Douglas and Ross’ confetti shot smiles say it all following their humanist wedding ceremony – captured perfectly by Picture You Photography
Their Journey As A Couple
It was a pleasure to get to know both Douglas and Ross and to create and tell their love story journey was a highlight of their ceremony. Here is that very journey taken directly from their personally created bespoke humanist wedding ceremony script.
Music & A Dancefloor
Some of you may be wondering how it all began for Douglas and Ross so we thought we would tell you a wee bit about their story……… Back in September 2014, Douglas was a guest at a wedding and as the reception came to an end and the night was still young a group of them piled into taxis and headed off to the dance the rest of the night away. The taxi dropped them off at Desire Nightclub – locally known in Balloch as Mares. Douglas could have been on Nightmare on Elm Street for all he cared as long as there was music and a dance floor he was happy.
Local Hero
Ross was a local to Balloch and was out celebrating, getting a new job with a group of friends. They all had a few wee sherry’s and one of his gal pals gave Ross the secret signal that someone was giving her some unwanted attention and was trying to hit on her on the dance floor. Ross, always protective of his friends, sauntered across the dance floor, as butchly as he could muster – and was all ready to pretend that she was his girlfriend and give the guy a friendly warning off! Ross was back in a nano-second to tell his friend that she was perfectly safe – there was absolutely no way that Douglas was interested in her or any other female in there!
Aberdeen, Balloch & The Zoo
Oblivious to all that was going on around him, Douglas danced the night away and woke up the next day feeling a bit worse for wear and to find he had a message on his Grindr account – asking how he was feeling today – Douglas had no clue or idea as to who he was and asked who are you and how do I know you!! It was from Ross – due to them being nearby, Douglas’ profile had appeared so he sent a friendly wee message!
It was the start of a beautiful online friendship! They chatted on and off for several months before finally deciding to meet up to see if there was more to their online friendship and to see if there was a spark and so they arranged a date for March 7th 2015. Douglas was living and working in Aberdeen and Ross was living in Balloch so they decided to meet for a day out at Edinburgh Zoo. Afterwards, they headed for a casual dinner at Wagamama at Ocean Terminal just close enough to where Douglas’ family lived as he was also visiting them and staying with them on his weekend trip.
Never Looked Back
They have never looked back and spent every weekend with each other following their date to the Zoo. Douglas was the first to make the move in their relationship by making it official on his social media status although Ross said Douglas had dropped the L-word in before this a few times after too many drinks at a party! There’s a bit of a pattern here lol
In the summer of 2015, Douglas moved to Edinburgh to study for his PGDE and so began their long-distance relationship between Balloch and Edinburgh every weekend. Ross began searching for jobs in Edinburgh and in June 2016, Douglas moved out of his shared flat with Dale and moved in with Ross to a flat in the Whitson area. It might not be appropriate at this time to tell the full story of the evening when Ross had too much to drink and couldn’t find his way home in a strange town – even though he was only 10 minutes away from the flat – he was so disoriented he couldn’t even tell the taxi driver if he lived at his address or not! You can ask him all about it later!
They Said Yes to Their Home!
In June 2018 they bought their first home together. They were blissfully happy. I know most of you know Ross and Douglas so well and you can’t help but feel that you need to run to try and keep up with them. They have so much energy between the 2 of them that they are like the Energizer bunny in the advert – you are racing to keep up with them. They even speed walk and talk! You would think with all the Zumba classes Ross takes that it would slow him down. They are constantly on the go and you also have to book in with them weeks and even months in advance to meet up with them as they are always so busy working or socialising, singing and dancing their way through life.
The happy couple share a drink from the Quaich
The Wedding Singer
Before meeting Ross, a huge part of Douglas’ life had been spent playing different roles and being a part of Theatre companies, Aurora being one of them and it is safe to say that Ross’ interest in Musical theatre has grown even more since they have become a couple.
They are both members of the Bohemians Theatre group and so are some of the guests here today. They had gone along to a friend’s flat-warming party and heard they were looking for men to join the chorus for the show 9-5 and they needed ones that could dance as well! Douglas and Ross ticked all the boxes, signed up there and then and have never looked back.
Well done to all those involved in the most recent production of Shrek – which has been 2 years in the making due to covid restrictions and I am sure you will all have been word-perfect by then having learned your lines for the last few years during the lockdown – even if Douglas only managed to do 2 of the shows after managing to catch ‘showvid’ during show week.
Needless to say, Ross and Douglas have thrown themselves into playing their parts as they did in the production of the Wedding Singer. They played the lead roles of Sammy and George, singers in a wedding band.
A poem was sang by Douglas’ Uncle Alan and another read by Aunty Cindy also
Staging The Proposal
They had touched on the subject of getting married and proposals and Douglas had always maintained that he would want a pretty public proposal with at least 30 people there so Ross began to plan how he would do this. He had already spoken with Douglas’ mum Susan – and they cried in the kitchen – and got the green light from his brother Andrew too before he continued with his proposal plans.
The bespoke ring for Douglas was being made by a jeweller named Keith Sim, a family friend of Douglas’ parents. Susan was tasked with bringing the ring with her when she came to visit as she had been invited to the final show of the Wedding Singer. Both families had been invited and were in on his secret, as well as several members of the lead cast – everyone except Douglas.
Susan arrived at their flat and was trying to get Ross on his own so she could discreetly hand over the ring to him but when she asked him to take her suitcase upstairs for her – well, that was a step too far as Ross thought to himself – take it up yourself – forgetting she had the ring with her!!
Kat, Kirsty, Cathy and Kirsten get themselves organised as they are going to sing ‘Hold my Hand’ by Jess Glynne – Douglas & Ross’ – ‘their song’
The Elvis & Boy George Moment
Once he got the ring he promptly handed it over to the Stage Manager Kelly to look after it for him as of course he had a show to perform in. At the end of the show and as the final curtain came down, the cast all ran on to take their bows and end-of-show dance. Fraser thanked the audience for coming to the show and then handed the mic to Ross to make his proposal – and after a wee speech, Ross went down on one knee and proposed to Douglas to not just 30 people but a packed full house with everyone screaming and cheering them on.
It took Douglas a wee while to process what was happening in front of him and Ross said it felt like forever until he finally said YES in front of his audience all wearing their wedding fascinators.
This was on the 23rd of March 2019 with video footage for them to watch over and over again with the 2 of them there wearing their Elvis and Boy George wigs thankfully not in place today!
The Main Event
Wedding planning began and the original date was to be during the short window of opportunity that they were both aged 30 but a pandemic changed all their plans – here we are today – Douglas is still 30, but unfortunately Ross has moved on to the ripe old age of 31. It is great to see so many of you have made the journey to be here for them both today on their wedding day – even if it is 357 days later than planned.
Douglas and Ross’ Wedding 25th June 2022:
Celebrant – Mo Ackroyd, Fuze Ceremonies
Photos – Picture You Photography
Venue – Macdonald Houstoun House Hotel
Videographer – Dode Allen Media
The First Dance
Douglas and Ross’ guests were treated to a choreographed extravaganza of dance
Say ‘I DO’ With Fuze Podcast
Check out our Podcast channel as we bring you a series to help you plan and get the most from your humanist wedding ceremony.
CLICK HERE
Add our smiles to yours
No two couples are the same so no two ceremonies should be the same. At Fuze we work alongside our couples to make their humanist wedding ceremony script is unique, personal and bespoke. It’s your day your way with us, so let us add our smiles to yours. To check Mo and all of our amazing celebrant’s live availability for your special date click here!
Mo Ackroyd,
Celebrant at Fuze Ceremonies
