A PERFECTLY IMPERFECT GLASGOW WEDDING IN A 1920S PRINTWORKS
FEATURING
Jenni + Alex’s colourful Civic house Glasgow wedding was one big party!
“On the day we realised that all the things we had stressed and panicked about in the lead up just didn’t matter.”
~ Jenni + Alex
We Fell In Love With…
All the colours, city weddings, fairy lights, and Mediterranean food .
Jenni and Alex’s day was filled with people and things that mean the most to them. Talented friends came together to help these proud Scots create a unique wedding that may not have been ‘Instagrammable’, as they put it, but that we absolutely love!
Read on to see all the colourful inspiration and remember the best bit at the end – the lessons our lovely couple learned!
TELL US ABOUT YOU TWO + YOUR WEDDING JOURNEY
After meeting at work – and immediately clicking – Alex proposed in March 2022 on Calton Hill in Edinburgh. We more or less started planning the wedding straight away.
We visited Civic House and absolutely fell in love with it. It’s a 5 minute walk from our flat which meant I could jump on the subway on the morning of the wedding. We love this part of the city and knew we wanted to get married somewhere local.
We didn’t want our wedding to feel too “Instagrammable” or perfect. We wanted everything to feel relaxed, and to fill the day with things that were important to us rather than having everything match perfectly. We have a bunch of very talented and creative friends who helped us with planning and DIY so it really felt like everyone played a big part on the day, which was important to us.
We decided that we would give our suppliers very loose briefs and let them create something beautiful. Terri, our florist, is an absolute artist. What she created was so unique and special. When we walked into the venue we were just blown away.
Jo + Liam, our photographers, were amazing in the run up to the wedding, suggesting our celebrant Jennifer (who we couldn’t love more!) and our DJ Gerry (ditto!) as well as giving us loads of advice about timings and the structure of the day. They are also just two of the soundest, kindest folk you’ll ever come across.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR OUTFITS
Jenni found a seamstress online, Lune Bridal, who has a catalogue of beautiful dresses that she can alter to your tastes. After a few conversations, Jenni ordered her dress from her and couldn’t have been more pleased with it.
Jenni’s favourite thing was her veil from AM Faulkner – her work is just so beautiful, impactful and dramatic but with a modern feel. She knew as soon as she saw the Margarita veil that it was the one!
Jenni’s beautiful shoes were from Eska. On the day though, she put on her trainers and ended up never taking them off. So now she has a beautiful pair of shoes she’s worn to other people’s weddings! No regrets.
Alex and his groom party all wore kilts from 8 Yards in Edinburgh.
Alex wore the Gunn Tartan (Jenni’s family name) but we knew we wanted the rest of the boys to pick their own Clan tartan or whichever one they liked best so that there was a bit of variety.
We took the same approach with bridesmaids. Between them, they worked out a colour palette then did their own shopping for dresses. They all looked so beautiful and individual.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR CEREMONY
Our humanist celebrant, Jennifer, is an angel. As soon as we met her, we knew she was the only person we wanted to marry us. She has this brilliant, warm energy.
We wrote our own vows, which Jennifer helped with. We incorporated a quaich into our ceremony too – we’re both very proud of being Scottish, and we also both love a good drink, so we knew it just had to be done. Jo + Liam captured a perfect picture of Alex struggling with the last gulp of whisky which ended up being one of our favorite photos of the day and a year on, we still laugh about.
We kept room decor pretty minimal. We absolutely loved the space at Civic House and wanted it to more or less speak for itself. The room had canopy fairy lights, gorgeous brick walls and concrete floors with Turkish carpets. We thought it was perfect so added very little to it.
TELL US ABOUT THE RECEPTION
Shotgun Weddings provided our food and did an amazing job on the day. We went for a sort of Middle-Eastern/Mediterranean theme. It’s the kind of food we love and because Alex is vegan there were plenty of options for him.
Our cake was made by our lovely pal and work colleague Linsay – a future Bake Off Champion!
Our plans for the reception were that we just wanted people to have fun, to get up and dance to all the music we both love. Gerry, our DJ was more than perfect for us.
Our last dance was Primal Scream’s Come Together, we still can’t listen to it without getting emotional. It was the best end to the best day, surrounded by all the folk we love most in the world. Just perfect.
ANY LESSONS LEARNED OR ADVICE YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE?
I think the biggest lesson we learned was – don’t sweat it.
Even though we wanted a pretty chilled out day, there is still a load of stress that goes into planning a wedding. We definitely let some of the pressure get to us a bit. On the day we realised that all the things we had stressed and panicked about in the lead up just didn’t matter. We were going to get married, with all these brilliant people around us, and have a massive party. There’s not much that can go wrong, so we just embraced it.
Don’t try to do everything. Pick your priorities, and remember, people just want a good supply of drink, decent food and a dance. Don’t get caught up in the Instagram wedding stuff. Decide what’s important to you and roll with it.
We were told that you don’t see much of your other half on your wedding day. We took that advice very much on board and spent almost the entire day together. Every memory we each have of the day, the other person is in it. Be together.
Call it at the end of the night – don’t be tempted to keep on drinking. We woke up the next day feeling fresh and got everyone together for a big-post wedding lunch. It was a great way to end the weekend.
Have a team around you that will put up with your shit, your mad ideas and your worrying. Our wedding party were solid, reliable, excellent people who took all the stress off us on the day. That was absolutely key to enjoying it.
