Seven Bridesmaids for a Scottish Bride ~ A Day Full of Pretty Peonies and Beautiful Blue Blooms…

Good morning lovely people! Welcome to a new week, and a new real wedding to kick start your day 🙂 First of all, just a quick reminder or anyone who missed it that I launched a big blog project yesterday and am inviting you to participate!

Scottish Textile Designer Fi and Phil tied the knot on 18 June 2011 at the amazing Crear in Kilberry, Argyll, Scotland.  This isn’t the first wedding I have featured that took place at Crear – you have to go and take a peek a this beautiful mellow yellow affair once you have enjoyed Fi and Phil’s wedding photographs.  I just can’t help but simply adore the floral aspect of this wedding, including these pretty blooms in Fi’s hair.   Sohpie at I heart flowers did a truly beautiful job of all the flowers at Fi and Phil’s wedding, I just love them!

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, Lisa Devlin

floral wedding accessory

Fi’s main dress {yes she, another lucky Bride of more than one dress!}, was ‘Laurel’ by La Sposa.  Fi chose to wear a handcrafted and heavily embellished chiffon and lace top over the top of the dress, by Bebarouque

“Ahhhh…the dess! I never had that ‘this is the one’ feeling with the dress, to be honest it was a struggle to find something I was completely in love with in Scotland within my budget.  Keeping my mum & sister happy was also a sticking point and our opinions did differ at times!

After two false starts, we eventually found the La Sposa dress.  Cue six months of me thinking I had made the wrong decision and panicking as we had put down a hefty deposit that we wouldn’t get back if we cancelled … eek!”

La Sposa wedidng Dress, Bebaroque top

“I think my dress fears were exacerbated by the shop I bought the dress from, when I went for my final fitting, the owner put her hands over her face and said ‘…that  top should be worn with skinny jeans not my beautiful dress!’ – and tried to persuade me not to wear it’.  I had to battle back the tears a wee bit to say ‘actually I really love it!!’

My amazing friend and bridesmaid Wendy was a real help in this situation – when I showed the dress/top combo to her she loved it and I trust her implicitly on all matters of style, you will see what I mean!)…”

Bebaroque top

“I got a lot of comments about having so many bridesmaids, but you know what I am SO glad I had seven bridesmaids, each and every one of those girls means so much to me and I know it meant a lot of them to be part of the day.I hated the thought of regretting not asking one – so I asked them all, and it was sooooo much fun and I didn’t regret it for a second ☺”

Oasis Bridesmaids Dresses, La Sposa Wedding Dress, La Sposa wedidng Dress, Bebaroque top

FP 083

“I had a silk chiffon Grecian style dress for the evening, we had a ceilidh and I wanted to be able to dance which was not going to happen in the La Sposa dress.  The blue and white shawl, which I also wore in the evening is one of my own designs printed onto a length of chiffon…”

 FP 808

“My friends Cait, Wendy and I made the cherry blossom tree that was used for name cards/table names.

The womens names were all written on the leaves with the table name on the back of the leaf. We attached a little hairclip to the back of each flower so they could be clipped onto their hair/dresss- anything really! Wendy came to my studio one day happily clutching what looked like half a tree that she had taken her saw to in the local park (blown down in a storm I promise!)- that girl is multi talented I tell you!

For the boys we made tiny little origami boats using paper printed with one of my patterns – each boat had a little flag with the mans name and their table name on the back…”

FP 530

FP 545

“I’m a textile design and have my own company, Bluebellgray, selling my designs on fabric so I couldn’t resist getting a few extra panels and designs printed for the reception.

I’m not really a theme kind of girl but there was a loose thread of florals mixed with blue & white china running through the décor. All the vases etc used for the flowers were items from either my flat or my lovely friend Cait’s- we both have a weakness for vintage blue and white china and old glass bottles…”

The handiwork of the fabluous Sophie of I heart flowers again…

FP 563 FP 879

FP 988


“Our venue was ’Crear’, near Kilberry on the West Coast of Scotland. We chose Crear as it was like a blank canvas, we loved it’s simple slightly Scandinavian aesthetic and felt it would be the perfect backdrop for our wedding.

The views at Crear are amazing, I grew up on the west coast of Scotland and loves the views and colours. There is a special felling to the west coast and we wanted to capture that lovely highland/ Scottish spirit in our wedding ☺”

FP 004 FP 016

FP 014

FP 039

FP 046 FP 146

FP 058

FP 064

FP 087

FP 155

“Our florist was the ridiculously talented Sophie from I heart flowers

Seriously this girl it a flower genius!!

Flower planning was whole heartedly my favourite part of the wedding planning, Sophie and I were like kindred flower spirits 😉 She completely got my vision and it was so much fun bouncing ideas of each other, poor Sophie had to put up with my squealing ‘Oh yes I LOVE them’ at almost every single flower variation she mentioned!”

FP 182

FP 077 

“I bought Phil his kilt for his wedding present. We got it from McCalls in Glasgow and they were really great, Phil loved it and is so happy to have his own kilt ☺”

FP 169

FP 371

FP 368

FP 100 FP 148

This little flowergirl below is sporting a pretty frock whose fabric was designed and printed by Fi herself.

“The little flower crown on the flower girl was made by the lovely Sophie, our Florist, from I heart flowers….”

FP 178 FP 181

“My lovely Dad gave me away.  Driving to the church with him was really special. I was soooooooo emotional on the morning of the wedding- I am quite possibly the worlds worst public speaker and when my nerves get a hold my voice turns into nothing – the photos of me laughing in the church are some of my favourites as they show the pure relief of actually managing to say my vows without my voice cracking! I was terrified of not being able to get the words out and leaving poor Phil hanging on a knife edge! I was so relieved when I got to the end of the ailse and he gave me a huge smile and held my hand- love ☺

My brother in law piped me down the ailse- I love the bagpipes and find them really emotional, it was so atmospheric the sound of the bag pipes in the tiny Scottish church, it is one of my strongest memories of the day hearing them starting up as I was waiting to go into the church. We were piped out to ‘Off to Mhairi’s wedding’ a traditional piping tune that gave so much atmosphere to the ceremony…”

FP 222

FP 226 FP 240

FP 264

“We really wanted to create a relaxed and fun vibe- we were so happy to be getting married and really wanted our friends and family to share the day and to enjoy the celebration. Getting married is an amazing thing to do, declaring your love for each other in front of all the people you love- wow.

It really is a once in a lifetime to be surrounded by all the people that mean so much to you – my favourite memory of the day is our last dance ‘Caledonia’, everyone went into an impromptu circle around us as we danced and it was like being surrounded by love. I felt really blessed to be married to my amazing and wonderful husband and to have the love of so many friends and family too ☺”

FP 291 FP 299

“I have lots of vintage bits and pieces so we seemed to take half our flat with us to the venue! We had the confetti in an old vintage suitcase and lots of tins/vases etc scattered around the venue.  I designed all the paper goods (nothing like a bit of pressure!) invitations, order of service etc- all done in my signature watercolour style. I painted a map to give directions to the church/venue and included it with the invitations.  

Flowers were a major part of the décor- my lovely husband know only too well how much I adore flowers so he happily gave me free reign and didn’t say a word when I went a little crazy with the flower budget, oops! I love that man ☺

I think the arch Sophie made for the church may be the most beautiful thing I have ever set eyes on, seeing that for the first time when I arrived at the church really set my tears rolling!!”

FP 311

FP 365

purple bridesmaids dresses

FP 401

FP 510

FP 693

FP 532

“I really loved coming up with ideas for styling the reception- it was so fun to put all the ideas into action! The thing that created the most impact was the streamers on the roof- the roof at crear is amazing and I wanted to fill it with colour. The streamers were great as they gave a real carnival/fun vibe- taking them down the next day was so much fun and we ended up being completely wrapped up in streamers by my mischievous brothers!”

FP 682

FP 678

FP 684

“We also had giant light up ‘LOVE’ letters made by my dad, he lovingly sourced all the bits and even painted them in my favourite shade of turquoise, I was really touched by how much effort he went to. They are now happily living in our lounge ☺”

FP 982

FP 992

FP 539

“Some of my favourite details were my old vintage tins filled to the brim with flowers – so simple but beautiful.    We eventually reigned in the list and had the most amazing selection of Peonies (quite possibly my favourite ever flower), cornflowers (also possibly my other favourite), delphiniums, hydrangeas, dahlias, lavender, rosemary and eucalyptus – it all smelled incredible…”

FP 546 FP 558

FP 574 FP 565

“The cake was made by a family friend.  It was a white chocolate buttercream over sponge. Flower decoration by our lovely florist Sophie of I heart flowers…”

FP 548

flowers floating in drinks

FP 556

FP 569 FP 570

“The beautiful patchwork quilt seen in some of the photos was made for us as a wedding present by my best friend & bridesmaid Cait.

It was the most amazing gesture, so full of love not to mention it being the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen!!! One of the patches has our names and wedding date embroidered on, a heirloom to be passed on I hope”

FP 794

“One of my parents friends makes legendary tablet (The Scottish version of fudge) the recipe is a closely guarded secret handed down through the generations. She very kindly made us a huge batch of tablet which we put in lovely little glassine envelopes and tied with coloured sting and a little card explaining the legend of the tablet!”

FP 555

FP 582

FP 608

“Our band were called ‘Whisky Kiss’ and were AMAZING!  We would highly recommend them!

We both love a good ceilidh and coming from the Highlands it was a must – Whisky Kiss were so friendly and helpful and really got the party going with some great tunes. We finished with a disco which was almost tame in comparison to the ceilidh!”

FP 945

FP 955

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

“Try not to worry about what is expected or the norm – everyone is different so why shouldn’t their weddings be?

Phil and I had a strong sense of what we wanted on the day but there is always an element of compromise with regard to other members of the family- nothing is worth falling out over, truly. I compromised on various things because I knew it would make other people happy, worth it for a happy atmosphere on the day. 

Oh and my final tip- if you have seven bridesmaids and one flower girl – make sure you get your hair done first – not last. Ooops!”

FP 804

Such a beautiful day full of colour, I love it so much 🙂 HUGE congratulations Fi and Phil – thank you so much for allowing me to share your simply beautiful day with my readers…

HUGE thanks to Photographer Lisa Devlin for subitting these images for sharing, they are wonderful…

Lisa was absolutely fantastic and we can’t recommend her enough! We were so happy when she agreed to come up to rainy Scotland all the way from Brighton to photograph our wedding ☺ As someone who works in the creative industry it was so lovely (and a bit of a relief on my wedding day) to hand over creativity to someone who’s work I really trusted and admired (not easy for a designer!).”

Lisa, along with her second shooter Morag, did the most fantastic job , they caught the emotion, atmosphere and fun of the day perfectly, there are so many beautiful images that will forever remind us of what an amazing day it was ☺

Links to check out:-

  Crear Weddings
  Weddings in Scotland
  Blue colour inspiration
  Other weddings photographed by Lisa Devlin

Any more Crear Brides out there? What about Brides geting married in Scotland, or soon-to-be marrieds due to tie the knot in a La Sposa design?  🙂 I’d love to hear from you ladies, come on in and let’s start some Monday morning chit-chat 😉

Much love,

Annabel

 

Style Guide

Photographer – Lisa Devlin
Venue – Crear
Brides Dresses – La Sposa + Bebaroque top + silk chiffon Grecian + blue and white shawl
Brides Shoes – Boden
Brides accessories – flowers worn in hair during the day + Headband by ‘Untamed Petals
Groom’s – Kilt from McCalls of Gasgow
Bridesmaids – Oasis
Flowergirls – fabric designed & printed by the bride 
Florist – I heart flowers
Cake – Family friend
Decor – Vintage finds, mostly personal posessions
Entertainment – Whisky Kiss

Please also take a moment to visit Bride Fi’s Textile Designs site.  How much do I absolutely adore this gorgeous floral wall-hanging?  Oh my….!

Annabel

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.

Close
Top