Hey Sunday evening blog lovelies! Blogging on a Sunday isn’t something we’ve always done at Love My Dress, but given the number of weddings we’ve had to share, and the fact we know our readers are very active on the blog on a Sunday morning and evening, we figured it made sense to share a few Sunday weddings for the next few weeks, and I hope that you love this particular one as as much as I adore it. And I probably need to issue a mascara warning too, because I only had to read about this wedding before seeing any of the images to feel teary. And then, the photographs – such an abundance of prettiness; gorgeous dresses, heirloom jewellery and the most beautiful blooms by the wonderful Pyrus.
The bride and groom, Ruth and Sam, met in their second year at Edinburgh University, and have been together for nine years. They married on 31st May 2014 in an outdoor ceremony at Linlithgow Burgh Halls in West Lothian, Scotland, and they commissioned Chantal Lachance-Gibson to document their film in images.
The couple hadn’t originally budgeted for a film however, after reading many real wedding blog posts they kept coming across the same advice – that is, those who hadn’t budgeted for a wedding film, always wish they had. With this in mind, they were drawn to the cinematic styling of White Balloon Films who created this gorgeous little highlights film below. Enjoy my loves…
Film by White Balloon Films
“Our wedding didn’t really have a theme, it was just constructed around lots of things I like! We wanted to keep things quite natural and rustic with the main colours focusing on blues and greys. One of my main vices in life is collecting blue glass bottles and pottery and I was so pleased with how this was incorporated into the table decorations.”
Photography Copyright (c) 2015, Chantal Lachance-Gibson
I particularly love the home-grown flowers chosen by Ruth. I think the colours are delicate and everything is oh so pretty but what I love most is that they look they’ve been freshly picked on the way.
“We had the wonderful Pyrus create our flowers. They grow them a few miles away in East Lothian and create the most beautiful natural arrangements. I wanted my flowers to be soft, unstructured and floaty and look like they were picked from a summer meadow. I also really wanted to have as many blue flowers as possible and lots of gorgeous blue glass bottles scattered across the tables. The flowers included big beautiful white peonies, lupins, scabiosa, anchusa, sweet rocket, campanula, stocks, chives and aqualegia all grown by Pyrus or by other specialist British growers.
I loved the finished effect! They provided all the flowers for the tables as well as our amazing flower arch which we married under (and later dragged inside to the dance floor!), our button holes, bouquets and my flower crown.”
I fell in love with Ruth’s dress as soon as I clapped eyes on it as I have a real soft spot for a floaty and swishy skirt, I also noted that it fitted her to a T. It was only later that I discovered that she had the gown made for her by the wonderful Rowan of RowanJoy Bridal.
“I loved the idea of having a dress custom made for me but never thought that I could afford it. In reality, I believe it to be so much better value and I actually came in under-budget! I am only 5 foot tall and I have curves, so to be able to create something bespoke that fitted me perfectly was fantastic. It was one of the best decisions I made!
We based the dress on Rowan’s Ella design as I loved the bluey/silver waistband, the delicately draped cross-over neckline and floaty full circle skirt. I choose to have the shape of the sleeves changed slightly, the back opened up and the fastening altered to have beautiful buttons down the back.”
“My veil was also made for me by Rowan in the same beautiful Chantilly lace as the sleeves of my dress. As well as my veil I wore a pretty flower crown made for me by Pyrus.”
“Photography was really important to me and it’s something we really wanted to invest in and we chose Chantal Lachance-Gibson. I really love the light captured in their photographs and the relaxed documentary style. After we met up for coffee and cake with Chantal and Scott (the husband and wife team) we knew that we would be perfectly relaxed with them around on the day.
They were absolutely great and totally blended in with all our friends and family. We are so, so pleased with our photographs!”
“We booked some lovely local cottages to house our immediate family and wedding party. There were three cottages all in a row, which worked perfectly. We were blessed with wonderful summer weather (always a gamble in Scotland) and so spent the night before sitting outside sharing a relaxed meal together that was really special. Strangely, although we had been together for nearly nine years, due to our parents living so far apart they had not met before that evening!
It was also really important to us that Sam and I spent the night before together and wake up beside each other on the morning of our day. Personally I can’t image it any other way, I think I would have been totally stressed out being separated from him!”
“Most of the jewellery I wore are family pieces currently belonging to my Mum. I wore a stunning aquamarine, diamond and white gold drop necklace that belonged to my Great Aunt. I had always wanted to wear this since I was a very little girl. I also wore a five stone opal and diamond gold ring that was my late Granny’s. I felt so special wearing these beautiful pieces of jewellery and they have huge sentimental value to me.
I spent a long time looking for a pair of earrings to match the necklace but it was very hard to find the right colour and cut of aquamarine to match the quality of the vintage piece. In the end I opted for a simple pair of aquamarine and white gold teardrop studs from Ernest Jones.”
“I had my two best friends from university and my sister as bridesmaids. They wore their own shoes as they all needed to be different heights but they were all silver or grey. I bought their lovely grey wrap dresses online. I was so pleased with the colour after ordering them online without being able to see them first, they were exactly what we were looking for and they all looked beautiful in them.”
“I had a hair and make-up trial but I really didn’t feel like me, so in the end I decided to do it myself. I got a few extra treats to update my make-up bag including a new bottle of Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation – my can’t live without product. My wonderful, multitalented bridesmaid Alex curled my hair for me with heated rollers and I just pinned it back and added my beautiful flower crown. The result was that I felt happy, relaxed and looked like me.”
“Sam’s suit was by Cerruti purchased from Moss Brosin Edinburgh. He looked so handsome! He also wore a pale blue tie from Next, a silk pocket square from Jaeger and tan shoes from Jones Bootmaker. My Dad gave him his simple gold cufflinks, which had belonged to my grandfather before him. Sam’s Best Man was one of his friends from University and his two younger brothers were both groomsmen.
They all wore navy blue suits hired from Slaters and we bought them the same tie and pocket square as Sam. I also bought them all some matching blue stripy socks.”
“I was walked down the aisle by my dad to an acoustic version of ‘Wonderwall.’ We had a humanist wedding and we wrote the whole ceremony ourselves which made it so personal and special. We wanted a ceremony that had individual meaning to us and was centred around our beliefs about the commitment of marriage but that wasn’t religious. Our plan was to keep it personal, meaningful and concise.”
“We just had one reading read by Sam’s Mum. It was the Blessing of the hands…”
‘These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever.
These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future.
These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other.
These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind.
These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and tears of joy.
These are the hands that will tenderly hold your children.
These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one.
These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it.
These are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.’
“It felt so special hearing her read it as it focuses on growing old together as a family. Sam started to get a bit teary at this point and his Mum stopped halfway through to tell him off as he was setting her off crying as well. It made us all laugh and will be a moment to remember forever.”
“We also chose to include a handfasting in our ceremony symbolising how we are choosing to bind ourselves to each other. I was touched that many of our guests commented that they had never been to such a personal ceremony before.”
“We had our rings designed and made for us by The Ring Maker in Edinburgh. After trying on lots of beautiful diamond eternity bands in other shops I decided that despite being beautiful, I wanted a something more simple and with more sentiment in it. I had inherited my late Granny’s gold wedding band and had this melted down to create a thinner, more contemporary band that was then tipped with platinum to sit against my engagement ring.
Sam chose a brushed palladium band with a streak of the same gold running through it. We love them.”
“Finding a venue was the most stressful part of the wedding planning! We had quite a tight budget and, as we live and work in the centre of Edinburgh, we don’t currently have a car, which made it quite challenging to view many places. My main criteria were lots of light and simple clean decor. The Burgh Halls definitely had that with its combination of the old, historic building but its contemporary refurbishment.
The main hall has beautiful, restored feature fireplaces and unique, modern chandeliers. We had our ceremony outside on the beautiful roof terrace. The halls are situated right next to Linlithgow Loch and Palace so we were able to use the grounds of the loch for our photographs.”
The catering was provided by Crear Kitchen and Ruth’s description of the delicious food, certainly has my mouth-a-watering and I am now sitting here craving a slice of pork pie!
“We love good food and so decided to spend a bit more on this part of the day to get really high quality food. A lot of our guests commented that it was some of the best food they had eaten in a while, let alone at a wedding! In the evening we served a huge cheese and antipasti feast. Sam doesn’t love cheese quite as much as I do so I also ordered him a big celebration pork pie from Wilson’s Butchers.”
“My gorgeous bridesmaid Alex made our amazing cake. She is super talented and managed to create this showstopper at the same time as revising for and acing her medical exams, running the Edinburgh Marathon the weekend before, styling all of our hair and generally being there as a wonderful support. I can’t thank her enough. It looked and tasted stunning!”
Words of wedded wisdom
“Relax! Be organised in advance and make sure you have suppliers you can trust so that on the day you can just forget about things and enjoy the moment. Remember the most important part is that you are marrying the person you love surrounded by friends and family.
Invest in good quality photography and video. All the little bits and pieces will disappear after the day but you will want to look back on the images for the rest of your life.
Finally, seek out local, artisan, and independent suppliers.”
Ruth is certainly a girl after my own heart, so many of her thoughts and priorities sound like my own – good quality food and drink over favours, humanist ceremony, fairy lights, floaty skirts and pretty florals and oh, did I mention the ginormous pork pie?!
Part of me also wishes I’d also broken with tradition and spent the night before the wedding with my man. What are your feelings on such a longstanding tradition in these co-habiting times?
Ruth and Sam – thank you for sharing your heartwarming day with us and to Chantal and Scott for the beautiful photos.
Much love, Katie xx
Photographer – Chantal Lachance-Gibson
Film Maker – White Balloon Films
Venue – Linlithgow Burgh Halls
Dress & veil – RowanJoy Bridal, shoes – John Lewis, earrings – Ernest Jones
Groom – suit – Moss Bros, tie – Next, pocket square – Jaeger, shoes – Jones Bootmaker
Groomsmen – suit hire via Slaters
Flowers – Pyrus
Cake – Alex, the bridesmaid
Brides rings – The Ring Maker, Edinburgh
Catering – Crear Kitchen
Celebration pork pie – Wilson’s Butchers
Stationery – Superallan
Fairy light wall & trees – Add a Little Sparkle
Bands – day – Two Tone Duo via Alive Network, evening – The Banjo Lounge via Freak Music
Cute pictures of a cute wedding of a cute couple! The best part about all pictures is the couple’s adorable smile. Everything is really so pretty; the flowers, the décor, the cake, the venue, the dining table, and Ruth’s jewelry and her floral tiara.
These aquamarine vintage sparklers look exceptionally classic, her earrings being the best. Usually, brides choose diamonds, but this was certainly an offbeat pickup.
And talking about spending a night with your man before the wedding is an exotic idea though. However, I think it is relatively more intriguing to keep the charm for post wedding. You will enjoy it more 😉
Naomi
A beautiful wedding, you looked gorgeous.
Are you able to tell me where you got the “getting ready” kimonos from – I would really love some for our wedding.
Best wishes
Shelley
So inspirational. Love these types of weddings. Love the shot of the dress in the tree. I wish more Brides would allow you to do this.