Marrying her sweetheart in August of last year, newlywed Claire told me all about their Glaswegian wedding. “Whilst on paper our wedding wasn’t overtly Rock n Roll, our journey to get down the aisle definitely offers a slightly offbeat tale. Namely because in the two years leading up to our nuptials we collectively lost ten stone between us – the equivalent of 20ish new-born babies, a Saint Bernard dog, or Britney Spears. The toughest journey of my life, losing 70% of our collective weight drop, I lived, breathed and blogged the whole shebang, and whilst I still have a few more pounds to shift, that I made it down the aisle in the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen, no longer morbidly obese, is the proudest moment of my life so far.”
“Another not so insignificant part of the proceedings was applying to be the next Rock n Roll Bride intern, and attending the first ever School of Rock (n Roll Bride). And whilst I didn’t win the internship, or even continue blogging, both made life that little bit more lovely, in no small part thanks to the network of remarkable women I had the pleasure of meeting either virtually or in person throughout each experience.”
Claire & Tom were married at Glasgow Art Club which proved to be the perfect venue to host their eclectic ideas. “Our humanist ceremony was our most treasured moment”, Claire explained. “Hugely personal, with poignant readings from three very special people to us, self-penned vows, tears a-hoy and impromptu hilarity which we shared with 70 of our most favourite people, it couldn’t have been more ‘us’.”
In fact, making their wedding very ‘them’ was certainly the recurring theme, as Claire continues. “From the vintage-style veil on the top of my head, to the custom Converse which donned the groom’s feet, not even the tiniest detail of our wedding was left to chance. We whittled away hour after hour each night on eBay, Etsy, Folksy, Pinterest and of course, Rock n Roll Bride, soaking up every ounce of inspiration we could consume in the process.”
“As a couple, it’s fair to say we can be polar opposites at times. Besides the fact that I’m Scottish and he’s English (a pretty significant difference when it comes to weddings), tattoos, flamingos and Biffy Clyro top my favourites list, whilst graffiti, robots and Jurassic Five are more up Tom’s street. So on day one of ‘project wedding’ we had a jaunt to our favourite bar and, over a cold beer (one of our few shared hobbies) we compiled a list of all the things we wanted to try and incorporate into our big day.”
“Approximately 80% of that list featured in the proceedings, some in a big way (flamingos) and others less so (skulls), but more than anything we wanted to create a frivolous, imaginative backdrop that would feel like an extension of us as a couple and in turn help everyone have fun. The team at Glasgow Art Club couldn’t have been more supportive in helping us bring our ideas to life, and thanks to an overwhelming amount of support (over endless pots of coffee chatting through every option and minute detail with the ever patient manager Naoimh), the venue was transformed into our very own enchanted world for the day.”
“Inspired by CMYK (but with green thrown in for good measure), and akin to how we’ve decorated our own home, ‘colour pop’ featured heavily, with bright bouquets and buttonholes, differently coloured shoes for each bridesmaid and an abundance of rainbow-esque adornments sprinkled all over the venue. Even the toilets were decorated with fluorescent dinosaurs and glitter signs!”
“If we could wrap our entire wedding journey up in a big bow to open each year, we’d do it all over again and again and again!” Claire laughed. “Because it was so much more to us than just one day in our lives – it was a giant adventure – one big life lesson – from start to finish. From our awesome engagement party when our parents met for the first time, to the surprise princess-themed bridal shower my Mum threw for me, to our riotous hen/stag parties in Brighton and Belfast respectively, to the many, many wonderful people who become so much more to us than wedding suppliers, not to mention our once in a lifetime Cuban and Mexican honeymoon that we were lucky to experience thanks to our super generous guests – those two years living and breathing our big day created a bundle of happy memories, more than we ever could’ve wished for.”
“One thing we swithered over, like many couples, was the cost-benefit of booking a wedding videographer”, Claire concluded. “After a lot of deliberating, we managed to cut back in other places (transport & cake) so we could have it filmed, and we seriously could not be happier about our decision after seeing the result. Robert at Lollipop Weddings truly is a creative genius, and we feel so lucky to have had him there to capture every sparkly moment with so much delicacy and truth.”
Aww isn’t that video just the best!? Thank you to Claire & Tom for sharing their gorgeous wedding with us today and of course to Mirrorbox Photography for the photos and Lollipop Weddings for the vid!
The Gallery
Suppliers
- Photography: Mirrorbox Photography
- Video: Lollipop Weddings
- Venue: Glasgow Art Club
- Bride's Dress: Pronovias
- Bride's Shoes: Irregular Choice
- Bride's Veil: Couture Mango
- Bride's Headband: ASOS
- Bride's Necklace: Gioia Mia
- Hair: Urban West
- Groom's Attire: Next
- Groom's Shoes: Converse
- Bridesmaid's Dresses: Next, Miss Selfridge and Debenhams
- Bridesmaid's Acessories: Anna Lou of London
- Cake: DIY
- Flowers: I Heart Flowers
- DJ: Hi-Fi Weddings
- David Bowie Tribute Band: Spiders on Mars
- Illustrations: Libby Walker
- Stationery: DIY
- Caterers: Encroute