David and Lara chose places close to their heart to get married, and were surprised with unforecasted snow and a visit from alpacas
David Whiteford & Lara Tomkins
2nd December 2023
Ceremony venue | Newlands South Church
Reception venue | Ralph & Finns
Photographer | Sarah Jane Ferguson Photography
“David's best friend is married to my sister's best friend, and she also knew him from school, so she set us up in 2019.
We got engaged in March 2023 in our kitchen while we were waiting on sweet potato fries to cook after we had been out for a couple of drinks on the way home from work.
We wanted our day to be filled with our friends and family at venues close to our hearts and we didn't want to wait a long time to get married.
We were lucky enough to have the venue sorted, as we knew we wanted to get married in Newlands South Church, where David's dad was the minister for 19 years, and my family's restaurant, Ralph & Finns, which was beautifully decorated for Christmas.
My sister kindly did most of the organising... we are less organised than her! She has great ideas and planned most of the special touches for us.
A friend had Sarah Jane Ferguson photograph her wedding, and we loved how natural the pictures looked, so booked her for our day. We loved our pictures in Queens Park in the snow! It was a really fun hour to ourselves with Sarah Jane, but also my friend Danny Rizzo aka Rizzo Films who was our videographer.
I only went to one bridal shop, Anne Priscilla Bridal, as they stocked the one dress I had seen online that I loved: 'Stephanie' by Sassi Holford.
The night before the wedding, the bridal party stayed at my parents’ house. We had a Deliveroo and champagne. It was lovely! Meanwhile, the groomsmen had dinner and drinks at our house.
Our wedding morning was lovely as we woke up to an unforecasted heavy snowfall! We had our makeup done in my parents' kitchen/conservatory and my mum organised for alpacas to surprise us in the middle of our makeup being done – it was hilarious. Steve and Rio were so cute!
I was nervous to walk down the aisle, but not to marry David. He's the best. I walked down the aisle with my dad, to 'Your Song' by Elton John played on string quartet. (Elton John is our favourite musician.)
The ceremony was perfect. We had Anne Paton, a minister close to David's family, marry us. I especially liked having five minutes just the two of us in the 'bridal room' at the side while the guests left. We had so much to chat about!
We struggled to find readings. In the end we went with ‘How Falling in Love is like Owning a Dog' due to our love of dogs and 'This Day I Married My Best Friend' because we felt it resonated with us.
At the drinks reception we had a string quartet playing our favourite songs, lots of canapés and champagne!
We named our cocktails after our dogs, Martha, Ronnie, Kim and Twiggy and had Martharita, Negronnie, Kimbo Sour and a Twiggy Martini.
We also had a gorgeous wedding cake which was a simple (nearly) naked cake with Martha and Ronnie on one of the tiers.
The speeches were hilarious! My dad and David's best man, Ryan, are both brilliant public speakers. Both speeches were funny, personal and not too long.
My sister and brother-in-law organised the meal (which included Marrbury smoked salmon to start, a confit leg of Gressingham duck main and dark chocolate crémeux cherry sorbet for dessert). We went for a tasting before the day and everything was delicious.
To end the night, we had a show band called MK and the Misters. They were brilliant, playing mostly disco, '70s, '80s and '90s.
The day goes so quickly! But our guests said it was filled with fun and laughter."
Top tip: “You don't notice anything you think is a 'big deal' on the day – small things like the colour of the confetti don't matter!”
Lara and David's highlights by Rizzo Films
Ceremony venue Newlands Parish Church
Reception venue and catering Ralph & Finns, Glasgow
Photographer Sarah Jane Ferguson Photography
Filmmaker Rizzo Films (see highlights above)
Minister Anne Paton
Wedding dress Sassi Holford dress from Anne Priscilla Bridal
Bride’s shoes Dune
Bridesmaid dresses Maison Argot
Flower girl dresses Etsy
Mother of the bride outfit Solace London
Groomswear/best men MacGregor and MacDuff
Cake Karen Barker Cakes
Flowers Flowermug
Stationery Printbox
Favours Christmas baubles
Venue décor Ralph & Finns with Christmas decorations by David Lawson Design
Engagement/wedding rings and jewellery Love for Diamonds Ltd
Ceremony and drinks reception music A string quartet. "Our neighbour got some musician friends together for this."
Reception music MK & the Misters
Transport Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust
Makeup Gemma Elizabeth Makeup Artist
