When it came to choosing a venue for Becky and Ian’s October wedding, there was only one place in contention – Cottiers Theatre in Glasgow. “The venue really set the tone for our wedding,” Becky explained. “It’s a stunning old church in the West End of Glasgow, which is now a restaurant and theatre. I was the last baby to be christened there when it was a church so to us if felt like a no brainer that that is where we should get married.”
Its’ beautiful gothic setting with medieval vibes suited the couple – as lovers of autumn, they wanted an October wedding to make the most of the beautiful crisp nights that Glasgow has to offer and their children are Halloween obsessed, so they let all the kids change into fancy dress for the reception.
Originally the couple had planned a small wedding, but they soon found with big families and large friendship circles that it was more difficult than they first thought to keep numbers low. “I wish I’d known how quickly things can grow arms and legs,” laughed Becky, “there was so many times when we both said to each other ‘lets just take the kids and run’. To be honest I’m not really one for wanting to be the centre of attention. I can get really self conscious and before I knew it I’d planned this massive wedding where I’d have to walk down the aisle in-front of 80-odd guests and have my first dance in front of about 180 folk. But Ian would calm me down and bring me back down to earth and remind me why we were getting married in the first place. When we were told that his dad was coming over from South Africa to see us get married we just thought ‘right that it. It’s going ahead! We can’t run now.’ And I’m really glad we didn’t.”
Both their ceremony and reception were in the theatre, so they employed the expertise of a planner to ensure the day went ahead smoothly, who also happened to be a florist, so it meant she took over most of the decor, too! “Originally I’d planned to do all the decorations myself, I started collecting different kinds of bottles and dripping wax down them but then we both decided we wanted to go with the banquet tables and we would need squillions of bottles stuffed with flowers and wax in order to get the look I wanted to achieve and I was ready to rip my hair out, so I was glad Erin was able to take over!”
Becky and Ian had a humanist ceremony from a family friend who had known them for years, which made it even more personal to them. “We had a tying of the knot ceremony with a Scottish flag and a south African flag and our children helped us tie it which was lovely. We come as a team and it was important for us to have them up there with us and have them as a huge part of the day.”
After their kids changed into their fancy dress, they continued the spooky vibes with an unusual entertainment for their reception – Charlie Atlas, a knife throwing act! “It was a real crowd pleaser, and I even got up on stage myself after a couple of wines!” With the large guest list, understandably the bulk of their £20,000 budget was spent on the venue and the food. “It was important for us to give our guests a really good day. I wanted everyone to be well fed with a beautiful 3 course meal and I wanted everyone to get a decent drinks package as well. Weddings can be expensive for other people and neither myself or Ian wanted our guests turning up and having to spend alot of money when they were there.”
“Looking back I wish I hadn’t been so nervous,” Becky concluded. “My mum says I practically ran down the aisle where initially I had visions of myself gliding down looking graceful. Clearly that wasn’t the case. I can’t remember a lot of the day because of this. Looking at the pictures though I seem to be laughing my head off in most of them so I must have enjoyed it. If we had to give any future brides and grooms advice it would be to just try and relax and enjoy the day. I know it’s so much easier said than done but the day passes in a heartbeat and the next day you’ll wake up wanting to relive it all again. Also if you are planning a big wedding and folk offer to help then use them to your best advantage. They wouldn’t ask if they didn’t want to help and it’ll definitely lighten the load for yourself.”
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