A black wedding dress. A candlelit ceremony below deck. A Titanic recreation. Pirates. A rock band.
Brooklyn and Allister’s wedding at The Tall Ship in Glasgow was never going to be a quiet, traditional affair – and thank goodness for that.
Set beside the Riverside Museum, The Tall Ship made a brilliant backdrop for a wedding absolutely packed with personality, laughter and some rather fabulous photo opportunities.
Wedding at a Glance
Venue
The Tall Ship at the Riverside Museum, Glasgow
Photographer
JB Moments Photography
Ceremony
Celebrant-led, candle-lit ceremony in the bottom hold of the Tall Ship
Guests
50+ Family and Friends
Season
Autumn
Favourite Moment
THAT dress!
From Tinder to The Tall Ship
Who says Tinder is just for hookups?
Six years before their wedding, Brooklyn and Allister both swiped right and headed out for their first date at Glasgow’s Solid Rock.
It went brilliantly.
Right up until Brooklyn ended the evening by throwing up in front of him.
Naturally, she assumed that would be the end of that.
Apparently Allister wasn’t so easily put off because there was a second date, then moving in together, becoming devoted pet parents and eventually some increasingly unsubtle hints from Brooklyn that perhaps marriage might be nice.
Allister eventually took the hint and presented her with an engagement ring on her birthday.
And so began the road to one seriously memorable Glasgow wedding.
A Wedding at The Tall Ship, Glasgow
Their choice of venue couldn’t have suited them better.
The historic Tall Ship sits alongside the striking modern architecture of Glasgow’s Riverside Museum, giving us two completely different backdrops within a few steps of each other.
The reflections of the ship in the museum’s huge glass frontage looked incredible and, inside the ship itself, things got even more atmospheric.
The ceremony was held below deck in a wonderfully dark, intimate space lit by candlelight.
Beautiful for humans.
Slightly more challenging for a photographer who prefers not to fire a flash throughout a wedding ceremony!
But after a quick chat with the celebrant, we were good to go
Allister was possibly one of the most relaxed grooms I’ve ever photographed and arrived around five or ten minutes before the ceremony.
Just enough time for a couple of photographs before the bride arrived.
And Then There Was THAT Dress
Brooklyn arrived in a gorgeous vintage car and her mum helped her out.
And then I saw the dress.
Black lace. A shimmering bodice. A lighter skirt underneath.
Dramatic, elegant and completely Brooklyn.
As she walked into the candlelit ceremony you could actually hear the gasps travelling around the room.
Allister looked completely floored.
So floored, in fact, that his first words were:
“Errr… that’s a lot of fabric.”
Romance is alive and well, people.
A Candlelit Ceremony Full of Personality
Their celebrant-led ceremony managed to be heartfelt without becoming overly serious – exactly my favourite sort.
Both mums were involved, Allister’s niece helped beautifully with the handfasting and there was a quaich filled with prosecco.
Frankly, more ceremonies could benefit from prosecco.
There was emotion, there was laughter and, most importantly, it felt completely like them.
That’s one of the things I love most about celebrant-led weddings. You can build a ceremony around the people getting married rather than trying to make the people fit the ceremony.
Confetti, Group Photos and Moody Glasgow Skies
After the ceremony everyone headed up onto deck.
A November wedding in Scotland means you never really know what the weather is planning, so I may have had a quiet word with the weather gods.
For once, they listened.
We got dry weather and wonderfully moody skies over Glasgow, which suited The Tall Ship perfectly.
First up: confetti.
Then, while everyone was still together, the big group photograph.
And with the official stuff safely in the bag, it was time to have some fun.
You Can't Get Married on a Ship and NOT Do the Titanic Pose
I don’t make the rules.
There was simply no universe in which I was going to photograph a bride in a spectacular dress aboard a ship and not suggest that pose.
Brooklyn bravely negotiated the ladder in an enormous wedding dress, dignity mostly intact.
Worth it?
Absolutely.
This is also why I never want wedding portraits to feel like you’ve disappeared from your guests for an hour-long photoshoot.
We can create the beautiful photographs and have a laugh doing it.
Wedding Photos Around the Riverside Museum
One of the big advantages of a Tall Ship wedding is having Glasgow’s Riverside Museum right there too.
We made the most of Brooklyn and Allister’s fabulous vintage wedding car…
…and that huge reflective museum frontage for photographs with their wedding party.
Then we headed inside.
Brooklyn and Allister already knew they wanted a photograph with the old horse and carriage.
The vintage bus, however?
That one was my fault.
I spotted it and immediately thought we needed to use it.
Because sometimes the best wedding photographs happen simply because we see something fun and think, why the hell not?
Then it was back to The Tall Ship before we lost the last of the daylight.
Pirates, Rock Music and a Proper Party
If you thought things were going to become terribly sensible once dinner started, you haven’t been paying attention.
There were pirate-themed activities for the children.
And apparently the groom.
With a little encouragement from his mother-in-law, naturally.
Later, live rock band Slam Dunk kicked off the evening celebrations before Brooklyn and Allister took to the floor for their first dance.
A rock ballad, obviously.
A Wedding That Felt Completely Like Them
Looking back at this wedding, what I love most isn’t one particular photograph.
It’s how much of Brooklyn and Allister is in the whole gallery.
The dress. The laughter. The music. The people they love. The slightly bonkers moments. The things they planned and the things that simply happened.
That’s what I want wedding photography to do.
Not turn your wedding into a photoshoot, but capture all the brilliant little pieces that made it yours.
And if that includes climbing onto the bow of a ship in an enormous black wedding dress for a Titanic recreation?
I’m absolutely game.
Planning your own wedding at The Tall Ship, Riverside Museum or somewhere else in Glasgow or across Scotland?
If you’re looking for relaxed wedding photography that captures the important bits, the ridiculous bits and everything happening in between, I’d love to hear what you’re planning.
Congratulations again, Mr & Mrs Linstead. What a belter of a day. x
