Shades Wedding – Jess & Gab, Loch Lomond

Published on 9th November 2017 by Jenny Mason

Jess and Gab chose the most beautiful location on the edge of Loch Lomond for their Wedding Celebrations earlier this year, and we were delighted to have been able to help them create a truly magnificent day. Here Jess tells us all about planning their marquee wedding.

Jess and Gab’s Wedding was in one of the most picturesque settings we’ve seen (and we are fortunate to work in some truly amazing places across the UK). If you’d like to know the story behind these gorgeous photos, read on.

Where

Gab and I have been together since high school. Both our families live near Loch Lomond so when he proposed we decided a Loch Lomond wedding was what we were after. As we had grown up in the area we had worked at a lot of the local wedding venues so really wanted to find something a bit different. After lots of searching and a few emails Portnellen Farm agreed to let us use their incredible farm as our venue.

Choosing a Marquee

Portnellen Farm has the most incredible views so we decided we wanted a marquee that would take full advantage of this. After lots of searching and many evenings spent on Pinterest we decided a sailcloth marquee was what we were after. They have such a beautiful shape, the sides are clear, so you can make the most of a beautiful location and we loved the way it could be lit up in the evening to make it seem cosy and atmospheric. Turns out sailcloth tents are not 2 a penny and there are only a few companies that offer them. We compared a couple of companies, but Shades were the most competitive. Not only were they competitively priced but they were also by far the most helpful. Their communication was excellent, and nothing was too much trouble (even when I was being very demanding!).

Marquee Style

I am very lucky to have an incredibly creative sister, so she was my most useful resource! Rosie helped us to style the whole wedding and even created the church flowers and button holes/corsages for both mums. She sourced pretty much all the decorative items for us and helped us put it all together in the run up. We have since set up @Lavenderandroseevents because we had so much fun creating our ‘look’.

The Planning

The thought of planning a marquee wedding was quite daunting at the start. It can be more work than turning up to a venue which is ready to go. I would not change our decision to have a marquee wedding. We could choose every single element, have a free bar, stay if we wanted and choose the perfect location.

Our Day with Shades

We couldn’t recommend a marquee wedding enough, especially with Shades, they were so professional, efficient and helpful. They have such beautiful marquees and lovely additional extras, so many of our guests commented on how unique the tent was. The chairs we hired from them were beautiful! If you’re a fussy person with a very specific vision a marquee allows you to have everything you want without having to compromise.

Key Suppliers

Photographer – Dani from Arcadian City
Caterer – Tristan at Truffle Events
Florist (marquee) – Little Botanica 
Florist (church) – Lavender and Rose
Wedding dress – Stephanie Allin
Bridesmaid dresses – ASOS

Highlights

I honestly could not pick a favourite memory from the day, as cheesy as it sounds it was honestly just so perfect from start to finish. We had an absolute ball.If you’d like to speak with us about planning your Wedding or Celebration, please do get in touch – we’re really looking forward to helping you create your perfect day.