Katie and Paul’s little wedding at Glasgow University and Òran Mór
At least for the next year or so I am predicting that small weddings and elopements are going to rule the roost. In many ways it makes so much more sense than trying hard to organise a 100 guest full-size wedding in these uncertain times. There is certainly nothing wrong at all with a big wedding, I just worry that it is causing folk undue amounts of stress and perhaps detracting from what should ultimately be one of the best days of your life. When will large weddings be allowed again? Nobody can say with any certainty, so for the time being why not keep things small for the wedding day itself and then have a huge party when it is safe to do so? Just be sure to record your wedding day well so that you can show all your friends and family later (that’s where I come in)!
Small weddings are certainly not a new thing born out of desperation during the Covid pandemic – I have been photographing tiny weddings for years and years and my clients have chosen to keep their guest list short for many different reasons. Some folk have no guests at all (check out the elopements page on my website) but quite a few have had 10 to 20 of their closest friends and family along for the day.
I cannot emphasise enough that going small is in no way compromising your wedding day. Of the hundreds of weddings I have enjoyed photographing over the years the tiny ones count amongst my absolute favourites and there are simply too many to list. I have been reading online about folk who are dismayed at not being able to organise their weddings during Covid-19 but getting married right now doesn’t have to be difficult at all and certainly many of my couples are seeing the opportunity to rethink their plans as a bit of a blessing.
Today’s featured wedding is from August 2019, long before facemasks and flour shortages were a thing. Katie and Paul had a two-part wedding with just 17 people attending the main event. This included Katie and Paul themselves but they still had their closest family there. The lovely ceremony was at Glasgow University Chapel where we also made a few relaxed family photographs and spent some time in the cloisters. After the ceremony we all then headed up to the special private dining room at nearby Òran Mór for some drinks and dinner (I didn’t even know it existed but it was such a lovely personal space). Currently you would have to stop there and just enjoy your evening with your 18 other guests (unless you all went to the pub where there seem to be almost no restrictions at all) but this was 2019 and Katie and Paul had planned a large evening reception in the main hall of Òran Mór for hundreds of their friends.
Special mention must go to Katie’s stunning wedding dress that was actually a wedding jumpsuit! It was the first I had ever seen in 20 years and I loved it!
Would you like some advice from a professional wedding-goer with almost 1000 weddings under his belt? Future-proof your wedding day and be selective with the guest list, enjoy the extra freedom given to you to choose from one of the myriad of amazing venues here in Scotland that you previously thought were too small or expensive. Spend some of the money you saved on an epic post-wedding party for everyone when you can or maybe book an extra-luxurious honeymoon somewhere. Above all, don’t let the current restrictions put you off getting married in 2020 / 21, just rethink your day slightly and enjoy putting together something more intimate, more fun and far less stressful.
For another example of how special a small wedding can be take a lot at Chelsea and Daniel’s wedding at Culzean Castle from 2018. They came over from America to the stunning Ayrshire coast for their day with about 16 or 17 guests (I can’t remember exactly) and had the best day for their wedding https://www.silverphotography.co.uk/chelsea-and-daniel-culzean-castle-wedding-photographer/
