Japanese Gardens, Cowden – Heather & Ryan’s Wedding

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” – Dolly Parton

All Of Me

Heather and Ryan met around 12 years ago through mutual friends. Then Ryan joined the army and was posted to Germany and Heather thought that was that. But he returned that Christmas and gave Heather his number; they’ve been together ever since.

In 2015 Ryan returned from Germany and got a mutual friend to trick Heather into trying on rings to ensure he had her correct ring size. He organised a hotel stay in Edinburgh, a fancy meal, and clued the staff into what he was planning. The restaurant started playing John Legend’s ‘All of Me’ song and you could hear a pin drop in the restaurant as Ryan asked Heather to marry him in front of everybody. He then had to ask her again and because she was in shock he had to ask her a third time before she finally realised what was happening and said yes!

Wedding Venue – Chef’s Kiss

I love the Japanese Gardens near Dollar; they make the perfect wedding venue for intimate weddings.

I was slightly worried about an outside wedding in September but as you can see it was beautiful blue skies when I arrived.

Ryan and his brother, who was his best man looked very smart in their tartan and I loved the brown leather sporrans and matching brogue shoes. Very dapper chaps!

Whoops! Did I Speak Too Soon About The Weather?

The guests were all assembled.

Ryan was waiting for his first look at his bride and she made the walk along the path and the registrar gave the nod to start…and then it started raining. Oh no! Luckily it was just a tiny shower and it was over really quickly. Phew!

Heather’s bridesmaid and flower girl made the walk first. Clutching their beautiful hand-tied bouquets from The Flower Studio.

Followed by the stunning bride, beaming from ear to ear, on the arms of her two brothers.

Angles Baby!

I love finding different angles to shoot the ceremony from at every wedding I shoot here and this was no exception.

This is probably my favourite one.

We Did It!

What I like about weddings here is that the bride and groom usually walk back to the Tea House to sign the register and that gives me more opportunities for lovely natural shots of them.

Just look at those happy faces and that magnificent dress.

Heather’s mum and Ryan’s brother witnessed the signing and then it was onto the formal photos.

Not A Bad Spot

The thing about a wedding in these gardens is that every step you take there is another beautiful photo opportunity! When Heather and Ryan had been visiting before the wedding, they found a spot that they thought would be good for photos.