I love photographing outdoor ceremonies so I was excited when Natasha and Nicky have booked me for their wedding and said that they were going to get married at the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. Natasha and Nicky live in Inverasdale but a few years ago they stopped in Edinburgh to see some of Nicky’s friends. They visited the gardens and had lunch in the restaurant. At this stage they already knew they wanted to get married in Edinburgh. The gardens were just so beautiful and the food was delicious. It seemed like the ideal choice.
The wedding had beautiful retro style. Natasha revealed that she has always been drawn to vintage fashions so she knew she wanted a dress to suit her tastes. Natasha thus chose wedding dress from Melle Cloche Bridal Shop, made by Lou Lou Bridal . To complete the outfit Natasha spent a lot of time online looking for some vintage spectacles that would complement the dress, in the end she found a nice 1950s pair that looked great and could have new lenses fitted. The dress looked brilliant twirling during the first dance, which again was a pretty retro pick.
Natasha and Nicky told me that everything that featured on the day had some significance from their past and their life together. “We chose Edinburgh because that’s where Nicky studied at University and he loves the city, we chose the gardens as the venue during a visit in 2017, before we even got engaged”. Bertie was chosen as the wedding car to represent the Russian Arctic Convoy Museum, the charity they both work for and volunteer at and through which they met. The Po Boys, the band, are based in Derby, Natasha’s home town, and the lead singer used to sing and play the accordion in Natasha’s local pub, The Three Horseshoes. Paul Baker, the musician who played during the wedding ceremony, was representing Natasha’s background in early music when she was a student. Paul is a talented performer and luthier, and he made a baroque guitar for Natasha the year she left university.
Being able to get married in RAF Uniform was really special for Nicky. His grandfather and Great Grandfather, both served in the RAF and encouraged him to join the cadets as a child. The Air Cadets went on to be a big part of his teenage years which is why he later returned as staff. Sadly Nicky’s grandfather passed away a few years ago, but he would have been thrilled to see his grandson in uniform on his special day. As a Flight Sargent in the RAF Air Cadets Nicky wears uniform to the weekly parade night and to other activities, however the Number 1 dress uniform he wore for his wedding was purchased especially. The RAF uniform Nicky wore hasn’t really changed much over the last century, so anyone seeing a picture of him wearing it next to our 1940s wedding car may struggle to date the photo.
Everyone smiles when they see Bertie the NAAFI Van. You can’t help it. He is so unique and so cute. The story of Bertie is one of an impulse buy on the part of Natasha’s mother. Many of Natasha’s family are involved with a local charity, the Russian Arctic Convoy Museum, which is based in Aultbea. This is actually how Nicky and Natasha met. Nicky was providing technical support and web admin services for the charity, and Natasha was doing its social media marketing. They still work for the charity now. Nicky and Natasha have been a part of the charity for years and it’s so nice the museum that brought them together and enabled them to travel to Germany and Russia is now seeing success and growing into a much bigger venture, just as they are taking their next step together into married life.
The museum houses many interesting exhibits on the Arctic Convoys of WW2, and from time to time the team check online on sites such as eBay to see if there are any interesting items, such as wartime photographs, deck coats, etc. that might look nice on display. Natasha’s mother had suggested more than once that a wartime vehicle might be a nice addition to the collection, so by chance Natasha had a look to see if anything interesting was for sale. Bertie popped up in the top result. He had previously been used in re-enactments, and had appeared on TV. He was also incredibly unique as he was the only known NAAFI Van based on an Austin 8 in existence. In short, he was perfect. He was purchased there and then and he’s been hugely popular with the local and online communities ever since. An unexpected twist was the two people who fell for this quirky little car most are Bruce, who was taking photos all day and Len, who drove Tash in Bertie. The wedding car just had to be Bertie. He was a very appropriate reference to how we met and everyone just lit up when they saw him with his wedding ribbons on the day.
