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Time for another Real Wedding, I reckon!  I have some amazing real life celebrations ready to share with you over the next few days, and the first, this little beauty sent to me by real bride Clare and Chantal Lachance-Gibson Photography won’t disappoint.  Clare and Joe chose clean and modern styling to let their stunning venue and hand picked vintage detailing do the talking.  The result? A modern and pretty wedding with added old time romance. 

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And Clare?  You definitely picked the right dress. 

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Enjoy.

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Clare says:  We got engaged in Rome on 12/05/2011. We’d gone on a mini-trip to Dublin, Barcelona and ending in Rome in the space of a week. By the time we’d got to Rome we were both exhausted (and I’d given up hope of a proposal ‘cause I didn’t think he’d be able to keep it a secret through two cities already!).

We’d gone for dinner and then walked to the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore which was all lit up with a fountain out front so it was all very romantic when he went down on one knee.

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We originally planned to get married on the 07/04/13 but we brought it forward to 08/07/12 because we (well, I!) were getting bored of waiting for it to come along and worried about elderly relatives being able to make it. It worked out perfectly!

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Our reception was at Glenskirlie Castle.  It was the first venue we saw! Glenskirlie have both a “House” and a “Castle” venue and as soon as I seen the castle I knew that’s where I wanted to get married. We did go see other venues but nothing even close to matched up to Glenskirlie. It ticked all the boxes – separate rooms for ceremony & reception, lovely gardens and plenty of quiet corners and rooms for guests to sneak away to when it all got too much and or they wanted to chat.

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We didn’t have a theme.  Some elements swayed to almost vintage or “shabby chic” but there was no set theme, just what we liked. The décor of Glenskirlie really set off the vintage look though.  Our main colours were dusky pink and sage green which went gorgeously together. 

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I originally bought a dress from a lovely boutique in Glasgow but by in March, when the dress arrived – I didn’t like it!  A lot of soul searching and fast alterations later I had the most perfect dress from Laura Reece Bridal. I would highly recommend both Laura’s boutique and her seamstress Andrina Greig who did wonders.  I wore my late grandmother’s pearls and a gorgeous birdcage veil from www.lilybella.co.uk. 

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My bridesmaid – one of my best friends from school – picked her own dress from www.very.co.uk! I wanted something that she’d be able to wear again and that she loved.

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Joe bought a kilt from Macgregor and Macduff in Glasgow in the tartan of the county in Ireland his family originates from, Donegal. His groomsmen (best man, two ushers and father of the groom and step-father of the bride) all wore a dark grey/black tartan.

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Originally I was happy to take a taxi – but that idea was rubbished by just about everyone! We hired a car from Soverign Select who were absolutely excellent. My granda was unable to make the wedding at the very last minute and they were kind enough to pick me up, drive me to his house and wait for me to have a few moments and photographs with him – which was really special.  The driver looked very dapper in his hat too!

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I had originally bought two bouquets of silk cala lilies but about a week before the wedding my mum and I decided that real flowers would be nicer so she very generously bought me a lovely bouquet of cala lilies from a local florist which – as it turns out – was probably one of the best decisions we’d made, they were gorgeous.

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For the ceremony we had a harpist (Joanna Chaing) who was great. Originally I’d asked for a string quartet but Joe talked me down! For the reception we chose a 4 piece band – Moondance – who were great. The dance floor was full all night!

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Smooch Rings made both of our rings to order – for less or around the same as it’d cost on the high street, and offer free cleaning/replating for life.

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We decided to do a lot of the decorations ourselves –  Melody Maison was a godsend for centrepieces and “bits” (although I now want to decorate my whole house from there!).  For chair covers we used a small company that we found on Gumtree who cut our costs enormously.

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Our cake was made by a friend of mine – looked great and tasted delicious as well!

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The whole day is a bit of a blur to me really! I loved getting everyone together for photos and by the looks of things I spent the whole day laughing or grinning, so I must have loved it all!  The speeches – although they made me both cringe and cry at separate parts, were lovely. I think the importance of them sometimes gets missed but I’d never do without them.

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After the wedding we spent four days in New York and ten in Playa Del Carmen in Mexico. New York was exhausting but Mexico was the most relaxed I’ve ever been – never wanted to come home!

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My top tip for Brides Up North would be – if you really want something, get it. Buying a second dress was obviously a huge inconvenience (and cost!) but I love my wedding photos and I can’t imagine feeling the same if I’d wore that other dress.  Pick your suppliers carefully – your photographer is one of the most important parts – not of the day itself – but of your memories forever! We were lucky enough to meet Chantal who I have since recommended to everyone who’s even considered a photographer!

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Congratulations Clare & Joe!

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Fancy seeing your own Real Wedding on these pages?  Here’s how.

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2013 Chantal Lachance-Gibson Photography

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