A Gorgeous Gleddoch Hotel Wedding with an Outdoor Ceremony

“We can’t thank you enough for everything you did on the day, you made an already amazing day look even better. We’re getting insane feedback on these pics, people already looking to get framed pics etc! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

– Craig & Katrina

Gleddoch Hotel wedding

Whilst I love trekking all over the place for shoots and weddings I have to confess, it is nice every now and then to just pootle down the road and rock up at the wedding. So you can imagine my delight when Katrina and Craig’s enquiry dropped into my inbox and I saw they were getting married at a venue that’s very local to me – the super stylish Gleddoch Golf and Spa Resort. 

Gleddoch Golf & Spa Resort, Port Glasgow

Craig is Scottish, Katrina is from Canada and they decided to get married over here before moving overseas. Katrina shipped over her Canadian family and put them all up at the Gleddoch, which is a pretty epic place to stay and experience Scotland from! As well as making the most of the spa and the golf course they were able to explore the gorgeous countryside around the hotel and loads of other wee Scottish experiences like clay pigeon shooting, the Gleddoch’s mini highland games and archery. 

The Gleddoch Hotel is set within a 360 acre estate and was built in 1926 by Sir James Lithgow as a gift for his wife and children. Pretty decent present eh! It stayed in the Lithgow family for decades before becoming a hotel in 1974. Between 1974 and 2004 Gleddoch was one of the most luxurious hotels in the area and played host to Queen Elizabeth II whenever she visited Port Glasgow to launch newly built ships at the nearby Ferguson’s Shipyard. 

In 2015 it underwent a full refurbishment and was rebranded as “Gleddoch Golf and Spa Resort”. Over the last few years the hotel won numerous awards and has become known as one of the most prestigious wedding venues in the area.

Handfasting wedding ceremony Glasgow

It was one of those perfect May days, with blue skies and just a smattering of wispy clouds. Lovely! Katrina and Craig had the most gorgeous Humanist ceremony out on the terrace, overlooking the River Clyde. A string quartet played a beaming Katrina down the aisle – shout out for her awesome dress with sleeves, she looked fab – and I love that both her mum and dad walked with her. More of that please! 

They ended their ceremony with a handfasting before heading back up the aisle into a cloud of colourful confetti thrown by their cheering family and friends. The perfect start to the reception celebrations. 

Craig and Katrina are the smiliest, loveliest couple and we had an absolute ball together. I loved Craig’s face when Katrina revealed that her sleeves were removable. It was an absolute picture! Lucky she did ‘change’ before the first dance because their party was EPIC. They’d booked Ernest, one of my all time favourite wedding bands and the dancefloor went wild. Absolutely wild. Everyone went crazy for the party and I loved it. Got to be one of my most memorable dancefloors from the last year and, let me tell you, I get a lot of awesome parties! 

Enjoy the photos! And if you’re getting married at the Gleddoch then remember, I’m just down the road and I’d love a chat! 

Sarah x