Fun Colourful Old Fruitmarket Glasgow Wedding

“We are so happy we had you as our wedding photographer, you made the photo-taking so much fun! We wanted to create a happy and joyful environment on our wedding day and we picked you based on this. All the photos are brilliant and exactly what we were looking for, thanks again for everything.”

– Alex & Zara

Creative, accessible wedding in Glasgow

Alex and Zara are the coolest couple. They’re so chilled, the nicest people ever and absolutely head over in heels in love. They’re both wheelchair users and, fun fact, multi-talented Alex actually designed the electric wheelchairs they use. 

Alex, who has cerebral palsy, has faced discrimination his whole life and was frustrated by the lack of equality not only in this country but internationally. He dealt with unreliable batteries, broken powerchairs, wheels falling off and inaccessible accommodation, all whilst travelling solo around the world. 

That’s when Freedom One Life was born. Alex’s story is incredible and well worth a read. But don’t go yet, check out his and Zara’s wedding photos first! 

Alex and Zara both love to explore the world. So, as you can imagine, travel was a big feature of their day. Frustratingly they were unable to find any wheelchair accessible wedding venues in Edinburgh, their hometown, so had to travel to Glasgow to get married. That absolutely blew my mind when they told me and highlights that there is still a long way to go for equality when it comes to weddings.

Wedding at The Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow

They really did hit the jackpot with The Old Fruitmarket though. And a huge shout out to the venue for being wheelchair accessible too.  

This place is a real find, an absolute gem and full of character. Hidden away behind Glasgow’s City Halls, The Old Fruitmarket began life in Merchant City as, you guessed it, a fruitmarket! It was a functioning and busy wholesale market until the 1970s and then hosted the occasional jazz or folk music event.

In the 1970s The Old Fruitmarket, and the adjoining City Halls, were given category A listed status, as a nod to both the incredible buildings and their place in Glasgow’s history. The grand hall, within the City Halls building, was the first hall suitable for large events and concerts to be built in Glasgow and so has huge cultural significance. So many Glasgow music festivals have been held there, as well as trade union and political gatherings. 

Nowadays the City Halls and Old Fruitmarket have been extensively refurbished, but their stunning period features have been restored and kept in place. The City Halls is a renowned centre for music education and home to the Scottish Music Centre and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Pretty cool! 

Jazz and folk events are still held in The Old Fruitmarket, as they were back in the 1970s along with an eclectic mix of cabaret and burlesque shows…and weddings!

Alternative wedding at The Old Fruitmarket

I love love LOVE how much history there is in this building. I mean, it’s like stepping back in time to ye olde Glasgow. Huge vaulted ceilings, old signs left over from the market days, original stone floors and iron pillars. It’s ace. 

Alex and Zara, as you have probably guessed, were all about the chilled vibes. They wanted to keep things super low key but were so excited to celebrate with their favourite people. And their mates are just brilliant. There were so many happy tears, adorable! 

Their ceremony was held up in the music rooms, a pure white space which they’d decorated with an arch of blossom trees. They didn’t have a wedding party, but invited all the kids at the wedding to parade down the aisle ahead of them. And parade is a very apt word. These kids took this very seriously. It’s the first time I’ve seen a fairy, Disney princess and dinosaur in attendance at a wedding! High fives to the awesome Fred the Dinosaur, Princess Sahana and mega cute fairy Daisy! 

Lovely Kathryn married them. She’s one of Alex and Zara’s close friends as well as being a Humanist celebrant in England. Now, England has crazy archaic wedding rules and Humanist celebrants cannot legally marry people there (yet…we live in hope that they catch Scotland up soon!) so Kathryn was over the moon to be conducting her first legal Humanist wedding. Hopefully not her last. 

Post ceremony everyone headed down to the Old Fruitmarket. And it was time for the Lego challenge. Such a top dinner idea! There was a box of Lego on everyone’s table and they had to team up to make their own wheelchair. Kids and adults alike loved it and things got pretty competitive! 

As with all great Scottish weddings the day ended with a ceilidh. Now, we all know how I love a ceilidh and these lot just went for it. It was so, so good. As I said my goodbyes and left for the night it started snowing. The cherry on top of a brilliant day. Just awesome.

Sarah x