Weddings / Bainnsean
BBC ALBA – Starts Friday 20 September 9.30 – 10.30pm
A WEDDING day is supposed to be the happiest day of your life but it is a special occasion that only takes place after months of careful – and stressful – planning and preparation.
With this pressure in mind, the thought of having a camera crew following you, capturing the highs and lows of the build-up to the big day, is not one that many couples would embrace.
But four happy couples proved to be up for the challenge inviting BBC ALBA’s Bainnsean (Weddings) series to follow them as they plan very different ceremonies – from civil partnerships and Humanist ceremonies to posh affairs in palatial castles – but all containing a lovely mix of glitz, glamour and with twists of modern and traditional.
Casting its net wide, this new series sees presenter, Joy Dunlop, invited into the lives, relationships and finally the wedding days of a diverse range of couples.
Entertaining and packed with emotion, Joy spends time with our couples during the weeks leading up to their big day, uncovering the many different elements that go into planning their special day.
Across a four part series, we will meet couples based both in Scotland and abroad who are pleased to share their special day with BBC ALBA viewers.
In the opening programme of the series, Mhairi Wilson and Joe Evans are planning a wedding from afar. Despite living in one of the world’s most romantic places – Paris – they decided to have their wedding in the city where they first met.
Mhairi, 27, originally from Elgin, is an Entry Clearance Officer for the British Embassy in Paris and Joe, 28, from Edinburgh, works in the Passport Department in the same building.
After Joe surprises Mhairi with an inspired proposal next to the Notre Dame Cathedral, we join them in France as preparations are underway and follow them back to Scotland during the challenging ‘Wedding Week’ – the only time they have on location to organise their non-traditional DIY wedding.
In episode two, Joy joins Claire Thomson and Donald Iain Macaulay, who are planning a traditional Gaelic wedding service in Glasgow. Bride-to-be, Claire, is 29 years-old and comes from the Isle of Lewis.
She currently works as a primary teacher in the Glasgow Gaelic School, which is where she met her future husband, maths teacher Donald, who is 43 and also from Lewis. Their mutual love of hill walking brought them together in 2011 and they have a young daughter Katarina.
They plan a service at their local church as well as two receptions, one at a local restaurant and a ceilidh in a city-centre bar.
Joy joins both Claire and Donald as they prepare for their big day, engaging in everything from hen and stag nights to shopping for kilts, the baby’s dress and the all-important champagne fountain.
The third of four episodes sees engineer Laura Nardone and bodyguard Alicia Paterson, both 28 and from Methil in Fife, planning a winter themed civil partnership ceremony in Fife.
Arrangements are going well until engineer Laura is stranded off-shore following the suspension of helicopter flights from oil rigs after a controlled ditching incident at sea.
As the uncertainty continues Alicia faces up to possibility of hair and make-up trials, dress fittings and a hen-night without her other half. Presenter, Joy, helps make favours – putting a spanner in the works soon afterwards – but joins the couple as they finalise their plans for a luxurious event.
Our final episode follows Julia Menteith, 28, from Inverness, a stay-at-home mother of two, and Douglas ‘Dougie’ Crawford, 35, from Kilmacolm, a mental health nursing student at the University of the West of Scotland.
Julia and Douglas have set a wedding date for the eighth time and this time they plan to stick to it! Joy joins the couple as they prepare to host a Moulin Rouge themed wedding in Glasgow, a day Julia will be undertaking without her mother and brother who sadly passed away when she was a teenager.
With their two children alongside them, Julia and Douglas persuade Joy to sing a Gaelic love song at their ceremony and then look to Joy when Julia’s wedding ring goes missing on the big day!
Weddings (Bainnsean), is produced for BBC ALBA by purpleTV (www.purpletv.tv) and will be broadcast from Friday 20 September at 9.30pm with subsequent episodes following on the proceeding Friday nights. BBC ALBA is available on Freeview / You View 8, BT Vision 8, Sky 143, Virgin Media 188, Freesat 110 and Smallworld 170. Content is also available to view on demand via the BBC PC iPlayer and the BBC iPlayer on Virgin Media.
ENDS
For further information please contact Lorna Gardner or Gary McQueen at Media House on 0141 220 6040 or email lorna@mediahouse.co.uk / gary@mediahouse.co.uk.
Notes to editors:
BBC ALBA is available on the following platforms:
• Sky 143 (UK)
• Freeview / You View 8 (Scotland only)
• Virgin Media 188 (UK)
• Freesat 110 (UK)
• BT Vision 8 (Scotland only)
• Smallworld 170 (Ayrshire and North West England)
• Live on BBC iPlayer (UK)
• Ten hours of content per week available to view on demand via the BBC PC iPlayer and the BBC iPlayer on Virgin Media
BBC ALBA is run by MG ALBA in partnership with the BBC. MG ALBA is the operating name of Seirbheis nam Meadhanan Gàidhlig, the Gaelic Media Service. Find out more about MG ALBA and the partnership at www.mgalba.com or visit www.bbcalba.co.uk for scheduling and programme information.
Weddings (Bainnsean), is produced for BBC ALBA by purpleTV. For more information about purpleTV visit www.purpletv.tv.
MEDIA RELEASE posted by Media House International. You too can post media releases (aka press releases) on allmediascotland.com. For more information, email here.
Contact: Gary McQueen
Phone: 01412206040
Email: gary@mediahouse.co.uk
Website: http://www.mediahouse.co.uk
