LEAVING the brightness, noise, and colours of Buchanan Street and entering Mitchell Lane is like stepping into a sensory deprivation tank. The towering buildings cut out almost all sunlight in the narrow thoroughfare and deaden the nearby sound of shopping. I used to walk down there daily to the then Glasgow Herald offices where a tiny lift, operated by a variety of cheerful dapper men, who usually had an arm or a leg missing, would carry you sedately upwards behind brass scissor-style gates.
Today the mean employees' door has blossomed into the more welcoming entrance of The Lighthouse, now a design centre, where an escalator takes you up the six floors, although an amputee-free lift lurks somewhere at the back. It is not the fastest of escalators, and there is a little stroll at every floor. On a second-floor pillar someone has playfully attached a sign stating: "Only three floors to go. Wish you had taken the lift?"
Like the sign says, I was heading for the fifth floor where a large exhibition room is like the set of a Jools Holland television show with five bands poised on separate small stages, with an attentive audience of mainly young women listening and judging as each band took turns in entertaining them.
This though was not simply a night out for music lovers, but was termed the Wedding Band Showcase, organised by the Glasgow Girls Wedding Guide website which allows Glasgow's brides-to-be to hear a variety of bands all on the one site to help them decide who will be playing when they dance the first waltz of their married life. Perhaps you are under the mistaken impression that big weddings are a thing of the past, that couples these days either do not get married, or if they do, have a brisk visit to the registrars and a quick bite to eat with pals afterwards. Oh no, not a bit of it. As former teacher now wedding planner Mary Theresa O'Donnell, known by everyone as MT, at the wedding guide site explains, there are 33,000 weddings in Scotland every year, and the average cost in Glasgow is a wallet-emptying £20,000.
A meal, toast and a piper? Not quite. Fireworks, for example, are becoming more popular to give the event added whoosh. A dance floor is just a dance floor? Not a bit of it. You can hire panels to lay over the floor with LED lights embedded so that it sparkles as you glide. Photo booths, candy carts, owls to deliver your wedding rings at the altar - I blame Harry Potter for that one - basically the list is endless if you want to make your wedding unique, and let's face it, more memorable than that of your stuck-up neighbour who is always going on about what a great time they had at their daughter's do. One-upmanship still flourishes.
The only solace I can give fathers-of-the-bride is that they are no longer expected to pick up the entire tab themselves. MT explains that only 10% of brides' parents pay for the whole shindig. A third of couples getting married pay the bill themselves, and the remainder share the cost with parents.
The brides are more involved in the planning of their wedding. No longer do mothers-of-the-bride tell daughters that their only involvement is to turn up on the day, which is why events such as the Wedding Band Showcase are becoming more popular. Before, you either took a recommendation from a pal, or hung around other weddings at the door or at the back, to hear them play. Now a showcase event means you hear them live without dodging behind waiters at someone else's wedding. First up is the seven-piece band The Riffreshers, mainly music teachers who met at Strathclyde University. Trumpet player Kevin O'Donoghue, before they launched into All Night Long for the audience, tells me they will sit down with the bride and discuss what music she wants. They have bankers such as Proud Mary and Uptown Funk which gets folk on the dancefloor, although they always watch the reaction and judge what to play next based on how happy the guests are. Singer Anneliese Rutherford has an i-Pad on a stand in front of her so that she can instantly access the words of any requests.
They do get the occasional refreshed guest who wants to join in at a microphone or on an instrument. But Kevin tells them to ask the bride if that is ok which usually diffuses what could be an awkward situation if someone mistakenly believes they have the ability of a Pavarotti. "A bride will tell us beforehand if her dad wants to play guitar for one song or if a niece is going to sing a solo, but someone who wanders up on the night will have to get the bride's permission," he says.
I see a father-of-the-bride who is tapping a toe to the music, so The Riffreshers might have a customer. He is also gently tapping a finger on his leg so he must be keen, or else he is tapping to see if he still has his credit card safely away from his daughter's grasp. Difficult to tell.
But the music continues to revolve around the room. Yin Yang Entertainment are engaged couple Ryan Anderson and Pamela Docherty from Lanarkshire who use backing tracks to fill out the sound of their own singing and playing. They have played in bigger bands but say a wedding is actually a lot of pressure. "It's the most important day of someone's life. You have to get it right," says Ryan, who will sit down with the bride beforehand to plan the music meticulously.
Of course I say the bride, but it could be the groom. MT at Glasgow Girls says that they surveyed brides, and a quarter of them said they would be happy if the grooms got more involved in the planning of their big day. I'm no expert on surveys, but I suspect the involvement they are talking about is agreeing that an owl flying towards them carrying a ring pouch is a great idea rather than simply laughing at the foolishness of it. If she's busy debating owls or white doves, you might get away with organising your own stag night.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here