One of my most popular pictures ever on the blog’s Facebook page has been of Shona, whipping up the front of her beautiful dress to reveal a bubblegum pink underskirt!
“I’d expected it to be a raspberry colour, but when I picked it up (two days before the wedding!), it was neon pink. It was too late to do anything about it, so neon pink it was!”
And it’s just the beginning of all the colours in her and Dave’s beautiful day. There are a thousand multicoloured origami cranes, colourful pinwheels on the tables, and a balloon wall! I love how these all stand out vibrantly against the cool and crisp Scottish scenery. It’s kind of magical. This is very much a modern wedding. You will love its striking details set wonderfully against the breathtaking backdrop of Scotland at its finest.
How They Met and the Proposal
Match.com!! I’d been on it for about a day and Dave for a few hours, I was the first person he ‘messaged’ with, and within about a week we’d both signed off and the rest is history! Dave proposed on a beach in Shetland. We were there for the folk festival for his 30th birthday and it was a total surprise!
The Venue
We chose the outdoor centre first as it ticked so many of the right boxes – we wanted somewhere that we could use for a weekend wedding where our guests could stay, but somewhere that was relaxed, too. The centre was perfect – it was a gorgeous location on the water, surrounded by stunning Scottish hills. It had a lovely hall, dorm rooms for the guests, space for an outdoor fire and even a games room – complete with table tennis and giant jenga!
We liked a church in Crianlarich, but it was far too small so we had a look at St Conan’s. Although it was a bit of a drive from the reception venue, it was absolutely stunning – the surrounding scenery was amazing and the church was beautiful. There was lots for guests to look at inside, as well as having spaces outside where guests could take in the view.
Our wedding was relaxed and fun and the outdoor centre captured that perfectly, but we really liked that the church was more traditional and impressive as it marked a difference in tone between the two parts of the wedding.
The Details
There wasn’t a theme or certain colour or anything like that, we just wanted to make sure that guests could feel relaxed, have fun and, importantly, interact with each other. So we had a weekend wedding – we went canoeing and had a quiz on the Friday so people could get to know each other. Then we had a games room, a ‘sit where you like’ meal and a bonfire so people could just have fun and enjoy a weekend away.
There were lots of ‘Scottish bits’ too, as it was important to us to have a piper (my brothers and Dave’s friend Gregor all play), and a ceilidh, etc.
The DIY
Everything, pretty much, was DIY!
- My friends and I made 1,000 origami cranes
- I made pinwheels instead of having table flowers; they sat in jam jars I’d decorated with coloured wool
- I made paper heart decorations for the church
- I made my own brooch bouquet and paper rose bouquets for the bridesmaids
- We had a balloon wall
- I made a hollow chocolate wedding cake that we smashed with a mallet!!
- I made heart bunting, but I left it at home!!
- I decorated some of the walls with photos and captions about our relationship and the wedding planning, a quotes board and quotes from all the young guests about what they thought about things like love and marriage
- I made the order of service (complete with little envelopes for the confetti), and we did our own invitations and a video save the date, too.
Any disasters? How were these overcome?
Our wedding caterer actually passed away a couple of weeks before the wedding. It was really sad and quite a difficult situation because we didn’t want to bother his family at such a difficult time. We found it hard to find someone else at such short notice and were faced with losing our deposit, etc., but luckily another caterer stepped in and covered the date and all the arrangements we’d already made. They were amazing and even said they’d cover the deposit we’d originally made to the other caterer.
Other than that, things were left at home, and I was making the cake on the morning of the wedding, but we were relatively relaxed about most of it, and the people we had around us were all wonderful, supportive and happy, so we didn’t really have anything to worry about.
The Advice and the Musings
For us, the most important part of the wedding was the ceremony. We made it really personal. My dad drove me, my mum and the bridesmaids there in the car, and my brother and Dave’s friend played the bagpipes as I arrived. My other brother wrote the music I walked down the aisle to. We wrote ‘our story’ for the minister to read at the start of the ceremony, which told everyone a bit about us and how we met, which was nice for those who didn’t necessarily know that much about each of us beforehand. Dave’s sister wrote a poem for us, my mum also did a reading, and we wrote our own vows. Our minister linked it all together with some pieces my grandpa had written years before. I’m so glad we spent the time getting that bit right as it went perfectly and was the best part of the whole weekend.
I think the trick to married life is being with the right person. Be spontaneous, make sure there’s lots of laughter, and listen properly to your other half. I’ve only been married for six months, but it’s going well so far!
The Music
First dance – we had Old Fashioned by Frightened Rabbit picked out, but on the drive back from the church Dave said he’d rather not do one, and I wasn’t going to make him!
Down the aisle – my brother is a brilliant musician and wrote a piece of music for us. It was the first time I’d heard it and it was perfect! It’s lovely to have it to listen to now as it brings back some great memories!
