These brides made wedding planning their post-work and weekend side hustle. They organised a personality-packed party at Glasgow street food hub Dockyard Social, where they were the first ever wedding, in just 12 weeks
Courtney McKenzie and Michaela Collins, now Mrs and Mrs Collins McKenzie
22nd September 2023
Venue | Dockyard Social
Photography | Photos with Paige
"Courtney and I got together in 2017. Friendship developed into love, and we were together five years before we got engaged.
We got engaged in July 2022 on Achmelvich Beach whilst doing the NC500 in a campervan with our wee dog Mac. I’d planned a surprise proposal with a beach picnic already set-up and a secret photographer to capture it. Courtney returned the gesture in October 2022 while we were on holiday in Venice.
We both took the plunge and bought our dresses before we’d even set a date. I got mine from David’s Bridal and Courtney got hers from One of a Kind Bridal Outlet. In hindsight, this was the best decision as it meant we picked dresses we loved regardless of where we chose to get married.
Even though it was 14 months from engagement to big day, we planned everything in just 12 weeks. After a year of going back and forth looking at different options, we decided to set the date and just go for it.
As you can imagine, planning a wedding in 12 weeks is not for the faint-hearted.
Initially, getting suppliers at such short notice was challenging. We joked that we were checking out of our 9-5 jobs and into our 5-9 jobs as wedding planners. Most of our evenings and weekends were consumed with wedding planning, but it was so worth it.
To best manage our time we divided and conquered. We created a checklist of everything that needed sorted then allocated these based on our strengths. Courtney is very creative and loves to look at the finer details and décor, while I am good with logistics and budgeting. We worked so well as a team.
Dockyard Social is one of our favourite places to go with our wee dog for street food and cocktails. It’s housed within a large industrial warehouse in Yorkhill with graffiti art and all-round good vibes.
When they announced that they were starting to do weddings, we thought it would be a brilliant blank canvas for us to project our own ideas onto. We ended up being the first wedding they’d hosted.
Courtney wanted a small and intimate wedding; I wanted a big celebration. We compromised and had a big intimate wedding! We had 120 day guests and then another 50 in the evening.
We met our celebrant David Smith from Humanist Society Scotland at a wedding fair and instantly connected with him. He was very funny, personable, and down to earth which is exactly what we were looking for.
Our ceremony captured our story and really brought our family and friends on the journey of our relationship. Everyone said it was the funniest and most emotional wedding ceremony they had ever experienced. We wrote and read our own vows, our favourite part of the ceremony. We each made five promises to one another.
We went against a few of the big ‘traditions’. We didn’t go our separate ways the night before the wedding; we wanted to wake up together. We didn’t bother with an official bridal party either. We got ready together in a suite at the Kimpton Blythswood Square Hotel with our family and friends, but didn’t see each other in our dresses until our first look.
We got all our main wedding portraits taken before the ceremony during our first look with our photographer Paige. We wanted to be as present as possible throughout the main part of the day and spend time with all our guests.
We didn’t want polished, posed photographs. Instead, we wanted more candid, in-the-moment photographs that caught natural interactions between us. Paige’s photos fitted our remit perfectly. Her husband Martyn’s company, POV Videography, filmed our wedding for us, which meant they worked really in sync with one another.
We asked each guest to RSVP their favourite song. Once we had all the requests, we sorted them into different ‘vibes’ for each element of our day. At 9pm, we had Tom B Sax – The Man with the Red Suit saxophonist join us for an Ibiza ‘power hour’ which had all the guests up on the dancefloor (and seats!) dancing away.
We also had a live painter Edith Ault who took pictures of each guest/couples and created a watercolour painting of them to take away at the end of the evening.
At the end of the night, we were up on our friends’ shoulders raving away. Seeing all our guests on the dancefloor having the best time was the icing on the cake. You could really feel the love in the room the full day."
Top tip: “Don’t feel bound by traditions, trends or what other people like. Create a day that matches your personalities and sums up your relationship. Everyone will enjoy themselves more if the day feels authentic to you both,” suggests Michaela.
Venue Dockyard Social
Photography Photos with Paige
Filmmaker POV Videography (see highlights video above)
Celebrant David Smith, Humanist Society Scotland
Courtney’s dress Morilee from One of a Kind Bridal Outlet
Michaela’s dress and both mothers-of-bride outfits David’s Bridal (now closed)
Dress alterations Wedding Belles Alterations
Both brides’ accessories Swarovski, Etsy and Lace and Favour
Flower girl dresses Monsoon
Makeup Artistry by Riaz (brides); Elegant Beauty by Hannah Hill (mums) Cake and biscuit favours Rumours Bakehouse
Catering Dockyard Social’s food stalls: Noi’s Kitchen; Gyro King and Pizza B. Goode
Flowers and venue decor Ivory Tower Weddings
Stationery DIY
Furniture and lighting hire Crown Marquee Hire
LED dancefloor Don Robertson Executive Entertainment
Engagement rings London Diamonds
Wedding rings Austen and Blake
Saxophonist Tom B Sax – The Man with the Red Suit
Hair colour and treatments Hair&Beauty Queens and Hair Art by Holly
Live painter Edith Ault
