Loraine and Christopher tied the knot on 8th July 2023, at the National Mining Museum in Newtongrange, Scotland.
The couple wanted a modern and colourful vibe, with a gentle nod to the bride’s love of vintage and experience as a former burlesque dancer. Loraine wore a combination look that included a dress by popular Australian designer of contemporary bridalwear, Karen Willis Holmes and fabulous, feathery skirt by Love My Dress faves, Eliza Jane Howell.
These gorgeous fun, and joyful image were captured by long-term fave and absolute belter of a wedding photographer, Caro Weiss – enjoy!
Film by Cinemate
Bridal Beauty & Accessories
My makeup artist was Claire Nesbit Make Up and my hair stylist was Scarlett Vintage Hair Styling.
I wore a Juliet Cap veil from Blossom and Bluebird. I found Sian via Etsy and fell in love with the veil, it was simple, elegant, and flowed so beautifully. It had a lovely modern nod to the vintage 1920s style of the veil.
I wore the gold Camellia shoes by Loeffler Randall. The way my dress flowed you could see the shoes, so I wanted a statement shoe that wasn’t traditional.
They had a elegant vintage feel and I’ve worn them since the wedding. I ended up wearing an old necklace from H&M as the one I ordered didn’t arrive in time. I also wore my granny’s vintage gold, zirconia and ruby ring as she wasn’t able to make it due to her health.
I wore the petite Elodie crown from Victoria Percival which I was so obsessed with. I’ve worn it a few times since the wedding on nights out. I loved my earrings which were also from Victoria Percival, the Elodie pearls. My bracelet was Vintage from Eclectica Vintage.
My scent was Rose Noir by Byredo. I was in Barcelona visiting my friend Lorena who was in my wedding party. I went around a few department stores trying perfumes and fell in love with this one. The dark decedent smell is incredible.
My bag was from Loeffler Randall and matched my shoes.
Flowers
Our flowers were by Floral Menagerie. I loved Lisa’s modern floral style and the colours and shapes of her arrangements. She matched the colours to the outfits my bridal party was wearing which tied in the colour scheme beautifully.
She also made arrangements for flower stands and vases we had hired from Fifty Six events.
The Look
My dress was Anya gown, by Karen Willis Holmes. And I wore the Florence skirt by Eliza Jane Howell. Both items were second hand – I originally bought the Karen Willis Holmes Anya dress in a sample sale. I have endometriosis and was a bit worried about dress shopping as I have a lot of bloating issues with my endo.
I felt amazing in the Anya dress. I knew I wanted something sleeveless with a summer wedding and it fitted the vision of something simple but sparkly, with a modern vintage vibe.
The dress I bought however had been significantly altered – and after choosing to wear higher shoes then I’d originally planned, I felt the dress was too short for me.
Find Your Look
I bought the same dress from eBay, I think it had already been worn twice and was in incredible condition and fit me perfectly. I had a few alterations (by seamstress Jenni Bobbins) in the body as I have narrow ribs.
The skirt was a last-minute purchase about three weeks before our wedding from Vinted. I had loved the Florence skirt on a blog post on Love my Dress® years ago and couldn’t get it out my mind. I went looking to see if I could find one second hand and came across someone selling it. I connected on Instagram with the bride I bought it from which has been lovely and the best bit of buying second hand.
As soon as I tried them both on together, I absolutely loved them. I felt amazing and loved the movement in the feathers from the skirt. The feathers and sparkle were the perfect nod to my burlesque days.
Photography & Videography
We hired Cinemate for our film. We loved their creative, cinematic shooting and editing style and it fitted the feel we had for our day. I already knew Simon and Gregg and knew they had worked with Caro before. Our film was phenomenal, they captured so many incredible moments.
Our photographer was Caro Weiss. I had always loved Caro’s work from when I started doing wedding photography years ago.
I second shot for her and loved how she worked. I knew if I ever got married, she would be my first choice.
We did an engagement shoot in Glencoe which weas perfect for easing out awkwardness in front of the camera – Chris hates having his photo taken.
She has an incredible way of making magical photos from moments that captured the sense of us, our guests, and our day. Thea, her second shooter was also incredible.
Bridesmaids
Making sure everyone felt amazing and was comfortable was so important to me. We wanted a colourful vibe to contrast with the industrial brick building at the mining museum.
My cousin Fi and best friend Ailsa had suits from ASOS, I found my friend Lorena’s peach dress was from Dorothy Perkins and my sister in law Fiona had a lilac dress from ASOS. They also all picked their own hair and make-up style.
I loved the mix of suits and dresses, and they all loved their outfits too.
Chris had a best man and a best woman. Karen’s dress was from Wed2Be. Karen choice to have a bouquet that tied in with my bridal party. Chris’ best man and groomsmen wore suits from Harry Brown. They all had Gordon Tartan elements in their outfits – Karen had a shawl and the men had pocket squares.
How They Met
We met on an online dating app called bumble in 2017. Our first date flowed so well a coffee turned into dinner and drinks and a kiss on the bus home.
We are both pretty laid back and knew we wanted to get married. We originally went “ let’s get married” and started planning our wedding after we got our offer accepted on our house in Jan 2020. Lockdown put both things on hold. Our house was a reno project, so we had put all of our things in storage.
We spent five months over lockdown sleeping on an air mattress waiting to move house. We knew that if we could get through that together, we could survive anything.
Chris did a proper (but still pretty relaxed) proposal on my birthday in July 2022. We were having pizza from our ooni oven in the garden and Chris surprised me with a ring. We got married just under a year later.
Chris wore the Edward Suit in Auberge Harris Tweed with flaked or yellow, orange, and blue from Walker Slater. His had a light blue shirt which was custom embroidered from Charles Tyrwhitt. Chris had a watch from Picto that I bought him as a gift, and he had boots from Dr Marten. We also had “till death” pins from 13 Supply Co.
Evening & Dancing
We hired DJ Gerry Lyons – I had seen him DJ at a burlesque event and loved the music he played and found out he also did weddings. We didn’t want typical wedding music, and Gerry was amazing at fulfilling the brief. He had the dance floor full all night.
I also booked a burlesque performer, Fanciforia Foxglove, as a surprise to the guests – Chris didn’t even know. She was brilliant and the guests loved her.
Our first dance was to Gregory Porter’s ‘Sweet Lorraine’. It was originally by Nat King Cole; the lyrics were so perfect with my name so it had to be done. “I can’t wait until that lucky day, when I marry my Sweet Lorraine”. We chose the Gregory Porter version as it’s a bit more upbeat.
I used to do some ballroom dance and taught Chris a basic first dance on the week of our wedding, it turned out so well. When Chris did the lift at the end, I felt like I was in an old movie.
Favourite Moments
Obviously getting married. But…. I loved doing the first look with my dad, he isn’t one to get emotional, but I could see the tears welling up in his eyes. We have become close to loads of the locals, it was amazing them all being out on the street cheering as I left the house and stopping the traffic so I could get into the car with my dad.
Chris says spending the time with his brother in the morning was really meaningful as they have a close bond, yet he lives far away from us.
We got to have our couple shoot with our photographer and videographers in parts of the building which they have closed off since our wedding, which means we are the last ones to ever be in that area. Such an incredible and special experience, especially as we live in the village.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Plan a day that feels like and reflects you as a couple. Do what you want to do. I did feel a lot of pressure working in the wedding industry for my day to look a certain way. I’m so glad we planned a day that was very “us”.
Although you spend all the time planning, be prepared to know that your day will be fluid and you just need to go with it. We had a few things that didn’t go to plan but didn’t detract from how amazing the day was. I don’t think any of our guests noticed the things that went wrong.
Also have your dog there, we loved having our beagle Alfred as part of the day. We hired a dog sitter (woofy weddings) to look after him and she was amazing.
Although I timed it to the music, I forgot to tell my bridal party to walk down the aisle one at a time, so they all walked down together. I also did a speech and completely winged it on the day, I loved doing it but wish I had written something, so it was more eloquent.
We put a lot of thought into the day and planning it so there’s not a lot that we would change.
