Rather than having a specific theme, today’s couple chose to head further north, back to the groom’s roots for an elegantly styled wedding with Scottish influences.
Just looking at the idyllic countryside in the photos below it’s easy to see why Scotland makes a truly
romantic setting
for a couple’s big day (plus going on previous experiences those Scots certainly know how to throw a party!)And we just love the guy’s tweed suits and tartan kilts, proving that men can be just as well dressed as the girls when it comes to a wedding. Well done boys, we like your style!
With images by Jamie Penfold Photography.
julia says:
We got engaged on the morning of Christmas Day 2013. Paul woke me up about 5.30am (which I wasn’t pleased about) to open our presents. We opened our other presents first and we had put some tiny ‘message in a bottle’ ornaments on the Christmas tree which I had bought at a Christmas fair. His message to me was ‘will you marry me?’ and when I looked up he was holding the most beautiful engagement ring. I almost died of shock and burst into tears! Then I said yes!We decided to set the date for Saturday 28th March 2015 as Paul didn’t want a long engagement so it was 15 months after he proposed. We had actually wanted to get married on Easter weekend but our venue was booked so we went for the weekend before instead.
We got married at Friars Carse Country House Hotel in Auldgirth, just north of Dumfries, Scotland. We hired the venue exclusively and would definitely recommend other couples doing that if they can as it meant the venue could concentrate on just us and we didn’t get any strangers in the photos!
Paul was born in Scotland and has lots of Scottish family so had his heart set on getting married in Scotland (even though I would have preferred a hot sunny beach wedding). We looked at a couple of venues around that area but as soon as we visited Friars Carse Country House we fell in love with it and booked straight away.
We didn’t really have a theme but certain colours featured throughout the wedding; tables/runners were champagne and pearl settings, the bridesmaids dresses were silver/grey full length dresses and the men wore grey tweed kilts.
My dress was a Ronald Joyce Victoria design from Brides Dream in Walkergate, Newcastle. I had tried on so many dresses but when I tried this one it had everything I wanted and was flattering for my curvy figure. It was also quite different to others I’d seen. My bridesmaids wore full-length silver/grey dresses which I ordered online and had adjusted.
As a special touch, I bought myself and the bridesmaids matching pyjama sets to wear when we were getting ready on the morning of the wedding. The night before all the girls came to the bridal suite for fizz and giggles while the boys gathered in the bar/snooker room.
Paul wore a grey tweed kilt set from MacGregor and McDuff in Ayr and his groomsmen wore the same.
Jamie of Jamie Penfold Photography took our wedding photos and we would absolutely recommend him to others! He was amazing from start to finish and worked so hard to ensure the pictures were stunning, and they really are. We are so pleased and can relive the day anytime we want as the pictures tell the story of the day so well.
I carried a round bouquet of cream roses with pearl decoration supplied by Flowers by Fiona in Moffat, Scotland. Fiona also provided the bridesmaids’ flowers and buttonholes for the bridal party.
For the reception, we hired pearl and rose centrepieces, our table runners and chair covers and sashes and brooches from Charlotte Boyd in Dumfries, Scotland. I also ordered cute little blackboards with easels for the name settings and larger ones for the table names from Confetti.co.uk.
We gave our male guests Subbuteo football player bottle openers as favours and the ladies received a heart shaped wine stopper.
When it came to food, we had a three-tier round ivory sponge wedding cake with piping and pearl decorations and roses, which was made by Cakes By Becky in Crawcrook, Newcastle.
To keep guests entertained we hired a fantastic band who Paul had seen locally called The Maverick Rejects. They travelled up to the venue and were absolutely brilliant.
We would definitely recommend our wedding venue to other brides and grooms. It was a fantastic venue and luckily the weather held for our photos! We will definitely return there as the staff were all brilliant.
Walking down the wooden staircase towards the aisle seeing everyone who had made the effort to be there for us, and then seeing Paul break into a huge smile when I got to the front has to be my favourite part of the day. The whole day was amazing though!
For our honeymoon we went to Aquila Elounda Village Hotel in Elounda, Crete, in May. We wanted to have a little gap after the wedding and so booked it as something to look forward to. It was a five star adults-only all-inclusive holiday, so perfect for relaxation!
My top tips to other Bride Up North would be to make sure you have someone there who you can trust to get everything done and make sure the venue are clear the day before on every small thing you want doing, as you won’t be around to manage it all. Luckily the duty manager at our venue (Xavier) was absolutely first class, so between him and my two fab bridesmaids I didn’t have to worry about anything and could just enjoy the day.
