A 1920s Inspired Bride and her Fun and Informal Glasgow City Centre Wedding

When I opened today’s wedding questionnaire and saw the words ‘Big, fun, sparkly love-fest’, I knew I was going to be in for a treat, because those few, short words sum the day up perfectly.

There’s more than a hint of 1920s glamour, a beautiful Glasgow venue, colour, drama and – dinosaurs. Vicky, an account manager, and Gareth, a strategy consultant, were married on the 12 January 2019 at Cottiers, Glasgow – a Victorian church, which is now a restaurant, bar, theatre and event space in the city’s west end.

“Glasgow means fun and good times to us. Over the years we headed through to Glasgow for gigs, dinners and days out, so it made sense that we’d have the most fun day of our lives there.”

Images by Caro Weiss Photography

This collection of magical, evocative images comes to us courtesy of brilliant Little Book member and long-time supporter, Caro Weiss. Here, Caro has beautifully captured Vicky and Gareth’s effervescent happiness against the wonderful backdrop of their venue, and Glasgow’s elegant streets.

“Caro was amazing. She made us and our guests feel at complete ease, managing to capture every moment of our day without encroaching in any way. It simply felt like one of our friends had brought a camera. In short, she was ace.”

Vicky chose her gorgeously draped and gathered Heidi Hudson dress at WED2B in Edinburgh, which she paired with a super-soft feather stole for the perfect vintage inspired look.

“I tried on one of everything, and with most of them I felt like they were wearing me, but in this one I managed to feel properly bride-y, but also completely like myself. I had thought I would like some sequins or a bit of vintage lace, but when I started to actually try on styles that had those elements, it really, really didn’t feel like me. I felt like I was wearing someone else’s dress.”

“I loved the simplicity of the dress I chose, and the shape of the train, and how it felt unique, a bit alternative, but still bridal. It was a bit of an accident that it was so booby (should definitely have taken a better bra to the fittings!) but thankfully with lots of tape and the help of my mum and Caro, we kept the girls in place!”

Gareth wore a wonderful, rich, deep brown suit by Walker Slater, which looked great alongside his burgundy tie, and with a pocket watch tucked into his waistcoat pocket, which had been a gift from one of his Best Men.

“We met through mutual work friends, and Vicky’s sister introduced us one night after work during Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We met again a few weeks later at a gig, and have been pretty inseparable ever since.”

“That was nine years ago! We got engaged in September 2017 on the beach at one of our favourite spots on the east coast of Scotland. The weather was nice, the dog was badly behaved; it was perfect.”

Vicky’s bridesmaids wore wonderful sparkly gold sequin and tulle maxi dresses from Maya at ASOS, which they wore with their own shoes and accessories.

“I walked down the aisle with my dad, Marty P. After some good advice from a friend, we had a little practice before we got in the car, but we still walked way too quickly! We walked down the aisle to Comptine d’un autre été from the soundtrack to the film, Amelie, which was arranged for and played on classical guitar by our lovely friend Ian.”

The couple opted for a Humanist ceremony, which was conducted by celebrant Ronit Quayle, and they chose to say specially written vows to each other, which they kept secret until the day.

“Our vows were funny, heartfelt and laced with nods to TV and music that we’ve shared together.”

   

For their ceremony readings, the couple chose the beautiful Harlem Night Song by Langston Hughes, and John Cooper Clarke’s brilliant, I Wanna Be Yours.

Vicky and Gareth had bespoke wedding rings made by Cecilia Stamp, whom they both know through mutual friends.

“Choosing Cecilia to make our rings was one of the first (and easiest) wedding decisions we made. She’s so creative, and going to chat through ideas with her (with the dog!) was such good fun. We learned so much about materials and the process, and were so happy with the designs. They were exactly what we were looking for. Gareth did (of course!) manage to lose his ring the day after the wedding as we loaded 100 cacti into the car, but thankfully we found it again!”

“Our favourite part of the day was when we walked back up the aisle, and had a few nice quiet minutes (eating chips!) behind the curtains before getting our pictures taken.”

The newly married pair headed out for a walk with photographer Caro, with Vicky carrying her bouquet of silk oxblood peonies, tied with burgundy ribbon, from Crown and Glory.

“I loved the colours and the big flowers, and once I had seen them, I couldn’t get them out of my head. In the pics on the website, the model was wearing the exact bridesmaid’s dresses we had chosen, which we took as a sign. G wasn’t that keen on the buttonholes initially, but he came around when he saw them in the flesh.”

Vicky had difficulty finding wedding shoes she liked, and in the end, after a lot of searching (and unfortunately waking up on the morning of the wedding with a cold) she kept it comfortable with a pair of shiny gold Converse hi-tops, which she found at ASOS.

“None of the wedding shoes I tried fit me (and like with the dress, I struggled to find wedding shoes that didn’t make me feel like I had raided someone’s dressing-up box!) I planned to just wear the sneakers in the evening for dancing, but on the morning of the wedding I woke up with a horrible cold, and all I wanted was to feel like me as much as I could, and be comfy, so the Converse seemed like the only choice, and with the addition of my Hogwarts socks, my feet had the happiest day ever.”

Glamorous, era-inspired make-up came courtesy of Kelly Ann Halliday, and Vicky’s brilliant bob was curled and adorned with a sparkly, 1920s style headband from WED2B. Vicky completed her look with a ring and necklace by Fiona Dean.

“My perfume was Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf. It’s my absolute favourite, and not one that I wear every day, so it felt special enough to use on my wedding day.”

 

Friend Mike designed the couple’s table plan, rather brilliantly illustrated with dinosaurs (Mike was also DJ for the evening, too!)

“Cottiers is a beautiful venue. It has an incredibly relaxed atmosphere, and the most lovely staff. We knew the first time we visited it was the place for us.”

“We took lots of our favourite fun things, jammed them together, and hoped it would all work out well! Thankfully it did. We wanted it to be a big, fun, sparkly love-fest, filled with dinosaurs, and some hints of the 1920s. Reading a lot of wedding magazines and blogs, it feels like some people are able to settle on one clear theme, but I think (I hope) we managed to build a theme from a mash-up of things we both love, which was definitely the right thing to do. It felt really personal, and worked strangely well.”

Twinkling fairylights were strung across the soaring ceiling of the venue, against the backdrop of a spectacular set of stained glass windows.

Vicky and Gareth decorated their dining tables with potted cacti and succulents from The Range, alongside toy dinosaurs from Vicky’s brother’s childhood collection, who marched their way down the tables and onto lots of the surfaces around the place.

“Toy dinosaurs were also our favours, which were sourced over many months. I think I ordered every possible multipack of dinosaurs Amazon had on offer, before finding a herd we were happy with!”

Everyone sat down to a wonderful dinner, cooked by the team at Cottiers, and the couple’s magnificent deep blue and gold cake was made by Gareth’s Aunty Christine – a most wonderful gift.

“We had the most fun going through about a hundred pins of different cake options with her (hard not to get carried away!). Choosing flavours was such good fun. We went alternate layers of red velvet and cherry bakewell. Slightly disappointingly neither of us actually had any cake, but we’ve heard it was delicious. We forgot about the top tier in the fridge at the venue, and sent my bro and his girlfriend along to collect it, so I like to hope they more than made up for us not getting any by stuffing their faces!”

 

During their wedding planning, Vicky and Gareth had been undecided about their first dance song, but as soon as they were reminded of Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins, they knew they’d found just the right track. They threaded special and significant music throughout their day, and when it came to the evening entertainment, this was no exception.

“Gareth and his friends (from Slow Blood, and Golden Arm), as well as my dad, formed a sort of wedding super-group (Gary Jive & The Uptown 5) and did lots of our favourite covers. After that, we made use of some very kind friends and superstar DJs to keep everyone entertained. Throughout the day, the music was so important to us.”

  

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Do whatever the fudge you want to do. You don’t need to stick to a single theme. There are lots of expectations people may have when you say you’re getting married, but remember it’s all about you two (and that’s not selfish), stick to your guns, and do what you like.”

“You want to feel like you on your wedding day, so don’t do anything because you feel like you should. As long as the legal ceremony is sorted, you can have any type of wedding you want. And the more dinosaurs and glitter you have, the better.”

Vicky and Gareth, I couldn’t agree more. Thank you so much! Huge thanks also to Caro Weiss for another set of stunning images to add to the collection you can enjoy on our pages.

With love,

Laura