‘OMG we love them! Absolutely buzzing, they’re so good! …We had a great time on the day, and that’s coming from people who don’t enjoy posing for photos! …Thank you so much for the memories. I cant wait to get some printed-how I’ll choose which ones to frame I have no idea.’
It was lovely meeting Michelle, Scott & new born baby Owen who was 5 weeks old at the shoot. Owen is absolutely adorable! It’s such a honour to photograph these special times for families,
I’ve been photographing families for around 16 years now and I still absolutely love to do these shoots. I’m available to book throughout the Wester Ross area of the Highlands for family photos/mini shoots, weddings and elopement photography.
I photographed this lovely family a couple of years ago when Lilly was just a baby and now they have a beautiful new arrival. It was amazing to see them again.
“Debbie is incredible! She just seemed to get us, and get what we wanted on our wedding day. She was so calm, helpful, and attentive and put everyone at ease. We got married in our garden and we really wanted natural wedding photographs and she absolutely nailed it. The photographs are the perfect memory of a fantastic day, and I can’t thank Debbie enough. Highly recommend!”
These are the kinds of weddings that I live for as a photographer! A laid back couple, stunning location, gorgeous flowers, surrounded by nature, there’s a dog in attendance (happy for cats/other animals to be there too) and a day that focuses on the love that the couple have for each other, their family and friends. BEAU-TI-FUL!
Mairi and Scott are a wonderful couple who wanted a very low key wedding in their garden surrounded by family and friends, it was unbelievably beautiful! When the couple contacted me they said they didn’t like being the centre of attention and that they were breaking from some of the usual wedding traditions.
In the morning of the wedding this couple went for a wild swim along the road from their house, organised the last few things for the ceremony, got ready together in the house, chatted to their guests just before the ceremony, it was all so relaxed.
Here’s what they said about their day….
Wedding planning
“We didn’t know until a few weeks before the wedding how many guests we could have due to Covid-19 restrictions… but the nature of the wedding we’d planned meant that it didn’t matter too much. Our house was the venue and we did the catering ourselves.”
“The day was designed to be very relaxed so we could enjoy ourselves in the run up to it and also on the day.”
Mairi – “the most joyful part for me was the flowers! All our flowers came from our neighbours’ gardens, and myself and my mum, Scott’s mum, sister and our friends spent a glorious morning in the sunshine picking and arranging the flowers. It was almost meditative, and just a riot of colour and joy!”
Outfits
Scott –“I’m very proud of being Scottish and I wore my family tartan. I got my kilt for my 21st birthday there was no decision to make really!”
Mairi – “I really wanted a comfortable dress that was simple but still felt special to wear! I looked at second-hand dresses, but I found this beautiful dress on Etsy (here) and Ksenia made it to measure for me. It was affordable and exactly what I was looking for.”
Ceremony
“We didn’t want to be stressed by our wedding day, we wanted to be able to relax and enjoy it. We chose a humanist ceremony, and when we found Vivienne our celebrant we instantly knew we wanted her to conduct our ceremony, she understood us and understood what we wanted. We wrote the ceremony ourselves, so it was very personal to us and made sure that it wasn’t too long as we don’t like being the centre of attention!”
Memories
“We were so lucky with the weather! And to have our closest friends and family celebrating with us in such a relaxed way was so special, particularly post Covid. Standing back and seeing our loved ones all having a good time, laughing, meeting new people – it was incredible.”
Favourites
“We love this photo as it captures so many memories and stories in one photo – ice creams in the sunshine on our wedding day, our house, the bench Scott’s parents gave us as an engagement present, memories of painting the house in lockdown sunshine, the weather-vane, the gravel Mairi’s dad weeded for the big day, our dog’s balls on the window sill. It means so much!“
“And this photo as it captures a quiet moment of reflection and love after the ceremony.”
Looking back
“Honestly, we didn’t find it stressful at all. I think we’d do it the same again! The only worry was one we couldn’t control – the weather!”
Advice
“Try and enjoy the planning! Don’t put pressure on yourselves. Remember the day is about you and your partner, not about other people, so don’t worry about any expectations to have specific wedding traditions that you’re not keen on or comfortable with. We didn’t have speeches or cake cutting or a first dance because that wasn’t what we wanted. So go with what you want!”
Beautiful day!
Mairi and Scott had an amazing team of wedding suppliers and they highly recommend them all:
Debbie Thornton Photography 