Cheers to sixty years!
July 9th 2020 saw my grandparents celebrating 60 years of marriage!
I capture so many moments for other families that it only made sense that I went along with my camera to document this moment for my own family. Despite lockdown restrictions, we did what we were able to do to have a wee celebration including delicious cakes from The Larder and a beautiful gift bouquet from This Is 36 - Florals.
It was a small way our family could see each other and mark the occasion. My facebook memories showed me how I’d captured them on their Golden Wedding Anniversary 10 years earlier. This is when my fascination was buying expired polaroid films on eBay and getting some… Interesting results!
It’s always interesting to look back at photos from a while ago and see how my work has progressed and evolved over the years.
Granny and Granda’s farm is one of my happy places - my brother and I spent many weekends and school holidays there.
They would pick us up after school on a Friday afternoon and drive to the butcher in Keith - it was always sausage, egg and chips for tea! My granny and I would spend Saturdays going to Elgin for a walk around the shops and a fly cup whilst my brother helped my granda around the farm. Some Sunday mornings the four of us took a wee drive to Lossiemouth tearooms for breakfast. If you don’t already know me, I LOVE food, so it’s no surprise my memories revolve around what we ate!
Thinking about how long they’d been married to each other, it occurred to me that I’d never really asked them about their wedding day before. So I decided to dust off my interviewing skills and put some questions to them!
Where and when did you first meet and what were your first impressions of each other?
Granda: At the Fisherman’s Hall in Buckie, I thought she was alright.
Granny: I canna repeat - he pinched me from his friend!
Where and when did you get engaged?
Granda: On the banks of the Spey. She’d been pestering me for a while!
What do you remember about planning your wedding?
Granda: It was you and Vera that planned it all. I had affa little to dee with it.
Granny: It was just a fisher’s wedding. We were engaged in the August and married the next July. And we honeymooned on the Isle of Man.
I didn’t know that! What did you do on your honeymoon?
Granda: Well fit di maist folk dee on their honeymoon!
What did you wear?
Granny: The long white dress in the photos, it was pretty much the first one I tried on.
I went shopping with my mum to Watt & Grants in Aberdeen.
What do you remember from the day?
Both: Nae a lot!
Granny: The service was at Portknockie Church and the reception was at the town hall in Cullen.
What do you think is different about weddings now vs when you got married?
Granda: It’s mare expensive now, nae doot.
What’s your secret to being married for sixty years?
Granda: Jist agree to a’thin she says!
