On the 27th of July, we got married…
Let me tell you a little bit about me & Ali. We met once, in 2011, on the way down to where we both now go to church. He was asked to pick me up and take me to YF. I spent the 2 minute walk in a grump, mumbling about how much I hated this country (as I had just moved to Scotland from Minnesota) and we had run out of conversation. I genuinely do not remember this moment. The only reason I can recall it now is because of how often Ali makes fun of me for it!
A year later, I decided (ok, I was pretty much forced) to go to Albania on mission. At 5am, my dad drove us down to the church to pick up other sleep deprived adolescents and Ali got into the car. I didn’t remember him but he started asking me how I was getting on in Scotland, how school was, etc… I answered politely but quickly as I had no idea how he knew so much about me.
That week we became really good friends. The term ‘best friend’ might have been bounced about a few times and we spoke all summer long. However, the timing wasn’t right and we both saw other people for the better part of the next year. Every time we met up or hung out, we always had so much fun and spent 100% of the time laughing and winding each other up. Looking back, we both admit that we were crazy about each other but didn’t want to admit it in fear of rejection. (lol) The following June (over 2 years since we first met), we were both finally single and we started hanging out just as friends. Every. Single. Day.
One thing led to another and one night we were on the top of a hill, overlooking Glasgow as we finally admitted that we have liked each other for an entire year. The next month we were ‘official’. We spent two years dating, travelling, meeting each other’s friends and family, learning about each other before Ali asked me to marry him when we were in Canada. You can read about that here. I was in complete shock and disbelief. But planning had to commence!
Which is where this post comes in. We chose to get married 11 months later, in the middle of a hopefully hot summer. I had a year of uni to be stressed out by so we tried to get all the big things in place before classes commenced. In less than 2 months after we got engaged we had a date, venue, dress, photographer, band, an officiant + many ideas for a beach themed wedding!
Those 11 months of planning were great. We never felt the infamous stress of wedding planning. We found it fun, extremely excited and a chance to be creative and express who we were as a couple. The months dragged on and on until July came when it seemed like there wasn’t any time at all to tie all the loose ends but with the help of my friends, family and fiance, everything was complete days before the wedding.
I’m going to include a quick timeline of events leading up to the wedding before giving you an insight to the most wonderful day of our lives so far with our amazing wedding photographs by Emma Lawson Photography.
Ali proposes
Our engagement party
Our engagement photos
The wonderful Suzanne Li took our engagement photos at the Pencil Monument where Ali asked me to be his girlfriend on August 12, 2013.
My hen-do
My AMAZING bridesmaids + thoughtful creative Mum put together the absolute most perfect hen do I could have asked for.
And then it was time to get married.
The final days before the wedding were swallowed up by spending an insane amount of time (like up at 7am every day kind of time) to make signs for the church, choose flowers, write and edit our vows, make playlists and slideshows for gaps in main events and much more. I loved most minutes of it but all I really wanted to do was get married.
I wrote an article about the ‘unglamorous‘ side of preparing for marriage. While outwardly, we are seen buying outfits, accessories, and invites, creating decor, choosing songs and planning a honeymoon, inwardly, Ali and I spent a lot of time preparing for the different role of being a husband or wife. I could hardly wait to put the theory into practice.
So here begins the day of our wedding.
A massive thank you must be given to Emma Lawson + Suzannie Li for providing us with 1,200 photos that made our beautiful wedding day alive again. These two are the most brilliant photographers and if you are getting married in 2018, Emma is available and I’m sure Suzi will have some availability left for 2017 onwards.
So … Here we go!!
Stationary
We made all of our invites + order of services by hand. I mean, I made them – with the help of Liz, Laura, Jenni, Janice + my mum. I think Ali helped with, like, five. But I’m so pleased with how they turned out.
Rachel did the illustrations for the order of service, my friend Charlotte helped with the graphics and my dad folded them all.
The Wedding Dress
I was looking for beachy bohemian wedding dresses but didn’t want to spend a lot of money on something I would wear once. After obsessive research, I came across the Voyage collection by MoriLee. They have the most beautiful dresses and I tried on a lot of them but number 6805 was the one I kept picturing in my mind. I got my dress from The Wedding Store in Motherwell for an extremely reasonable price – less than £600 – which is great for a wedding gown.
The Kilts
I’m not entirely sure of all the details of the kilts but I’m pretty sure they are from MacGregor and MacDuff. Ali’s tartan was MacRae + he was looking mega handsome. I’m not sure the pattern that the other boys were in. (Hover over the pictures to see the captions.)
Accessories
Shoes
Speaking of shoes… Here are some *nice* photos of our feet.
Rings
All 3 of our rings (two wedding, one engagement) are from H. Samuel. Ali purchased the engagement ring without my knowing so I don’t know the details but my wedding band fits perfectly into the unusual shape of my engagement ring. It cost around £250 and Ali’s wedding band cost around £70 and is made of titanium. I recommend getting your rings at least four months in advance.
Bridesmaids
One of the most exciting things about getting married was getting to spend so much time with these lovely ladies. We haven’t spent so much time together since high school so it was invaluable to get the days that we did. And how stunning do they all look?!
Ushers + Best Man
Flower Girls
People were ‘ooooh’ing and ‘awww’ing and these two adorable girls all day long. And you cannot blame them.
Gifts
Weddings are all about giving + receiving. While we were so blessed to receive so many amazing presents from John Lewis, we loved giving presents to those who played a part in our wedding, too. We had bracelets, gift cards, mugs, etc at people’s places at the table if they had taken part in the service or execution of the wedding. I do not have photos of that but I do have photos of my bridesmaids + mum opening theirs.
Flowers
I wasn’t fussed about flowers. I also know nothing about them. All I knew was that I wanted a lot of gypsophila. My mum’s coworker’s daughter (catch that?) was studying floristry so we decided to unite to give her some practice and let me join up with someone who would be easy and fun to work with! I was so impressed by this girl.
Hairdresser
Our hair was done by Natalie from BellaMe. She’s my usual hairdresser + I trust this crazy fun woman! Was so happy with my hair even if it took two trials and 10 different hairstyles to decide.
Makeup
It took me AGES to decide on a makeup artist because they are all so similar yet different and you can never know until you get a trial. Fortunately, I knew someone who had previously hired Cat Robertson and loved it. So I chose her, too because she is known for natural bohemian makeup. To my surprise, she was actually capable of ANY style. So if you’re looking for an artist, Cat is FABULOUS because she can do whatever you ask her to do.
Ps. Fiona + I got our spray tans from Kirkland Spa in Eaglesham. It’s a ‘light’ colour. Recommend! But go for at least two trials as care before + after a spray tan is tricky to master.
AND THEN THE DAY BEGAN…
Ali’s Morning
Suzi went to Ali’s house in the morning to photograph all the pre-wedding giddiness!
My morning
Decorations
We did all of our decorations ourselves (with the help of our friends) and I am so happy with them! They look rustic, natural and authentic.
Church Service
My absolute favourite part of this day was the church service. It was so personal to us – after MUCH planning – and I loved GETTING MARRIED. Like actually making vows, walking towards my future husband leaving with him as my present husband. I felt so blessed for that full hour. It was incredible.
We walked down the aisle to I Giorni by Ludovico Einaudi.
Our songs of worship were Oceans, You Are My Vision + The Stand.
We signed the register to Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran.
We left the church to Chasing Rubies by Hudson Taylor.
You are holding up a ceiling
with both arms. It is very heavy,
but you must hold it up, or else
it will fall down on you. Your arms
are tired, terribly tired,
and, as the day goes on, it feels
as if either your arms or the ceiling
will soon collapse.
But then,
unexpectedly,
something wonderful happens:
Someone,
a man or a woman,
walks into the room
and holds their arms up
to the ceiling beside you.
So you finally get
to take down your arms.
You feel the relief of respite,
the blood flowing back
to your fingers and arms.
And when your partner’s arms tire,
you hold up your own
to relieve him again.
And it can go on like this
for many years
without the house falling.
May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding. May you always need one another — not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness. A mountain needs a valley to be complete. The valley does not make the mountain less, but more. And the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it. So let it be with you and you. May you need one another, but not out of weakness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you entice one another, but not compel one another. May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another. May you succeed in all-important ways with one another, and not fail in the little graces. May you look for things to praise, often say, “i love you!” And take no notice of small faults. If you have quarrels that push you apart, may both of you hope to have good sense enough to take the first step back. May you enter into the mystery that is the awareness of one another’s presence — no more physical than spiritual, warm and near when you are side by side, and warm and near when you are in separate rooms or even distant cities. May you have happiness, and may you find it making one another happy. May you have love, and may you find it loving one another.
Venue
We had our reception at The Waterside in West Kilrbide. The Waterside in West Kilrbide.
Drinks Reception
We had a drinks reception for our guests as they arrived at the hotel. Can I just quickly say how wonderful everyone was? I felt like an absolute princess/queen all day. I was pampered, paid attention to and appreciated. Everyone was so sweet. I loved everything about the whole day.
Ali + Beth
And the part you’ve all been waiting for (well, it was definitely what I was most apprehensive about when receiving these photos) were the couple photos. Emma + Suzi totally put us at ease and played wee games with us to get us laughing/talking. They are clearly such good friends too and their banter was so inviting + funny.
Speeches
I am just starting to get over how embarrassing my dad’s speech was. Usually, the groom gets ridiculed but at this wedding, it was me.
Reception
With the arrival of our evening guests came hours of dancing + new conversations.
And that is our wedding day.
We had the most perfect day before jetting off to Italy on our honeymoon. I want to thank everyone who took part in making this day the beauty that it was. (You know who you are) Thank you cards are in production. I hope you enjoyed this post and if you would like to see ALL of our photos, pop me a message and I’ll link you to the gallery.
My favourite thing about the day though – or one of them – was seeing how happy our guests were. It was very important to me that our guests were happy and judging from these photos, I know they were.
Beth's Bookshelf Blog 
Loved reading this Beth, was gutted to miss the ceremony so it’s nice to get just a wee glimpse into how your day went 🙂 was a great evening. Would love to see the rest of the photos of that’s alright? Xxx
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Kezza, thanks so much! Was so glad you got to come at night 🙂
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Beth! This is amazing! I’ve cried and laughed reading this and its left me with a smile of such happy memories of a brilliant day that I feel so privilaged and lucky to have been a part of. I can’t wait to see them all! xx
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Aw, too cute!! You + me both! I’ve sent you the link, hope you love them. Xo
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That was the most wonderful way to relive the best, happiest and loving wedding ever. Bless you both. All my love. W.G x💖💙👗x
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Aw!! Love you too! I can’t wait to sit and show you all the photos. 🙂
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