“What incredible photos…You are very talented! Such a lovely way to capture the day. Thank you so much.”
James & Katie wanted to have a wee wedding on the West Coast as James’s family is from the area. Katie searched the internet and discovered Arduaine Gardens and the Loch Melfort was the perfect location for the couple. The couple discovered that the Loch Melfort hotel was where James’s family had their honeymoon but they no clue about this until after they booked and also it’s the exact same area where James would holiday as a child…it was obviously meant to be.
Their wedding was beautiful! It was really relaxed and over looking the sea.
James & Katie travelled up from Leeds with their immediate family to have their Humanist ceremony by the lovely Shona Sharp (Highly Recommend!). Their ceremony included two Highland traditions with a Handfasting and sharing a Quaich they also had their nephew as their ring bearer which was lovely.
I love a wee relaxed wedding by the sea and this was perfect!
Lovely to work with Katie & James’s wedding suppliers:
“…Our wedding was a small elopement and we wanted a personal natural style of photographs. Debbie, right away made us feel very comfortable. Despite the weather taking a turn for the worse, she managed to bring the best out of us and the scenery and even got us a trip on the local small passenger ferry leading to fun and unexpected photographs. Her photography captured just what we hoped for and more in those special moments she saw that you don’t get from a set pose. Her service throughout from start to final follow up was excellent and we are delighted with our photographs. Debbie’s photography is excellent and we would highly recommend her. Thanks Debbie for adding to our amazing day”
When Rosie & Ian first contacted me they said they were looking for natural photos of their highland elopement ‘We’d like someone who’d be able to capture our happiness in an informal way…. We love Port Appin and the scenery there and hoping the weather is kind.’ The weather being kind hmmm I mean Billy Connolly says ‘There’s two seasons in Scotland: June and Winter’ Rosie and Ian were eloping in March.
It’s always a joy for me to hear how couples first met, especially if there’s a bit of a love story. Rosie & Ian were friends in school then they went away lived life and lost touch for years…until 8 years ago when Ian moved back to their home town and they found each other again through Facebook. Now they were having a real elopement, they didn’t tell anyone and ran away to the Highlands for the ceremony just the two of them. I LOVE ELOPEMENTS exactly for this reason, it’s so romantic!
So the weather, eh, on the day of their elopement there was torrential rain but they ended up not caring at all and for me as their photographer this was amazing as it meant they were game for a wee bit of an adventure in the rain.
Rosie & Ian held their ceremony in The Pierhouse at Port Appin which is a great wee venue for small weddings, they asked two of the staff to be their witnesses. It was a lovely ceremony (as always) by Argyll Registrar Fiona Dickie. The couple had a handfasting ceremony, which is a tradition in the Highlands where the the couple’s hands are tied with two pieces of tartan to form a knot and this where the phrase ‘tying the knot’ comes from. The handfasting symbolizes the coming together of the two clans, it’s really beautiful and always a special moment to photograph.
In front of The Pierhouse is where you catch the ferry over to the Isle of Lismore, there was no way I wasn’t getting these two on that ferry! They loved the trip over and laughed so much. Big thanks to Allan and Lyle who were working on the Lismore Passenger ferry and gave Rosie & Ian a wee shot of steering the boat. It was a really brilliant day!
“Debbie is a totally brilliant photographer and person. She photographed our wedding and captured the day beautifully! We were over the moon to get pictures of all the candid moments between our guests and she captured the joy and love we felt all day in every photo. She was also such a joy to have on the day, from stitching a button back on the bride’s dress to ushering lingering guests and making sure we had Prosecco in hand she was so helpful in making our day go smoothly. She’s really friendly and easy to talk to and really understood what we wanted from our day and so blended right in and caught it all on camera! We’d highly recommend Debbie to anyone.“
Zoe and Glenn had thee most amazing wedding by the shores of Loch Etive and right on Zoe’s family’s doorstep, it was wonderful. The couple done so much themselves, and with the help of their families and friends of course. It was such a personal wedding and the first ever Do It Yourself wedding I have photographed which was a total thrill for me as I love all this kind of thing. I also have to mention Zoe’s Mum’s beautiful garden, it was stunning!
Here’s what they said about their wedding….
Wedding planning
“It took a long time. It was hard work because of all the DIY that we did for the wedding and we were renovating our house at the same time! Zoe really enjoyed planning all the little details and making bits of décor like signs, and hanging lights (with Glenn’s help) and invitations, it was a good excuse to be crafty. We didn’t go for too much décor though because we let the beautiful scenery speak for itself. Glenn enjoyed building things like the stage and dance floor (with Zoe’s help). It was a team effort. It was a bit of a challenge to source all the materials we needed for the DIY, like the dancefloor!
We decided to have the whole day outside, which was a gamble on the Scottish weather. We had to come up with two or three contingency plans. The long-range weather forecast was ambiguous but as every day passed the forecast improved and then we couldn’t have asked for better weather on the day itself!
Covid made planning the wedding even harder because we live in the North East of England and were planning a wedding on the West Coast of Scotland. All the lockdowns and restrictions meant we couldn’t visit often and had to do a lot of planning remotely. It also meant that the few trips we did get to see Zoe’s family in Scotland often became overrun with wedding planning catch ups! Covid was always in the back of our minds too for restrictions on the actual day and made us question what we’d be able to have but we were determined to get married one way or another and so we just ploughed on and hoped for the best. It mostly worked out for us, which was brilliant!”
Outfits
“Glenn and the groomsmen went for kilts, even though none of them are Scottish. Glenn wanted to wear a kilt because of where the wedding was being held. Glenn had wanted to wear a Northumbrian tartan but Zoe vetoed that idea because she thought it looked grey from a distance. We chose a Western Isles tartan because it matched the colour scheme and Glenn’s family names didn’t have any tartans! During the wedding, Glenn appreciated how practical and comfortable the kilt is, repurposing the sporran as a drink’s holder.”
“Zoe wore a Gaia Bridal dress which she got from a bridal boutique near home. She wanted a long dress with some lace and loved the open back on this dress. She didn’t want anything sparkly or too glitzy with it being an outdoor, DIY wedding but wanted to feel her best. If you can’t wear a big, white dress on your wedding day, when else can you? It was very difficult to dance in, but Zoe was determined to get the wear out of it!”
Ceremony
“We had a Salvation Army ceremony because we both have Christian upbringings. Glenn’s family have deep roots in the Salvation Army and Zoe’s mum became part of the Salvation Army about 10 years ago and so both families have connections. Major Denis Lomax led our ceremony which was lovely because he was previously Zoe’s mum’s superior when she worked for the Salvation Army and then he was the divisional commander of the North East of England and knew Glenn’s grandparents.“
Memories
“There are too many wonderful memories to choose from! There’s lots of lovely little moments we both remember…. it was just a completely wonderful day.”
“We unfortunately weren’t ableto have Zoe’s family who live abroad come over for the wedding so we Zoomed them in, another thing to work out since the whole wedding day was outside!”
Looking back
“We’d say to trust that the wedding that we want would work out and make a lovely wedding and not worry if it’s not the wedding that other people expect. Also, don’t worry, the dancefloor won’t break.”
Advice
“Pick the top three things that you really want and make them happen above everything else. For us it was the ceilidh, good food and a good photographer and so that’s what we prioritised in our budget and time and we were very happy with all of them!”
“It was just really wonderful. A culmination of hard work and exceptionally good timing that meant all our guests were up for having a great party. It was a real team effort.”
Favourites
“We both love photos from the end of the day where we are out in the garden with Ben Cruachan behind us.
“Zoe’s favourite is us holding on to each other and smiling at each other with the mountain in the background because it captures how happy we were at the end of a brilliant day. It has us in front of Zoe’s all-time favourite view, we’d been waiting all day for the mountain to peak out from behind the clouds and right at the end it did!”
“Glenn’s favourite is us looking out towards the mountain, heads together. Similar reasons to Zoe’s choice, but Glenn likes this photo because it’s like we’re looking out into the future.”
An amazing day!
It’s was lovely to work alongside the (few) suppliers Zoe & Glenn used on the day:
‘We first met Debbie for our engagement shoot which was included in the wedding package we had picked, I was very nervous as I never enjoy having my pictures taken. Debbie put me at ease straight away and I ended up really enjoying the whole experience, and the photos were amazing and I felt so relaxed the whole time. When it came to the wedding day I had no nerves about photos, Debbie was fantastic and captured our day perfectly and we really couldn’t of asked for any more from her. She really went above and beyond for us and we loved having her with us on our big day!‘
Alison and Andrew started planning their wedding for 2021 during the first lockdown, little did they, and we all, know that things for some time would be forever changing for wedding restrictions. However they adapted their wedding plans, changing from having a large wedding to a more intimate one and it was so amazing!
‘Of course organising a wedding in the middle of a pandemic was a tad challenging at times, but other than that the only difficulty we faced was Andy trying to pick the right tweed to make his kilt jacket, I was much quicker picking my dress!!’
‘what we most remember from our day is just how happy everyone was to be together after such a long time.’
‘We found the whole wedding process both stressful and exciting.
‘If we had to do it all over again we would just try to enjoy the whole process as everything comes together in the end.’
‘We could only have a small wedding.. but even without the restrictions we had to follow, we wouldn’t change a thing.’
‘Some of our favourite photos are of our guests hugging as the wedding was just days after the announcement that we could.’
‘Our wedding was full of love and laughter from beginning to end.’
‘the best advice about planning a wedding we were given and would pass on is that it’s “your day” and to do it exactly as you both want it to be.‘
‘With only 5 weeks notice Debbie was more than happy to accommodate our new arrangements and travel up to Banff for our wedding. My husband and I are not the most comfortable in front of the camera. Debbie made us feel so at ease and became part of the family for the day. To say that she captured every moment would be a understatement. The photos and video montage are better than we could have ever imagined and it has really encapsulated our special family filled day. We are beyond thrilled and thankful.’
To say it’s been difficult for couples planning weddings over the past couple of years is the understatement of the century. Covid 19 has caused more than a few problems for people. However some couples, such as Kelly and Scott, have managed to roll with it and they have not let anything stop them having the most beautiful wedding!
Kelly and Scott both have large families so they had planned to have a big family filled wedding in Glasgow but when Covid happened they altered their plans to accommodate a small wedding instead, they said they would be keeping their wedding date whatever happens, they wanted to be married and that’s what it’s all about.
Kelly’s family are originally from Banff and her Grandparents still live there. The couple decided weeks before to move their small wedding from Glasgow up to Banff so that Kelly’s Grandparents could attend and it was the best decision because not only could Kelly’s family attend but the weather in Banff was amazing. What a stunning place and to be beside the sea, it was absolutely gorgeous!
‘During the planning process we were surprised how easy it was to initially plan the wedding when you have the right people there to help you along the way. Scott and I are not traditionally the ‘wedding’ type, however due to large families on both sides we planned a big wedding in Glasgow. Due to the global pandemic happening in 2020, we decided at last minute to rearrange our entire wedding and move it up north so family could attend ( as you can imagine, we were secretly thrilled as a small wedding was more up our street). As we had the best people working alongside us, the process of changing wedding plans with 1 month to go was surprisingly easy.‘
Kelly and Scott had so many special moments throughout their wedding such as Scott’s Mum Margaret’s reading at the ceremony has to be one of the best I’ve ever heard, funny, lots of love and it was completely from the heart. Also, during their ceremony Kelly’s Grannie had written a poem which she read out in Doric (Doric is a Scottish dialect spoken in the northeast of Scotland) and it was brilliant, everyone was laughing and absolutely loved it!
‘Our most vivid memory was after the ceremony when all family and friends met outside on the patio for some drinks. We were both surprised when further family and friends who were not able to attend due to COVID restrictions were hiding outside to surprise us. Debbie captured that moment beautifully and it will stay with us forever.’
Kelly’s Grandad loves his harmonica also known as his ‘Moothie’ so he played a brilliant tune for the happy couple as they were being seated for their meal and speeches. Kelly’s Dad Stephen’s speech was beautiful and very heartfelt, obviously Kelly means a lot to him being his daughter and the wedding had more special meaning to Stephen and Lynne (Kelly’s parents) as they are from Banff, so they were extremely happy that the wedding was taking place there.
‘…Scott and I were not the typical wedding folk. After going back and forth trying to come up with a wedding that would suit us and our family, our advice to couples is to do it how you want. The only way you are going to enjoy your day is if you have the wedding that you wanted all along.’
This is one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever photographed!
Kelly and Scott had an amazing team of wedding suppliers: Ceremony venue & Accommodation: The Banff Springs Hotel https://thebanffsprings.co.uk/ (highly recommend this as a wedding venue. Sarah the wedding events manager was a joy to work alongside!)
Last May I travelled to South Uist to photograph Claire and Alasdair’s wedding day. The island is unbelievably beautiful and I had a wonderful time photographing everyone.
Here’s what Claire and Alasdair said about their photos:
“Debbie photographed our wedding in South Uist in May this year and we can’t recommend her enough! She was very easy to communicate with in the run up to the wedding and we met up for a chat beforehand to put faces to names which was lovely. On the day although it was a very cold and windy day you would never know as all of the pictures are beautiful and capture lots of lovely moments throughout the morning, day and evening (which I flick through almost daily since the wedding!). Having Debbie around while getting ready the morning of the wedding was also really nice, although we didn’t know each other that well there was absolutely no awkwardness, it was just nice for all of us to chat while getting ready – with Debbie multitasking taking lovely photographs at the same time! She knows the drill with weddings as she’s clearly got a lot of experience – even helping me out when I didn’t know what to do with my engagement ring on the day! 😂 If you are thinking about booking with Debbie, please don’t hesitate as you won’t regret it! Thanks again, The MacDonalds x”.
Debbie Thornton Photography 