After having a huge festival style barn wedding planned last year, Jenny and Ryan decided after a few failed attempts to just elope to Glencoe with just the bride’s mum and sister present.
Their day was held at St Mary’s, a former chapel now turned recording studio and wedding space that oozes eclectic, bohemian style. Set overlooking a dreamy river and unreal mountains. “We feel like we planned so many forms of a wedding that this seemed so easy and relaxed in comparison,” the bride told us. “We wanted to make all the choices we did not have the opportunity to had we had a big wedding, and make it about all the things we loved. I guess you could say the inspiration was us.”
The couple had a humanist ceremony with a unity candle section. Jen walked in the the Vitamin String’s Quartet version of Thank You by Led Zeppelin. Due to COVID restrictions, they were only allowed the celebrant, their two witnesses (Jen’s mum and sister) and Jade their photographer who had to capture it all through the old chapel door. “We laughed and cried as the ceremony went through our lives together and our future as a family. I did get the wrong finger when exchanging rings, but that was the only hiccup,” Jen laughed. “We ended the ceremony dancing back down the aisle to Vitamin Strings I Was Made For Lovin’ You by Kiss.”
The evening was anything but your traditional wedding reception; after getting soaked while having their photos taken, Jenny and Ryan dried off then sat in front of a wood burning stove in the empty chapel eating tapas and drinking margaritas. “We then had our own first dance, just the two of us, and it was perfectly romantic.”
“Our ceremony was our favourite part of the day,” Jenny concluded. “It was just so romantic and relaxed, we felt that no-one else existed in that moment part from us. Getting to have it in such a cool, unique and curated space was what we always imagined, but would not have been possible with a bigger guest list. It was hard not having everyone there, but it did mean we got to say yes to all the things we wanted without worrying.”
“Getting married is an intense and intimate act and it’s easy to make it about everyone else. Just make sure you plan a day where you get to have those moments and memories for just the two of you.”
