Sarah Donnelly and Adam Hughes
14th October 2023
Venue | House For an Art Lover
Photography | Weddings by Andrew Low
Words by Amy Shearer
Sometimes, when a golden opportunity presents itself, you just need to grab it with both hands – even if it looks at first to be one of those curveballs life throws at you occasionally. Allow bride Sarah to explain…
She and Adam hadn’t got far with their planning beyond sketching out a few ideas of what they needed from a potential venue. “We knew we wanted to marry somewhere that had a relaxed atmosphere, was easily accessible for our guests and would give us a lovely backdrop for our pictures,” recalls the bride. House for an Art Lover, the wonderful Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed house in Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park, fitted the bill.
But Sarah and Adam knew it was a popular place for weddings and that they’d likely have quite a long wait to marry there if they wanted a Saturday.
Incredibly, their luck was in. On the day they went to view it, they were told there had been a cancellation for a Saturday just six months away. Some couples would have freaked out at the thought of planning an entire wedding in such a short space of time, but not this intrepid pair. “We jumped at the chance!” laughs Sarah. “It really suited us because we knew we wanted an autumn wedding.”
They invited 60 guests and tried to make things as relaxed and accessible as possible: “The most important thing was making it easy for our friends and family to join us,” recalls the bride. “Three babies were due imminently, so we wanted to make it as close to home for people as possible! Our coordinator, Amanda, was so relaxed and everything ran exactly as we hoped. We never felt rushed.”
The couple opted for a package, but say they had ample opportunity to personalise proceedings and make the day their own. “There’s a choice of three different price points for menus and a variety of options within that. We couldn’t decide what to have, so the staff accommodated two tasting days for us, which was so helpful. We knew we wanted additional drinks for our guests, and they were happy to make this happen. We can’t praise the staff highly enough – the email response time was always same day and they were always so open to every idea. Even on the day itself, nothing was a stress for them, and it made the world of difference to us.”
The couple fell in love with the atmospheric venue, and despite Adam spending the evening before in the pub (“Still a bone of contention!” jokes his wife) and Sarah’s dad coughing red wine over her dress at dinner, everything came together to make it the day of their dreams.
“The ceremony was magical. Our guests faced inwards so it felt more intimate, and our celebrant was amazing at putting us at ease,” remembers Sarah. “I think our favourite moment was our friend Luke reading a very special poem.”
Neither of them would change a thing about their day: “Our highlights were seeing each other at the aisle, watching our beautiful flower girls and seeing all our loved ones. And my dad’s speech had us all feeling emotional!”
Some extra-special touches (and appearances) added to the joy, says the bride: “The partner of one of our ushers had a baby just the day before, so it was wonderful he still made it to celebrate with us – he even sent us a picture of him with the baby when he nipped out after dinner! We also set up a camera app for all our guests instead of handing out disposable cameras, which meant we got to see the day through their eyes the next morning when everyone got access to all the photos. It gave us some of our favourite pictures, so we’d really recommend it.”
Photographer Weddings by Andrew Low
Venue House For An Art Lover
Bridesmaid dresses Rewritten, Silk Fred and Liena
Flower girl dresses Next
Celebrant Mary Kane Humanist Society Scotland
Cake A Pastry Shop
Doughnuts Doh-Nuts
Catering House For an Art Lover
Flowers Wholesalers and arranged by couple
Stationery printed.com
Centre pieces DIY and acrylic numbers from Etsy
Candles and glass holders IKEA
Drinks reception music Motown playlist
Hair Bridal Hair by Megan Neely
Make up Olivia McPike
