Other Stories. It wasn’t an easy feat (pardon the pun) finding 5 pairs of shoes that everyone liked and had in stock from a size 3 to a size 6 so when we found these in stock we snapped them up!”

Jess’s vision for her wedding style was for lots of simple foliage, and she trusted the floral design to Little Botanica and to Gab’s mum.

“Little Botanica did the flowers for our marquee and button holes/bouquets. We knew we wanted lots of greenery put together in different ways. They were great at helping us come up with a final ‘look’. They made 5 greenery hoops for our table plan, 2 hanging hoops for the marquee and garlands for the tables. The marquee didn’t just look amazing it also smelled amazing because of all the eucalyptus. The bouquets were finished with lovely trailing ribbon to tie in with the boy’s outfits.

To help her and the bridesmaids to get ready for the day, Jess chose Ana and Gary from FINA Beauty.

“We had such a ball getting ready. It was one of our favourite parts of the whole day (apart from the marriage part, obviously). Ana and Gary were so much fun. It honestly felt like we had our friends over helping us.”

“We all enjoyed it so much. We laughed all morning, drank lots of tea and ate bacon rolls that my sister’s boyfriend, James, kindly provided in a constant stream.  Not only were they just so much fun to be around they also made everyone look incredible.”

“All of the bridesmaids had different styles that they had chosen themselves and I thought they just look stunning. Sadly, my veil got caught/stepped on and tripped over so many times that my hair started to be pulled out by the time I got to the venue. It was incredible as I left the house!”

In keeping with the simple theme for the wedding, the bridemaids’ hair was accessorised with foliage.

“My sister Rosie bought lots of flowers for the church so Gary, the hairdresser, added in beautiful little bits of individual greenery to each girl’s hair.” 

Due to the last-minute changes in her dress, Jess had to quickly find a new pair of perfect shoes, and opted for sandals from Dune.

“I had to change my shoes last minute to match the length of the second dress so wore a pair of dusky pink Dune sandals that the local shoe mender added an extra platform and heel to make them even higher.” 

For her perfume, Jess took some wonderful advice from her godmother. I was given the same advice, and can absolutely vouch for it!

“My godmother bought me Jo Malone Pear and Freesia perfume and body wash. She said you always remember the perfume you wear on your wedding so she wanted to buy me it. I thought it was so thoughtful as I hadn’t even thought about it. The day before the wedding she dropped over a Pear and Freesia candle too so my room also had the same smell when I was getting ready.”

“As the church was quite traditional I opted for a cathedral length veil that was completely plain so it didn’t detract from the beautiful details on the dress.” 

After he drove her to the church in their family car, Jess walked into St. Mahew’s with her dad, James. She walked in to Ave Maria, played by the church organist, and accompanied by their friend Will on trumpet. Jess and Gab recall this as one of their favourite moments from the day.

“My best friends Mum also arranged a Clarsach player who played people into the church and then again at the venue and my sister organised a local piper to play before the meal who was absolutely amazing, he was only 14 and did a better job than most adult pipers I’ve heard. We just loved him. I think he got the biggest clap of all.”

Jess kept her jewellery and other accessories simple and classic.

“The only jewellery I wore was a gold locket that my best friends had bought me for my 18^th birthday (3 out of 5 of the bridesmaids).

I also bought a belt from Etsy for the evening from Ava Grace Design. The owner couldn’t have been more helpful. She designed the sash for me to my exact specifications and didn’t grumble when I asked for last minute changes. She had the belt made within a week and sent to me first class as I had only decided I wanted an evening sash 2 weeks before the wedding. It was beautiful!”

Jess and Gab chose St. Mahew’s because of Jess’s personal connection to the church.

“We chose St. Mahew’s as it was the church that I had grown up going to. My Dad ran the Sunday school there when we were little and it’s always been central to big family celebrations.”

 For their rings, the couple decided to keep it simple. Gab had a plain gold band and Jess had a plain diamond band, both from Barclays Diamonds.

 Gab knew he wanted his boys in kilts and for them to keep their own personality.  Gab chose two best men; his little brother Joshua who is 15 and his best friend from uni, Andy.

“The boys all wore kilts which were hired from MacGregor and MacDuff in Glasgow. Gab knew he wanted kilts from the start but didn’t want to look too ‘samie’ so he bought brown brogues, grey wool ties and plain white shirts for everyone to add his own bit of style into the mix. He wore a pale pink tie that he chose 2 days before the wedding in a ‘Supermarket Sweep’ style trip to Glasgow for last-minute buys.”

Jess and Gab chose Dani from ArcadianCity to photograph their day.

“Dani from Arcadian City captured the day for us. She was absolutely amazing from start to finish. Not only was Dani absolutely lovely and so happy she also didn’t intrude on the day at all, we barely noticed her on the day as she took lots of candid shots.”

“Gab loves a party and didn’t want to spend lots of time getting posed photos. Dani very patiently put up with him moaning about getting his photo taken and had all out shots done in 15 minutes so we could get back to our guests.”

“I had asked for the photos to be light and airy and she absolutely captured this. We also received a beautifully packed box of prints, a pretty USB and a photo book as part of her standard package. I couldn’t recommend her highly enough.”

Jess and Gab chose Fabio from Desire Studios as their videographer, who they found through Jess’s sister, Rosie.

“My sister works in journalism so had asked her work friend Fabio from Desire Studios to video the day for us. He was just incredible! Not only did he join in the party and get shots at the bitter end he also made us a gorgeous video that I can’t stop watching.”

“Fabio got so many great shots of things that we would have forgotten or missed. He listened to everything we wanted and exceeded our expectations. I made lots of little changes to the video and he painstakingly went through each change until we were completely happy.”

Choosing a reception venue in their home town was a little trickier, and they struck gold after Jess had a flash of inspiration.

“We found looking for a venue really hard. We knew we wanted to get married at home so we could both stay at our parents’ houses the night before the wedding and have our service in St. Mahew’s but lots of the venues nearby we had either worked at or been to other people’s weddings at.”

“To make things even more complicated, we also wanted to be able to choose all of the details ourselves and not feel like we had chosen a pre-made package. After lots and lots of searching, I had a rare brainwave and emailed Portnellen Farm asking if they would consider having a wedding on their farm. Thankfully they agreed and it was the best booking ever! The family who run the farm are absolutely amazing and couldn’t help enough. They were so accommodating and thoughtful. Even when things didn’t go to plan they always came up with a plan B, C or D so that everything was as stress-free as possible for us.”

The venue décor was a real family affair, with Jess’s sister Rosie pulling out all the stops.

“Gab’s mum is a gardener and was an incredible help with our flowers. She grew and planted almost all of the plants and potted flowers that were in and around our marquee. They just looked amazing and helped make the marquee fit into the farm beautifully. She’s a great woman!”

“When it came to wedding props we really struggled to find companies that stocked the types of items we wanted to hire. We wanted props that made the day feel unique. My sister Rosie has always loved designing things and is incredibly creative. She needed no persuasion when we suggested buying most of the décor items to then use in the future as part of a new business. Rosie exceeded our expectations.”

“She worked every hour she could for the week leading up to the wedding. She was busy buying things, writing chalkboards, stacking crates, filling hampers, painting tables and pallet bars, making pew ends for the church and the candle wreaths. We cannot express how grateful we were to her for all her amazing vision and help. Rosie has now set up a company providing wedding props and flowers (with a little help from us) called Lavender and Rose.”

“She sourced everything from pic ‘n’ mix jars and slate signs to hampers and copper drinks trugs. Even with Rosie working around the clock we simply did not have time to buy everything we wanted. That’s where Arrow and Twine came in.”

“They sent us their beautiful brass candlesticks that were just perfect! They came all wrapped up in tissue paper with a lovely personal note. When we didn’t have time to collect the candlesticks Tori, the owner, organised a courier without a fuss and was just such a breeze to communicate with. Arrow and Twine could not have been more helpful.”

“All in all, a DIY wedding was a whole lot of work.  We couldn’t have accomplished what we did without everyone pitching in and helping in ways we couldn’t imagine. As a result, we were able to have everything just the way we had wanted, rather than having someone else create an interpretation of our vision.”

Jess’s Primary 1 class also pitched in!

“I was teaching Primary 1 last year so my lovely pupils wrote all of my place setting cards and the table plan. I loved that they were all different. What a fantastic job they did, they worked so hard to make sure they looked beautiful. We printed the order of service ourselves and one of my pupils drew a picture of Gab and I for the back of the booklet. My sister-in-law designed and wrote out chalkboards too. We bought our invites from Papier.”

A couple after my own heart, Jess and Gab wanted lots of choice when it came to cake flavours, and went for four tiers.

“We opted for a plain cream 4 tier cake from 3D cakes in Glasgow. Little Botanic then added some foliage to tie it in with the rest of the marquee.  We chose 4 different flavours, 1 for each tier because frankly, can you ever have enough choice when it comes to cake?”

As you might have guessed from their very wise cake decision, Jess and Gab wanted to make sure the food at their wedding was truly excellent.

“Good food is really important to us both so we spent a lot of time looking for someone who would provide us with a delicious meal. We ended up choosing Tristan from Truffle Events who made us an absolutely delicious menu of black pudding, steak and sticky toffee. It was all presented so beautifully and Tristan was very helpful.”

For their first dance, Jess and Gab chose a song by the Intermission Project called ‘I’ve Been Waiting’.

“Gab and I spent a year apart when he lived in Aberdeen and I lived in London. We tried to see each other every fortnight. We listened to this song a lot at the time so it reminds us of being together.”

 For their evening music, Jess and Gab wanted something full of energy.

“We had The Stylists play in the evening who were fantastic. Kept us all on our dancing toes and played lots of crowd pleasers.”

Jess spent a lot of time looking for her dress and wanted something that could give her a variety of looks.

“I really wanted something ‘traditional’ for the church but also wanted to be able to dance in the evening without feeling too restricted. The dress I chose was perfect as the tulle skirt and lace top could come off in the evening and leave me ready to dance in a simple silk slip.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Don’t compromise on the big things that you feel will ‘make’ your day but be flexible with the little things that you won’t remember when you look back on your day. I had a few non-negotiable items on my wish list. It might sound funny but chairs and flowers were quite high on that list. I knew the look and feel that I wanted to create so we spent a bit more on these. I’m so glad we did because the marquee looked exactly how I had imagined it looking. We compromised on cars, evening food and other bits and bobs that only we would notice were ‘missing’.”

“I wish that Gab and I had made a conscious effort to spend more time together during the day. Obviously, we did spend time together at various points in the day but there were lots of points where we were off chatting to our families and friends separately.”

“The day just absolutely flew by and when we both look back we should have done more together. The day just goes by in such a flash.

Don’t expect everything to go exactly to plan but enjoy the surprises as they unfold. My brother put the arch way floral displays up onto the alter by mistake. At this point, there is nothing that can be done so my sister and I just had a little laugh as we got to the alter. Gab and I also ran out of petrol on the way from the church to the venue and had to stop at the petrol station which he thought was hilarious! Lots of the little things that didn’t go exactly to plan are great memories now.

We had budgeted to spend around £20,000 but we did go over slightly. Gab is an engineer so had made a great spreadsheet that tracked all of our outgoings. It was colour coded with all sorts of charts and graphs. This worked a treat until maybe a month before when everything was all go and we lost track of some bits and bobs. I think a slight overspend is inevitable.”

Thank you ever so much to Jess and Gab for allowing us to share their wonderful day, and to Dani at ArcadianCity for her stunning images.

Sarah x