What a wonderfully romantic wedding I have to share with you today, in the most amazing Scottish castle setting, too. What is especially lovely about this venue is that the castle in question belongs to the groom’s parents, and is a true labour of love for all involved, with a romantic colour palette of pink, gold and marble, along with some lovely Scottish touches.
Hannah, who is a senior account manager at an advertising agency, and Chris, a surgeon, were married on the 24 June 2017 at Blackcraig Castle in Perthshire, with the ceremony taking place in the walled garden followed by a marquee reception. Videographers Gregg and Simon from Cinemate Films captured the magic of Hannah and Chris’ day on film, and it’s wonderful to be able to share the trailer they put together for the couple, and fine art photographers and brilliant Little Book members Craig and Eva Sanders were the couple’s choice, bringing a soft and romantic quality to their work, perfectly complementing their honest and natural style.
“It is Chris’ parents place – they bought it in 2013 and have been renovating it ever since. It’s therefore very special to us and is pretty unique. The previous owners were married here, but no one else so far. It’s a really stunning building with beautiful grounds…They are planning on opening it up as a wedding venue for a few weddings each year.”
Film by Cinemate Films
“Gregg and Simon were fantastic, they worked their magic in the background (most of the time we didn’t realise they were there) and produced the most beautiful teaser, trailer and feature film for us.”
“Craig and Eva were fab – it was perfect to have two photographers due to the number of guests and they were both so lovely. We’d seen their images on Love My Dress before and were also recommended them – instantly I knew we had to have them as I loved their fine art photography style. The images are so beautiful we are so pleased with them and would definitely recommend them to other couples!”
Images by Craig and Eva Sanders Photography.x
Hannah’s showstopping, glamorous gown with pearl and crystal beading and sheer lace panels was by Israeli designer Galia Lahav via Kavelle Couture in Edinburgh.
“I wanted something a bit different rather than traditional. I thought I wanted it to be quite plain but this dress was quite the opposite! I loved the cappuccino shade, the pearl and Swarovski detailing around the waist and bodice, the sheer panels at the sides and back, plus the lace and sparkle details. It really stood out to me amongst all the other dresses I tried on (I went to 10 shops!) and it even had hidden pockets, which was great.”Lots of the inspiration for the look and feel of the day also came from Love My Dress as well as Pinterest, and Hannah felt naturally drawn to a colour palette of pastel colours, and included accents of marble and gold, including in the wedding invitation design.
“I work in an advertising agency and one of our Art Directors very kindly turned my marble and gold dreams into a reality! She created a gold H&C emblem, which we used across all of the stationery and gin bottles…David at Harquil Printing printed everything for us. I chose him as he does letterpress printing, which I wanted to use and he was fantastic.”
Hannah’s simple, cathedral length veil was also from Kavelle Couture, and she also wore family heirloom earrings and necklace, as well as a pretty bracelet from Dower and Hall. In contrast with her romantic gown, she wore blush pink Rockstud ballerina flats by Valentino, purchased from mytheresa.com.
Anne-Marie and Julie at AMM Hair and Make-up Team polished the bridal party to perfection, and were delightful and fun to have around on the morning of the wedding. Hannah’s radiant and subtle make-up and beautifully wavy locks looked wonderful together with her dramatic gown and veil. All that was left was a spritz of her perfume – Kiehl’s Vanilla and Cedarwood to make everything complete.
The bridesmaids wore fabulous pastel pink off-the-shoulder gowns from Dessy, together with their own shoes and a delicate necklace each, with a gold disc engraved with Hannah and Chris’ initials and their wedding date from not on the highstreet – a gift from the bride
Gently nodding, blowsy white peonies formed the focal point of the bouquets. Hannah also requested thistles (to represent Scotland) and white roses (to represent Yorkshire), and the whole effect was so fresh and pretty. The bouquets, buttonholes and all floral arrangements for the day were by Jack Fleuriste.
“Linzi and her team created quite a few different floral pieces for us which looked great!…I wanted pastel colours with greenery …I pointed out flowers that Linzi had done before so she knew the look I was going for and suggested the rest.”
Chris’ smart green tweed jacket and waistcoat were a 30th birthday present from Hannah from Hector Russell, and he wore these with a kilt of bespoke Blackcraig Castle tartan, designed for him by his sister (and bridesmaid) Linzi.
“The groomsmen all wore their own kilts (we hired kilts for the English guests) but wore a grey jacket, waistcoat, ties, socks and black shoes to tie it all together.”
“We met at Newcastle University through the ski club. In second year he was the President and I was the Race Captain, so we had to speak regularly and it all blossomed from there! Chris proposed when we were away skiing in Meribel. It was the last day of our holiday and we went to our favourite off piste run – our friends that we were with used some great acting skills to fake headaches, so it was just the two of us. We trekked along a ridge and then he stopped and said ‘I’ll take a photo’ – then started taking his skis off and got down on one knee.”
[JP-VIDEO]
“I was so giddy I couldn’t really ski and had to follow him down like a kid following a ski instructor. We then skied down to a restaurant where our friends were waiting with a bottle of champagne and roses – but then both of our families jumped out from behind a wall. It was absolutely amazing! We had a nice lunch in the sun and then apres ski! We got engaged on 29th January 2016, so it was a year and a half between our engagement and wedding day.”
Hannah and her dad, Keith drove from the castle to the walled garden in Hannah’s uncle’s Aston Martin DB5 before Keith accompanied his daughter down the aisle while the Erskine String Quartet played The Beatles All You Need Is Love.
The couple opted for a humanist ceremony, conducted by Morag Webster of Fuze Ceremonies.
“I met her at a wedding fair and loved her vibrant and fun personality… Morag took the time to get to know us and tell our story. We each told Morag three reasons why we loved each other, which she kept a secret from us both, when they were revealed it was a really nice touch to the ceremony to hear what the other person had said.”
“We had two readings during the ceremony – ‘A Walled Garden’, which we chose as our ceremony was held within a walled garden and ‘Your Personal Penguin’, by Sandra Boynton, as we wanted a fun and light-hearted reading too.”
Hannah and Chris chose wedding rings from Sheffield based jewellers McAvoy & Beardsmore, who have a long-standing connection with Hannah’s family.
“Our family have always used them, they’re delightful and provide a fantastic service. My ring was a custom made half eternity ring to fit around my antique engagement ring. I had to have it custom made to fit the oval shape of the ring and knew I could trust them. I absolutely love how it turned out, it complements the engagement ring really well and I get a lot of compliments!”
The reception marquee was dressed to summer perfection, with flowers adorning tables, as well as beautiful foliage hoops and garlands by Jack Fleuriste, bringing the outdoor beauty of the walled garden inside. Chris’ sister Linzi, who runs Fox Wood of Edinburgh created wooden signage, and even made a rockery displaying Hannah and Chris’ ‘H&C’ emblem on the castle driveway.
The couple also hired rattan furniture for the walled garden, and a bar and easel from Virginia’s Vintage Hire. The couple worked with Simon at Persie Distillery to create custom labelled zesty, citrus gin favours, as well as larger bottles for the bar, too.
“Ginger Snap provided delicious canapes and a three course meal as well as serving drinks. They were extremely professional and managed all of the aspects really smoothly! Canapes included Haggis bon bons with a whisky marmalade and Scottish Lobster with Smoked Paprika Hollandaise served in a Black Sesame Cornet.”
The delicious canapés were followed by duck breast with a five spice jus and slow cooked duck bonbons, baby carrots with honey and wilted spinach and crushed new potatoes. To follow, there was vanilla cheesecake with raspberries and ginger thins.
Liggy’s Cakes provided a wonderful five-tier semi naked cake, iced with buttercream and decorated with fresh flowers from Jack Fleuriste.
“We weren’t worried about having a traditional cake and instead just wanted a range of yummy cakes! We went for… Vanilla sponge with jam, buttercream lemon and poppyseed sponge with lemon curd and lemon zest buttercream, carrot and pecan sponge with cream cheese frosting, coffee sponge with coffee buttercream and chocolate sponge with chocolate buttercream.”
A musician from Bagpiper Online had played guests into the ceremony, and at the end, piped the newly married couple back up the aisle and to the marquee for the reception.
“As many people were travelling a long way to come to our wedding in Scotland we wanted to have quite a few Scottish touches i.e. a piper, and we had gamekeepers dressed in highland dress directing people up the drive to the wedding.”
For their first dance together, Hannah and Chris chose Ho Hey by The Lumineers.
“We have quite different taste in music but both love this song and sing along to it together! It’s also quite fun, upbeat and short – which was handy as we were both dreading the first dance!”
“For me the whole day flowed really well and it was great to see everyone having so much fun. I wish we could do it all over again.”
“Chris and our friend did a secret performance of ‘The only exception’ by Paramore, which was amazing! My mother in law also arranged for gold confetti canons to be set off from the parapet whilst we were getting a full wedding group photo – which was again amazing. I think because I planned it all these little surprises were even more special as I didn’t know they were coming!”
Callanish provided a soundtrack of lively ceilidh music and covers for the evening’s dancing, and kept the dance floor continually full! There was also a secret whisky bar in a turret of the walled garden!
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“Lots of people will have opinions about what you should and shouldn’t do – it can get a bit overwhelming. Just remember why you are getting married and try not to have silly disagreements with your partner or family!”
“We weren’t going to have a videographer until quite last minute, but our friends advised us to so you can relive the wedding. We are so glad we did as it brings it to life again alongside the pictures.”
“Plus it’s so nice to listen to the speeches again as you can’t really take it all in on the day!”
“We put name cards on the ceremony chairs for all of the family members so we didn’t have any awkward moments when people were being seated.”
Hannah and Chris, thank you so much for sharing your totally wonderful day with us. What a stunning place Blackcraig Castle is, and how wonderfully it was brought to life for your wedding day. Thank you also to Craig and Eva Sanders for such magical images, and to Cinemate for a truly gorgeous film. You can view more of Craig and Eva Sanders’ work on Love My Dress here.
Until next time!
With love,
Laura
Credits & Thanks
- Photography - Craig and Eva Sanders Photography
- Videography - Cinemate Films
- Venue - Blackcraig Castle
- Celebrant - Fuze Ceremonies
- Bride's Gown - Galia Lahav via Kavelle Couture + Bracelet - Dower and Hall + Shoes - Valentino from mytheresa.com
- Hair and Make Up - AMM Hair and Make Up Team
- Bridesmaid's Dresses - Dessy
- Flowers - Jack Fleuriste
- Stationery Printing - Harquil Printing
- Decor - Fox Wood of Edinburgh + Virginia's Vintage Hire
- Rings - McAvoy & Beardsmore
- Favours - Persie Distillery
- Food - Ginger Snap
- Cake - Liggy's Cakes