Marrying at Loch Lomond can be a magical experience, whatever the weather as the landscape changes from day to day, season to season.

Spring – New flowers peeking through the grass, lambs bouding in the fields. The air is crisp with a slight tinge of the previous Winter from the surrounding hills. The clocks go forward and with this Spring brings new beginnings – something that you and your partner should cherish. And if you are lucky, a breeze will blow cherry blossoms off the trees towards you both. An impromptu, delicate confetti shower from Mother Nature.

Summer – Long, lazy days, buckets full of beer and dancing outside barefoot on the grass. When we are lucky to get a fabulous day here at Loch Lomond we are truly blessed. It’s as if Mother Nature decides to hold her cards to her chest, then surprises us with her gorgeousness. During the height of summer, the sun never really sets making the outside a perfect place for stunning pictures. Whether you marry high on the hills or down on the cool deep blue Loch, the landscape can take your breath away.

Autumn – Driving along the A82 corridor during Autumn time your heart can skip a beat, falling in love with the shades the trees have turned. From luscious greens to burnt orange, vivid reds, nutty browns and warm coppers – whilst the trees still hold their leaves the backdrop is amazing. The day light fades quickly in Autumn time making it the perfect time of year to have lots of candles flickering away at your venue. A dram of whiskey will warm your insides if you choose to venture outside for a Loch side stroll.

Winter – As controversial as this may sound, we have had two proper Winters here at Loch Lomond these last two years. Our once glorious mountain range has now turned into a Narnia style backdrop. On days like this the sky meets the crisp waters and merges into one big icy blue pool. Overhead the last of the birds are flying South to sunnier climes whilst we start the celebrations for Christmas and another year.

Whatever your season, whatever your weather, Loch Lomond can provide it all. It can be magical and inspiring, wet and wild and or peacefully calm at times. But most of all it is truly wonderful. We hope to see you soon marrying on the Bonnie Banks.
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We have also seen the rise in American traditions cross the pond with girls having Bridal “Showers” which are more or less a get together in someones house where she will receive lovely gifts for her wedding day. Cup cakes and champagne are on the menu for this event.

The “Hen Do” is also another riotous affair, depending on the theme of your night. We’ve seen girls dress up in fancy dress costumes, packs of girls holding drinking competitions, Hen’s treating themselves at hotel’s Spa Days – lots of lovely ways for the Bride to Be to celebrate her final days as a Miss.

Whatever you decide to do, your wedding at Loch Lomond will be a memorable and fabulous day! Here are some of the older traditions we Scots have upheld over the years. We hope you enjoy them and perhaps adopt a few for your own big day!

Handfasting – A traditional wedding or hand fasting is a marriage ceremony with Celtic and Norse roots. The ceremony often involved the couple’s clasped hands being lightly bound with cords or ribbon or their minister would wrap their hands together in the end of his stole to symbolise the trinity of marriage. It also gave rise to the phrase to “tie the knot”.

Jump the Broom – Another aspect of a hand fasting that can be included is jumping over a broomstick together at the end of the ceremony. The broom symbolises hearth and home. It also signifies making a clean sweep and embarking on a new life together.

The Scramble – As the bride steps into the car, it is a tradition for the father to throw a handful of coins, which he had saved on the lead up to the wedding, for local children to collect. This practice, called a scramble, is believed to bring financial luck. Nowadays not a lot of children run after the car due to the chance of accidents!

The Bottom Drawer – A bride was expected to have a collection of 
bed-linen, blankets, table linen and bedroom 
furnishings to take to her new home. The father was
 also expected to provide a dowry – perhaps a few 
cattle or sheep or money. Lairds often went into debt 
to provide their daughters with a good dowry 
(especially if it was the dowry which made the girl
 attractive!)

Show of Presents – Friends and relatives provided presents to help the 
intending couple to set up home. There was a “show of
 presents” when everyone came to see what they had
 received. This was a particularly West of
 Scotland / Glasgow tradition.

The Cruin, Loch Lomond
Lodge on Loch Lomond
Boturich Castle, Balloch
Duck Bay Marina, Loch Lomond
Rosslea Hall Hotel, Rhu
The Dumbuck House Hotel, Dumbarton
Best Western Buchanan Arms Hotel, Drymen
The Winnock Hotel, Drymen
Loch Lomond Youth Hostel, Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond Golf Club, Loch Lomond
Ross Priory, Gartocharn
The Abbotsford Hotel, Dumbarton
Loch Lomond Waterfront, Balmaha

Get in touch now 01389 604930
www.alldressed-up.co.uk

If you’re preparing to buy your gown, you have a look at their Bridal Sample Sale throughout November and December. There are loads of stunning gowns at amazing prices starting at only £100 with loads of sale shoes too. Visit their shop in Helensburgh!!

Weddings at Loch Lomond launched in 2010 with a 24 page brochure and bespoke website which was received extremely well in the local wedding community and was also highly commended by our local MSP Jackie Baille and MP Gemma Doyle. This year we aimed for the stars and published an A5 200 page glossy “handbag size” magazine which is free to all Brides to be, and can be picked up throughout all of the major stores who are part of the WALL family. If you don’t happen to live locally the magazine can be posted to you for just the cost of postage – (£3)

Our website is ever evolving. With the help of Easy Web Sites we have together created a fabulous on line resource for any Bride coming to Loch Lomond whether she be local or from the rest of the UK. It is a great feeling to find out that a Bride has planned her wedding, here at Loch Lomond using any of our product. A definite trail can be linked back to each business, who in turn can offer their recommendation to each business within the magazine or website. We are soon to launch our competitions page, which will be interactive for the Bride to Be, allowing her to enter as many competitions as she wishes to. We have fabulous travel instructions to save you the time resourcing them for your guests within our How to Get Here section. Our News section allows companies to post up their most current offer and discounts, which in turn are posted on to you once you subscribe to the newsletter. In September alone we have over 10,000 unique visitor hits to the website (figures verified by Google Analytics, supplied by Easy Web Sites)

We have advertising running within the two Bridal magazines in Scotland – The Scottish Wedding Directory and Best Scottish Weddings. Have affiliations with Visit Scotland and Business in the Park, Loch Lomond’s National Park website. Our members can enjoy benefits from The Dunbartonshire Chamber of Commerce as we too are members and can enjoy business to business discounts.

In addition to our printed and on line products, Alexa Scott, one of our Directors, runs in her own capacity a twice yearly wedding show in Helensburgh and Loch Lomond under the banner of Scottish Event Management which helps furthermore promote our brand as it allows Brides to get face to face with some of our companies listed.

We don’t list lots and lots of similar business within each section, we offer you a choice of 2-3 highly recommended, professional companies who are based in and around the Loch Lomond area. From time to time we will have to source suppliers from out with, the reason for doing this is because perhaps we don’t have that kind of service offered locally (e.g Fireworks)

So if you are a Bride to Be, please take a look at our stunning website and marvel at the video. The link is below. We’ll soon be looking for our new “Girl in the Red Dress” Could this be you?

And to all prospective businesses, if you are interested in becoming part of the Weddings at Loch Lomond brand please get in touch at sales@weddingsatlochlomond.co.uk Our plans for 2012 are so exciting, you will not want to miss out.

Girl in the Red Dress by Leven Films