It was a pleasure and a blast to attend Niabh & Charlie’s wedding - a mixture of Hallowe’eny autumnal vibes and the warmth and fun of a friends & family get together. The wonderfully unique Cottiers wedding venue in Glasgow’s West End hosted, and it’s interestingly not the first time I’ve shot a Hallowe’en themed wedding here; I guess the gothic kinda look and the funky lighting inside go hand in hand with that theme! And on a side note - the under floor heating really helps to keep chilly photographers joints form seizing up ;-)

The colour palette was suitably autumnal with the bridesmaids (and bridesman!) each choosing their own individual outfit, but coordinating with burnt orange, autumnal flashes, elegantly tying together the bridal party. Whilst unsuccessfully trying to blend into the background in a cramped bridal prep room containing 4 people, I also noted that they were all to be wearing funky Vans trainers, which is Niabh’s staple footwear :-) And for Niabh, it was all topped of with an extremely cool hand-painted leather jacket for gothic style points! Not to mention the couple both had temporary tattoos of their beloved cat Curo…very cute. It’s only a shame they couldn’t make it!

The ceremony and the rest of the day went wonderfully smoothly. After Charlie’s classy and dramatic string instrument accompanied entrance, it did make me chuckle to hear that Niabh’s entrance was to a song entitled “ I don’t Love You” :-D After a bubble-blowing couple exit and a few group shots we beat a hasty path to the Botanic Gardens in the West-End to pump that creative photography muscle! Handily, the annual GlasGlow exhibition was on and we were quick to take full advantage. Niabh in particular was absolutely made up at the Hallowe’en themed exhibits - it couldn’t have been planned better. An giant pumpkin collection followed by a huge marshmallow man then the Ghostbusters car and myriad other funky lighting installations. There are some work-perks to this job, and getting in to see and photograph stuff for free that I would otherwise have to pay for is sometimes one of them ;-)

After seeing all this and bustling through the Kibble Palace at a nifty pace, the rest of the reception was as it should be - just fun mingling with all their guests, up until the speeches (always a nice time for me to discover a little more about the couple) , followed by a raucous Scottish ceilidh extravaganza. Now these are scenes that really make my clock tick; at the end of a really satisfying and fun day, just some wild abandon, bad dancing and a plain good time had by all. It really makes for some awesome creative, natural photographs and is one of the bits of a wedding I look forward to the most. Niabh in fact had a change of dress to free up some movement and make the dancing a little more free-flowing in a brilliant moment of forethought. And I bet those Vans came in pretty handy too...

Enjoy! :-)