Highland Humanist Weddings

24 September 2011 James & Claire’s Humanist Wedding at Oran Mor

It was my first visit to Òran Mór, and I immediately understood why James and Claire had chosen it for their wedding: it’s stunningly beautiful, and I was glad I’d arrived early and had time to gaze around. Also, knowing that James and Claire wanted an intimate, informal atmosphere, I wanted to check the layout [...]

It was my first visit to Òran Mór, and I immediately understood why James and Claire had chosen it for their wedding: it’s stunningly beautiful, and I was glad I’d arrived early and had time to gaze around. Also, knowing that James and Claire wanted an intimate, informal atmosphere, I wanted to check the layout of the room. If the chairs are arranged in a slight curve, like rows in a theatre, everyone feels closer to the Bridal Party, so I asked one of James’s teemage relatives to help me move them. James, his Best Men and Ushers greeting guests as the Piper played, and soon everyone had climbed the spiral staircase and found their places, and we didn’t have long to wait before the Bridesmaids had arrived and Claire was entering the room on the arm of her dad.

If there are more than seventy guests, I like to start the Wedding Band Warming before the entrance of the Bride, so no one will feel hurried or self-conscious, and the Best Man won’t be panicking, so James and Claire’s family and friends were already ‘warming’ the rings and making their silent wishes for the future of the Bride and Groom.

To keep their nerves steady, James and Claire had decided to face towards one another during the ceremony, rather than looking out at their guests – but they’d told me how important their family and friends are to them, and it was very touching to witness the pleasure everyone felt in seeing them exchange their marriage vows. For me, one of the wedding highlights was Claire’s brother’s reading of Robbie Burn’s beautiful O, my luve is like a red, red rose, and i also enjoyed the numerical precision of the Bride and Groom’s history of their relationship: for example, the 179 days that it took James to ask Claire out.

At the end of the ceremony, everyone stayed where they were, to give the photographer time to get up to the gallery and take a group shot. Then, they were served with drinks, and went outside to throw confetti. Luckily, the weather was clear enough for photos in the Botanic Gardens. As they posed beside the vehicle that was to take them there, I had my the last sight of James and Claire: they were standing beside a smart VW Campervan, a friend’s treasured possession of a friend, which had been polished into the brightest of shines.

Òran Mór means the ‘great melody of life’ or ‘big song’. When the chapel was converted, the original features of the church were kept, and it’s a wonderful wedding venue. It has a high ceiling, filled with light filtered by ancient, pagan stained glass, and the strong, joyful blue of Alasdair Gray’s celestial ceiling mural, and it’s atmospheric as well as beautiful.

http://www.oran-mor.co.uk/page/Weddings_148.html

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