Oban wedding

The Brander Lodge Wedding – Taynuilt Wedding – Scotland Wedding Photographer.

Debbie Thornton PhotographyLeave a comment

For all enquiries: http://www.debbiethorntonphotography.co.uk

‘Alastair and I want to say a huge thank you, we were able to re-live the happiest day all over again looking through our wedding gallery, you’ve done the most amazing job. We feel so lucky to have you as our wedding photographer, you’ve captured our favourite moments so naturally and we wouldn’t have felt so at ease if it hadn’t have been for you…. having our photo taken doesn’t come naturally to either of us. You really are so talented and such a lovely person to have around too! We hope to see you at future weddings for family or friends, we cannot recommend you enough!

Shona & Alastair got in touch with me before they’d even booked their venue, they knew where they wanted to have their wedding but hadn’t quite settled on a date yet. When they first got in touch they said I’d been recommended to them and they loved that I capture how happy everyone looks on their wedding day.

We met at their venue quite a wee while before the wedding and we got on great, I knew from then that their wedding was going to be amazing. They’re a very laid back couple and they wanted their wedding day to be a relaxed day and for everyone to enjoy themselves – which they all did!

Shona & Alastair’s wedding had lots of personal touches from family with Aunty Fiona creating stunning flower displays for the arches and tables- they were beautiful and she said she just does it for fun, Uncle David created the arch to hold the flowers for the ceremony and Shona’s Mum Kirsty making all the gorgeous Shortbread favours. Alastair’s Mum Morven and Dad George were also a great help to the couple in the lead up to the wedding and luckily live not to far away from them or their venue. Really wonderful families!

The couple’s Argyll & Bute registrar Jean was the lady who had registered Shona’s birth and now she was conducting her wedding, it was amazing! Jean’s ceremony was so lovely.

After the ceremony the couple wanted to make sure they got to chat with their guests so they had a few drinks, relaxed and mingled before we headed off to visit Alastair’s Grandpa at his home. Alastair’s Grandpa hadn’t been too well at the time so unfortunately couldn’t make the wedding ceremony but he was absolutely brilliant fun when we arrived at his farm to see him – I was warned beforehand that I wasn’t to mention who my Connel family connections were because we had limited time and he’d keep us there all day haha what a laugh they had with him. He was making fun of them when I was taking a few shots by the classic Red Telephone Box…always wanted to photograph a couple by one of these and he had one on this farm!

The speeches were brilliant from Shona’s Dad Alasdair, the Groom Alastair and the best man Duncan, they were heartfelt and very funny.

We went for a wee wander outside the venue after dinner for some photos – the meal was lovely shout out The Brander Lodge and Shona & Alastair for providing a really tasty 3 course meal.

In the evening the couple danced the night way to music from the Oban legend DJ George Noble and then ceilidh-ed the night away into the early hours with their guests, perfection!

Here’s a wee look their beautiful day with all Shona & Alastair’s suppliers credit at the end:

 

Huge shout out to all Shona & Alastair’s wedding suppliers:

Hair – K.l.M Hair

Make up – Simone Carter

Registrar – Jean Campbell Argyll and Bute Registrars

Venue – The Brander Lodge Hotel & Bistro

Bouquets & Buttonholes – The Thistle & The Rose

Cake – Natalie’s Cupcakery

Piano Player & Singer – Andy Lucas Piano

Venue Flowers – Shona’s Auntie Fiona Cruickshanks

Arch for flowers -Shona’s Uncle David

Wedding Dress – Enchanted Bridal

Shoes & Hair piece – @WestEndWedddingBoutique

DJ – George Noble

Band – Hector McFadyen

For all booking enquiries: www.debbiethorntonphotography.co.uk

Loch Etive Wedding, Scotland.

Debbie Thornton PhotographyLeave a comment

For all booking enquiries contact me via: www.debbiethorntonphotography.co.uk

“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 able to 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:

Ceòl an Aire

Hair by Patrick Mcbeth Trinity hairdressing & beauty

Bespoken Bridal

A1 Kilt Hire

For all enquiries contact me via: www.debbiethorntonphotography.co.uk

Alison and Andrew, Isle of Seil Wedding, Scotland.

Debbie Thornton PhotographyLeave a comment

For all booking enquiries contact me via: www.debbiethorntonphotography.co.uk

‘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.‘

For all booking enquiries: www.debbiethorntonphotography.co.uk

Alison and Andrew had an amazing team of wedding suppliers:

Venue – Tigh an Truish
Celebrant – Argyll and Bute Registrars
Flowers – The Thistle & The Rose
Dress – WED2B
Wedding Hair – Kelly-louise McCluskey Hayley Edwards 
Make-up Bride Mairi MacDonald Makeup and Gemma Mckie Makeup (Bridesmaids) 
Wee Bay Teepees
Piper –Macgregor Piping

Oban Wedding Photographer. Alison and Andrew, Ellenabeich, Isle of Seil.

Debbie Thornton PhotographyLeave a comment

For all booking enquiries contact via: https://www.debbiethorntonphotography.co.uk/

Dramatic sky, stunning rugged landscape and a couple in-love.

It was great to finally meet up with Alison, Andrew and their lovely wee dog Angus for their engagement shoot. I love this kind of photo shoot, it’s always great to get to know the couple before their wedding and what a stunning landscape to be in.

Alison grew up in Ellenabeich and they are also getting married just along the road, so this was the perfect place for the couple’s engagement shoot. It’s a lovely wee village and the views are amazing.

The shoot was so much fun and my favourite moments are shown in the last couple of photos shared here, when Alison’s friend’s Mum surprises them by coming out of her house while the couple are getting their photos taken, it was so funny.
I’m really looking forward to photographing their wedding day.

Elissa and Colin. Engagement Shoot. Oban, Argyll Wedding Photographer

Debbie Thornton PhotographyLeave a comment

http://www.debbiethorntonphotography.co.uk

Elissa and Colin contacted me recently to ask if I could shoot their engagement. The couple got engaged only weeks ago and wanted to mark the special occasion.

Colin proposed at Sutherlands Grove, this is a stunning woodland area by Barcaldine near Oban and this is also where the couple wanted to have their engagement shoot. I loved hearing the story of the proposal and how nervous Colin was. Elissa said she could sense something was on the go but wasn’t too sure then Colin, being nervous and quite rightly so, took them off the beaten path that he had originally planned and this resulted in adding an hour or 2 extra on to their journey to the proposal. It was worth the wait!

Engagement shoots are my favourite 🙂 This is because I get to spend the longest time with you as a couple just yourselves, it’s like an extended Bride and Groom shoot on your wedding day but without the time constraints. I love nothing more than roaming around Scottish landscapes with couples be it woodlands, mountains, beaches, cities or towns….the list is endless.

For all booking enquiries head over to http://www.debbiethorntonphotography.co.uk