This classic Scottish wedding at Mar Hall features pearl bridal accessories, gorgeous white flowers and surprise singing waiters as entertainment

Laura Sinclair & Daniel Fulton

26th June 2021

Venue | Mar Hall, Renfrewshire
Photography | Brown’s Photography

a bride wearing a tartan shawl with a groom wearing matching tartan in the grounds of Mar Hall

“Daniel and I have been together since 2014. We got engaged in 2019 in our first home together – it’s a memory that I will cherish forever in a place that meant a lot to us.

As a summer 2020 wedding, in April that year, we accepted that our dream wedding wouldn’t be taking place any time soon. It was devastating and something that caused a lot of upset, but there were far worse things happening in the world. We knew our day would come eventually.

We moved our date to April 2021. When it became clear that wasn’t going to happen either, we changed venue. (There had been some issues with our original venue.) Unfortunately, the slightly later date in April we’d booked at Mar Hall also didn’t go ahead.

We made the final decision to push back to June 2021 and stick with it, no matter what. It ended up being two years and four months from engagement to wedding. We were hopeful of having a restriction-free wedding, but it wasn’t to be. That said, we still had the most incredible day with 50 of our closest friends and family in attendance.

Do as much planning together as you possibly can. Daniel was involved from the outset and we regularly sat down together and organised things. We were on the same page and were very open with one another about what we did and didn’t want for our wedding.

A global pandemic definitely didn’t make the planning easy. From thinking key family members wouldn’t be there, to rescheduling three times, we stuck together through it all and were rocks for one another when there were tears.

Our idea of what we wanted the day to look like did a total about-turn thanks to the postponement and venue change. Mar Hall is a very different type of venue to our original, so my initial idea of  ’50s Hollywood glamour morphed into the ‘classic white wedding’.

Our ceremony was pretty special. We wrote our own vows and our guests loved how much it summed up our relationship. Everyone in attendance was crying, laughing and everything in between during it! Janet Hamilton, our celebrant, was fantastic.

We asked our string quartet, The Quartet, to adapt a few of our favourite songs for our ceremony. I walked down the aisle to Bless the Broken Road by Rascall Flatts. It was absolutely stunning and had me in tears before I even walked down the aisle.

Our first dance was to Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis. It was the first song we ever slow danced to way back when.

My dress was from Sarah Louise Bridal in Glasgow. I went to a few different boutiques, but this was the first one I visited and could not stop comparing everything else to one of the gowns I tried on there. It was clearly a sign.

I decided to incorporate pearls subtly throughout my bridal look and the decor.  I bought gorgeous pearl shoes from Charlotte Mills and found a pearl-covered bridal cape on Etsy (though sadly the supplier has now closed its shop).

A selfie mirror and singing waiters were two non-essential items I couldn’t resist booking. The latter really kick-started the party! It was such a laugh and our guests got right into them. The selfie images are hilarious and we love looking back at them.

My Dad’s speech was fantastic. He was so nervous, but he knocked it out of the park and had everybody in tears.

Our photographer, Brown’s Photography, and videographer, One Shot Films, were phenomenal. They were supportive, calming and took care of little things without being asked, like helping to fix my dress or organising our guests.

We are thrilled with our wedding photos. We also cannot tell you how many compliments we have had on our teaser and video.

I wish we hadn’t been beholden to a 10pm curfew (thanks for that, Covid). By the time we’d got our photos taken and had the meal, it felt like we hardly got any time to let our hair down and truly be with our guests. The wedding was still the best day of our lives though!”

Top tip: “Focus your energy on one thing at a time. Don’t try to book five things at once. Also make sure you meet suppliers before booking – especially ones you will see/spend time with on the day. If you’re not going to get along with them, you’ll just cause yourself more stress.”

Celebrant Janet Hamilton, Humanist Society ScotlandBride’s and bridesmaids’ dresses Sarah Louise Bridal Hair accessory Emma Rose CreationsBride’s shoes Charlotte Mills Hair Megan Lindsay Bridal Hair Stylist
Makeup Danielle Dickson Makeup Artist Groomswear MacGregor and MacDuff Cake 3D CakesFlowers and decor Supernova Wedding Design and Flowers Ceremony music The Quartet Reception music Something Blue Singing waiters Silver Service Singers Selfie mirror Blue Parrot Events Wedding film One Shot Films (scroll on to see)

five white bridesmaids shopping bags with gold script writing displaying namesivory pearl peep toe charlotte mills shoes with a white orchid bouquet sitting on a chaira person kneeling next to a beige sofa with toddler sitting on itwhite personalised wedding plimsolls with black writing and a bride white dressing gown hanging over a chair in front of a grand pianofront and back views of a bride wearing an plain ivory V-neck dress from Sarah Louise Bridala man wearing a kilt walking towards a bride with arms outstretcheda wedding ceremony at Mar Halla bride and groom with celebrant Janet Hamilton of Humanist Society Scotlanda laughing bride and back of groom wearing tartan fly plaid during a wedding ceremonya smiling bride placing a ring on a groom's fingera bride and groom walking back up the aisle after a wedding ceremony at Mar Halla bride and groom waving from the back of a convertible black and ivory vintage wedding cara bride with 4 bridesmaids wearing burgundy dresses from sarah louise bridal and carrying white bouquets from Supernova Wedding Design and Flowersa wedding group portrait outside Mar Halla bride wearing a pearl-covered denim jacket and groom in the gardens with exterior of Mar Hall in backgrounda bride and groom walking in the grounds of Mar Halla bride and groom with exterior of Mar Halla bride and groom lying on grass and laughing and bride wearing denim jacket with Erskine Bridge in backgrounda bride wearing tartan shawl and groom in grounds of Mar Hall and pictured on front stairs of Mar Halla gold mirror wedding welcome sign and Mar Hall set for a wedding ceremonya bride, groom and standing man reading a wedding speech on a top table during a wedding at Mar Hallsilver service waiters performing during a wedding at Mar Hallguests dancing and singing at a wedding top tablewedding guests standing and swinging napkins in the marquee at Mar Halla bridesmaid singing with two other guests in the wedding marquee at Mar Hallpeople celebrate and sing as silver service waiters performwhite heart token wedding guest book and donut walkk at a weddingferrero rocher LOVE letter display on a table next to to a windowa purple marble gold leaf and ivory cake by 3D Cakes and couple cutting the cake behind a gold hoopguests watch on as a bride and groom perform their first dance in the wedding marquee at Mar Hall