Simple Happy & Fun City Wedding with a Bride in a Maternity Dress

I can’t tell you just how much I love today’s real wedding and the ethos behind the day. Kirstie and Phil had a stunning 29 Glasgow wedding in Scotland on the 11^th May 2019. The whole plan behind their day was to choose elements that brought happiness and joy. If there was anything I bang on about all the time, it has to be this 🙌. Choose what’s going to make you happy and you’ll be smiling all day long.

Kirstie and Phil kept everything simple, letting their modern venue do the talking. They added pastel flowers, paper buttonholes and a sprinkles cake too. Not to mention totally gorgeous outfits! Kirstie was pregnant on her wedding day and so chose a non-maternity wedding dress, but had it altered for her. Doesn’t she look amazing?! Phil and the gents all wore dapper tuxedos for a touch of modern glamour.

Firefly and Embers Photography thank you so much for kindly sharing these joy-filled images today. I defy you not to smile during this feature!

29 Glasgow Wedding

The Proposal

We left our little boy with his Nanna and Grandad and headed off for a night away. We like to hike, so decided to go for a coastal hike before a lovely meal and night in a little B&B.

Phil was acting a bit weird on the hike, and very insistent about finding somewhere private to admire the view. When we found somewhere to sit, he got down on one knee and proposed.

The Vision

Errrr…. There wasn’t one! We just wanted a lovely party with family and friends. We had no theme and no clear plan – other than do what makes you happy. Every part of the wedding was picked as it was something which made us happy – it didn’t matter if the cake didn’t match the flowers or the invites didn’t match the seating plan design (they didn’t!) but as long as we liked each individual thing, we knew that was all that mattered for us.

The Planning Process

Kirstie spent a lot of time trying to find venues – with family on both sides of the border it needed to be somewhere easy to travel to, with accommodation. Initially we planned on a wedding in England. We didn’t want a long engagement and wanted to get married within a year – so the key thing was finding a venue.

We had initially provisionally booked a wedding in a forest location near where we live, but after a date clash for some family members decided to rethink that. That’s when Kirstie got in touch with 29 Glasgow – who magically had a date free for a weekend in May the following year (this was in October). And once that was decided, there was very little planning to be done – 29 are a wonderful venue and we bought a package that included décor, cake and a DJ.

The rest of the planning was booking a humanist celebrant, ceilidh band and photographer. We got incredibly lucky – only spoke to 1 celebrant and 1 photographer – we loved them immediately and they were also available on our date. We booked them straight away. It was all just falling into place!

Budget

We didn’t start out with a budget in mind but knew we didn’t want an extravagant wedding – simple and happy were the key things.

The Venue

29 Glasgow – a perfect location for us, with amazing staff and the wedding organiser Louize was wonderful. They even accommodated our request for an Indian-style wedding buffet and even managed to convince us we did actually need a seating plan! As they were the experts, we ended up agreeing on that one.

Your Outfits & Accessories

Well…. This didn’t entirely go to plan…. Kirstie bought a beautiful high low wedding dress from Vera Wang. She adored it and was very excited to wear it. However…. Shortly after sending the wedding invitations out, we discovered we were expecting a baby and Kirstie would be 6 months pregnant at the wedding! There followed months of a very stressed Kirstie trying to find a wedding dress which would make her feel beautiful, but also be comfortable.

Eventually, after trying on MANY MANY maternity wedding gowns, Kirstie bought an off the shelf dress from Self Portrait, after seeing someone wearing it as a maternity gown on Pinterest. She then spent time with a local dressmaker, who altered the dress for her to wear with a huge bump! Finally, Kirstie’s best woman – Lynsey – used some of the dress to make a beautiful belt – complete with the initials of Kirstie’s father, so that despite her father having passed away, he could walk her down the aisle.

Kirstie also wore gold sparkly shoes, from Nine West, which she was going to wear whether they matched or not! When she gave up on heels, she had creamy glittery trainers to change into.

Kirstie still has the original Vera Wang dress available – unworn, unaltered and with tags. She’d happily give it away to someone who needs it and would love it.

Phil looked wonderful in black tie, from REISS, and Ben, our son, wore a kilt – hired for the day, slightly too large and looked very cute for the short period he wore it before changing into trousers!

For buttonholes, Phil had picked paper buttonholes – made from maps of Glasgow and London, which he and the groomsmen wore.

Beauty

Kirstie had a hair trial at a local salon near where she lives – and on the wedding morning went to Rainbow Room in Royal Exchange Square, armed with pictures. Rainbow Room were wonderful and managed to pull off just what she was looking for.

Kirstie’s sister is a make up artist, so was roped in to do the bridal make up and did an amazing job.

Wedding Party

The Best Men and Groomsmen all wore black tie, with the paper map buttonholes.

There were no bridesmaids, just a Best Woman, who wore an amazing red evening gown which she picked herself (with Kirstie’s full approval and encouragement).

The Readings & Music

We asked Kirstie’s sister and Phil’s friend to each choose a reading for us – and surprise us on the day.

For music, we picked 4 key songs for the day – the entrance music was “Have you ever been in love” by The Divine Comedy, exit music was “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie (!) and the first dance song was “I Like” by The Divine Comedy. Knowing the expectations of the English guests, we also chose a 2^nd dance song – “500 Miles” by The Proclaimers – which got everyone up and dancing straight away!

Don’t forget to check out our first dance song ideas and wedding readings for even more inspiration!

Your Photographer

Firefly and Embers Photography – Liana was perfect for us! She was the only photographer we spoke to but we knew she would be perfect. We were both nervous about having city centre pictures taken on the day, but she made us feel comfortable and got some amazing portrait shots. We treasure our pictures and rave about Liana to anyone that will listen – Kirstie’s sister has even booked her for her own wedding in 2021.

Why not take a look at our wedding photos ideas? It even has a list you can download. YES!

The Flowers

The flowers were also part of the wedding package, provided by Elaine Minto Blooms – as usual as we did not have a theme or plan, so after speaking to the florist, Kirstie decided on a simple pastel bouquet, with matching display piece for the register signing.

Female family members also all each had a corsage in the same beautiful colours.

The Cake

Provided as part of the package, supplied by Special Days Cakes, we picked a three tiered cake which was entirely covered in multi coloured sprinkles! We had vanilla, chocolate and red velvet sponges. The cake was mainly picked as we knew our son would love it – and we each picked a flavour we would like (Kirstie went for vanilla, Phil red velvet, and Ben went for chocolate).

The Details & Décor

29 Glasgow is already so beautiful, we decided to keep it simple and didn’t add any extras. They even provided a little post box for cards.

We kept in really simple – no favours for the adults, but little play things to keep children amused during Boring Grown Up speeches.

For food, 29 did us a wonderful buffet (most people say it was the best wedding meal they’ve ever had!) of Mediterranean starters and curry for mains. We trusted 29 to provide a lovely meal – and they did – as we couldn’t travel up for a tasting.

The Honeymoon

As Kirstie was pregnant and Brexit was (at the time) looming we decided against going too far, and instead opted for a week in Centre Parcs with our little boy! We did say we’d go on a more exotic holiday at another time, but that has yet to materialise.

Memorable Moments

The ceremony was absolutely perfect – our celebrant, David Smith, spent time with us via Skype, and in person when we had the chance, and he put together a wonderful personal ceremony. We wrote our own vows, and also each gave David 3 things we loved about each other, and 1 thing that perhaps had room for improvement! It was special, filled with love, and David made it a wonderful ceremony.

Advice For Other Couples

Just do what makes you happy – pick each aspect of the wedding for the joy it will bring you, and don’t worry about what you’re “supposed” to do.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Oh my, so so lovely.

Kirstie and Phil thank you so much for sharing your very special 29 Glasgow wedding with us. What a treat!