30th July 2016
Venue | St Cadoc’s RC Church, Cambuslang and the Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
Photography | Andrew Rae Photographer
“I work for Laings of Glasgow in the Argyll Arcade, so when Chris proposed he chose a little silver ring to allow me to chose the real ring from my work. We set a date shortly after and we were engaged for 15 months.
Our ceremony was supposed to be in St Columbkille’s Church in Rutherglen, but when renovations overran we chose Chris’ family church St Cadoc’s in Cambuslang. Father Ghislain of St Columbkille’s conducted our ceremony there and he was fantastic.
For our reception, we wanted somewhere a bit different, and when Chris’ mum mentioned that his uncle Tom was the manager of the Barrowland Ballroom we knew we had to book it. It was a blank canvas and an enormously iconic venue for any Glasgow music fan. Knowing that David Bowie, Biffy Clyro and so many more of our favourite acts had spent time in the dressing room we were in was amazing!
Obviously, music was a big theme for us. Our invites were designed like gig tickets (complete with wristbands), we had record place settings and we called our reception ‘The Ball and Chain Tour’. Our friend set up a live feed from Facebook and Twitter which put posts using #ballandchaintour on a big screen on the venue’s stage. We wanted everyone to feel part of our day and share their pictures and memories with us.
We also used a guitar as our guest book which now sits on display in our living room. The team at the Barrowland were brilliant with all our ideas, including confetti cannons and a balloon drop – which apparently hadn’t been done at the ballroom for around 50 years.
You cannot put a cost on having a visual reminder of the day, so our photographer Andrew was worth every penny. The photos are more than we ever imagined they would be – he captured all the little moments that whizz by, and we forgot he was there most of the time, even though he never stopped.”
Top tip: “Rope in some help. We had people doing all sorts for us including blowing up 300 balloons, making tablet and cutting out stickers. We can’t thank them enough.”
Dress Berketex Bride
Bridesmaids’ dresses chosen by bridesmaids in a colour picked by the bride
Rings Laings of Glasgow
Jewellery Debenhams
Groomswear Moss Bros
Cake Speciality Cakes
Catering Regis Banqueting
Favours homemade tablet, along with plectrums by Like My Photo Gifts and mini wooden guitars from eBay
Flowers AM Ducie Flowers
Invites and wristbands Ticket Printing UK
Entertainment Mojo Switch (who filmed a short video you can view here)
Venue décor confetti cannons by Bax-shop and styling by VM and Events
Transport Coopers Wedding Cars and bus from Essbee Coaches
Hair Lynn Keenan
Makeup Jodi Gallagher
