Good morning lovely – thank you so very much for stopping by our beautiful wedding blog today. If you didn’t get chance to catch up over the weekend – this feature is an absolute must-read. Written from the heart by a lady who is both a wedding industry professional (and a brilliant one to boot) and bride to be, it offers a refreshingly honest perspective on body image. We also launched the beautiful new ‘Wild Nature’ collection by Jannie Baltzer yesterday – and on Saturday we shared 2 weddings (you’ll find them here and here) and a gorgeous Autumn wedding inspiration shoot too.
This morning’s feature seemed the perfect choice to kickstart a new week in January – something bright and colourful – a tonic for the many grey and rain soaked days we’ve had of late. Lauren and David tied the knot on 11th August 2015 at Broomhall Castle in Menstrie, Scotland.
“We wanted to have a huge party with our friends and family, to laugh, eat and dance, so every decision from our ceremony to our photographers came from a desire to have a relaxed day. The colour scheme we thought would be bright and bold enough to let our guests know this wasn’t a stuffy affair and it meant we could have more fun with flower choices and our that our photographs would be more interesting.”
Photography by SD Photography
Visit SD Photography in Little Book For Brides + follow SD Photography on Instagram
SD Photography will be exhibiting at the Wedding Collective’s Bridal Market on 16th January
“We decided against readings as in all honesty we just didn’t get around to deciding upon any one thing. We did however have a handfasting and we exchanged promises and we both felt it was a very significant moment, maybe more than the exchange of rings.”
“My dress was called Ginger by Enzoani and was purchased from Amilou Bridal. I had no idea what kind of dress I would want as the couple of times I had found myself in dress shops before I had been intimidated by the sea of white, it was overwhelming to me.”
“We met in a coffee shop where Lauren worked with one of David’s oldest friends. David needed a job and Lauren happily obliged. Our first date was 7 days later and we’ve been together ever since. A few years later in 2012, David proposed and wedding planning got underway, however, we fell pregnant and wedding planning fell to the wayside until 2014 when we finally booked our venue.”
“Honey and Violet are a fantastic duo based in Dunblane who were willing to travel to the venue. They were a godsend on the morning of having done weddings so many times before they were such a calming influence. A pair of stars.
“David always buys me flowers when he is out and about and totally fuels my obsession with flowers. We are both just naturally drawn to brighter hues and had so much fun in the florists’ , JM flowers, just picking out every bright bloom they had. Carnations, roses, lisianthus, peonies anything but no gerboras (personal dislike).”
“My shoes were Miss KG by Kurt Geiger via John Lewis. I was just wandering through one day and these pink beauties caught my eye. The pink suede and classic court were perfect for me as they stood out but were very comfortable.”
“For a period of time choosing a photographer was really difficult. First of all a lot of our friends are pretty handy with a camera. But having done wedding photography semi-seriously before I knew that by having a friend work so hard on our day that they wouldn’t be involved in it the way I would like. When I came across SD Photography the decision was made simple.
Once they said they were on board I was never in doubt we were in good hands. Their style of photography was perfect for our day. We wanted less posed shots and mostly candid shots, keeping the feel of the day informal. This suited them too. They were excellent at being sneaky, I was never really aware of their presence but from the content of our album they never missed a moment. “
“I like to feel individual when I dress and tend to suit and choose a more vintage look for myself. I was recommended Amilou Bridal by a friend and from the moment I entered their boutique I knew they would have a dress for me. I tried on about 10 dresses and in this time was able to find what suited me, a drop waist sheath and then I tried on Ginger and it was as instant a connection – as it was when I met David.
I knew I could stop searching. I love that the dress was unlike any other I had seen before and that as it was made to order I could have it in an ankle length as I already knew I wanted to be able to see my shoes. It also helped that my always composed and stoic mother was greeting when I turned round to ask her opinion on the dress.”
“I bought a pair of costume pearl drop earrings with a crystal flourish from the dress boutique as the day we went to collect my dress from the shop I turned round and they were there, exactly what I had imagined I wanted.
I wore pink berries in my hair from my florist Jennifer Morris at JM flowers, as I wanted a little something and I loved these from my choices for my bouquet.”
“I wore a cathedral length Juliet cap veil by Sarah Morgan on Etsy. My dress basically dictated to me my choices for accessories and again was influenced by my liking for more vintage styles.”
“I wore the Tom Ford Velvet Orchid perfume. I am really fussy about scents and again feel like it is another chance to express myself and strongly associate smells with memories and feelings. I chose this scent for the day as I had never worn it before or smelled it on anyone before so now when I spritz it I am transported back to a 30 second moment on the day of my wedding right before I stepped out of the en-suite to reveal my dress to my Dad. I am full of anticipation and excitement.”
“My bridesmaids wore cowl back, coral, red and orangey cap sleeved gowns that were from a sale at ASOS. This was one of those late night discoveries that was sheer luck – a dress that suited everyone’s needs and the colour David and I wanted. The hardest part of dress shopping for the girls was every time we saw a dress we liked it was never the right colour and every one in the right colour was the wrong dress type. I wanted to go high street to keep the informality in the occasion.”
I bought the girls a horseshoe necklace from Orla Keily as a gift which (I think) they all wore. Any other earrings or rings were the girls own.”“The hotel catered our tea party style menu. All of the food was right there ready to eat when we sat down. Really good sandwiches and cakes.”
“My Dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of Beach Foam by Future Islands. We both love this track and wanted something that gives us the ‘feels’.
The very best moment was walking down the aisle in what felt like a whirlwind – telling my dad to stop walking so fast only to look up, lock eyes with David and realise ‘yup, that’s what I’m here for’.”
“We didn’t tailor our vows, but working with our Humanist officiant we wrote a 500 short story of our love which she read. We included funny anecdotes in order to relax ourselves and our guests. Such as that the first time David ever saw me; it wasn’t in fact on the day we met but when he came into Greggs where I worked several years prior (when a sausage roll cost a mere 40 pence!) and he fell in love with my smile despite the horrendous uniform”.
“David doesn’t really wear jewellery so when it came to a ring, he wanted something simple. He went for a rose gold D shaped band and after a trawl round the internet we found the perfect ring on Very. I wanted a ring to complement my 18kt gold diamond solitaire antique ring and because they metals used in alloys in the past differ from those used now to get a perfect colour match I had to get an antique ring. We found the perfect one in a wee antique shop in Stirling called Abbey Antiques.”
“I was sure I was going to cry my way through the ceremony but surprised myself that I smiled and laughed all the way through until the song we chose to exit to played – Champagne Coast by Blood Orange.”
Groom David talks us through his choice of wedding day attire…
“I am Scottish, having worn a kilt at a family wedding before I knew what I would be in for. I never felt comfortable and in honesty it just didn’t look right either. Being tall and slim it just didn’t suit me. Having a bit of an obsession with HBO’s Deadwood series I knew I now had the excuse I needed to get a tweed suit. However I quickly realised this was a potentially expensive option and from my experiences shopping around I didn’t get into a suit that was all that well fitting or comfy until I went to try a kilt on and I was told by the store assistant that Topman had some really good suits. I never looked back after trying theirs on. It actually felt more fitted than any I tried previously, it was the exact colour I was after.”
“I went for Dr Martens for footwear. After a particularly excellent suit ensemble worn by Mads Mikkelson in Hannibal I went for a light blue cotton shirt and an orange woven tie. This was in keeping with the wedding colours. Lauren happened to come across Scrabble cuff links that I wanted to include. I ordered an L and an H tile for Lauren and Harvey. I also went for a Chester Barrie Saville Row pocket square that had the colours of the suit, tie and shirt.”
“We wanted best man and groomsmen to be as comfy as possible. We chose the Flower of Scotland tartan for the kilt that had a bright orangey/red that was exactly the same as the bridesmaids’ dresses running through it so matched all the colours in our theme. I got tweed suit jackets that looked amazing on all of them. Instead of the usual tie type that comes with kilt and suit hire I chose to get them the same woven tie as myself to have them matching. The ties also matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly.”
“We wanted a venue that would accommodate the vision we had for the wedding. It was important to us to have private hire of a venue and be able to stay the night before as well. We drive past Broomhall Castle all the time and loved the building, it wasn’t until we started looking for venues that we found out it was a hotel. It was the only venue we went to see as the whole place perfectly suited the kind of day we wanted.
We found this gorgeous bright orange lace sticky trim in Poundland of all places and used it to stick around jam jars with orange, citrus scented votive candles in them.”
“We got our stationery from Etsy. It was brown kraft paper with persimmon lettering with gold envelopes and an orange wax seal. We used washi tape as a little accent. They were beautiful but we had a bad experience with the supplier printing Tuesay instead of Tuesday. I approved the proof but had only checked that names and dates were correct. An expensive mistake so we made a joke of it but still have a £600 thorn in our side.”
Note to you all ladies and gents – CHECK THOSE PRINT PROOFS VERY CAREFULLY!
“We really wanted lots of decorations and I love making anything so I took the wedding as a great excuse to get the glitter and glue gun out. I made everything from paperchains to doily garlands to hanging geometric shapes made from pearlised card.”
“The venue is old so we couldn’t stick things to the wall so we covered wooden pegs in washi tape and used them to hang things with no damage to the property. The tables were long banquet style layout and we placed as many jam jars of flowers we could all down the middle.”
“Our fantastic photobooth was provided by the Bygone Photobooth. They were great and their booth provided instant printouts which were placed into a guestbook and signed. I love going to my friend’s houses and seeing all their copies on their fridge.”
“The cake part was easy and left in the more than capable hand’s of my mum Anita. Chocolate cake was the obvious and only choice with a salted chocolate ganache frosting. Pink, orange and gold with lace and tissue paper flowers. We saw a stag and doe cake topper on Etsy but decided just to buy toy figurines and paint them so we included a wee baby deer to represent Harvey too.”
“We had ‘such a woman’ by Neil Young for our first dance. We picked this in tribute to our son Harvey because some of our favourite parenting moments so far were falling asleep in the early hours of the morning listening to the album Harvest Moon as it was the only thing that would sooth a teething baby Harvey. As his favourite song from the album wasn’t wedding appropriate (about divorce) one night after Harvey finally fell asleep the song we chose came on and we both knew that it was the perfect choice.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“If you both want something, then do it. If you don’t want something, then don’t do it! Don’t try to ‘people please’ – people will always want more. It’s your wedding!
We also definitely would have appointed someone to film the ceremony, first dance and speeches.”
What a gorgeous day – SD Photography have done such a beautiful job in capturing the essence and charm of this wedding. Lauren and David – I’d have loved being guest on your beautiful day – huge thanks in allowing us to share your beautiful and joy filled day on Love My Dress today.
Readers – if you love this style of photography, you can find out more about SD Photography in Little Book For Brides or by visiting their website. SD Photography will also be exhibiting at the Wedding Collective’s Bridal Market on 16th January – click the image below to find out more.
I’d love to hear from anyone else who has opted for an Enzoani design?
Have a lovely morning all,
Love Annabel xx
Photographer – SD Photography
Venue + Catering – Broomhall Castle in Menstrie, Scotland
Wedding Dress – Ginger by Enzoani via Amilou Bridal
Veil – Sarah Morgan via Etsy
Shoes – Miss KG by Kurt Geiger in John Lewis
Perfume – Tom Ford Velvet Orchid
Groom – Topman suit + Dr Martens
Bridesmaids – ASOS
Florist – JM flowers
Cake – Bride’s Mum
Entertainment – Ceilidh Minogue
Rings – Very + shop in Stirling called Abbey Antiques
Stationery – Etsy (specific seller not named)
Hair + Makeup – Honey and Violet
Photobooth Styling + Hire – Bygone Photobooth
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
What a great dress!! So pretty and effortless, and with a Juliet veil perfection. The groom also came up trumps especially when the Hannibal inspiration was referenced!
What a stunning veil. It is amazing what you can find on Etsy!
Such beautiful colours and a gorgeous dress and tweed suit. That cake looks amazing too! Well done bride’s mum Anita. Congratulations to you both xx
A great wedding all round. Lovely bridal outfit (especially the pink shoes), great suit for the groom and some stunning flowers for a little colour pop. Love it!