A Romantic Willowby by Watters Dress for A Humanist Woodland Wedding

I do love a bright and colourful wedding, and this lovely celebration has it in spades; beautiful bursts of orange, yellow and blue were used cleverly to denote all of the various multicultural and bilingual aspects of the day – Scottish, English and Portuguese.

We also have a history, culture and nature loving couple keen to share their day with loved ones in a setting which encapsulated all of those things – and they most certainly found it! Meet Mila and Christy, who both work in museums, and who first met at university whilst both studying for an MSc in Museum Studies.

Images by Anna Urban

The couple were married on the 4 August 2018 at the lovely Murthly Estate near the River Tay in Perthshire, Scotland. It was a joyful and relaxed day, partially inspired by the magic and whimsy of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with the beautiful woodland ceremony setting weaving a fairytale spell.

“I think what inspired us were certain key features: Christy wanted to get married in Scotland, somewhere historic, and I wanted to get married outside somewhere, surrounded by trees.”

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Mila looked like a fairy queen in her romantic Willowby by Watters dress, chosen at the London boutique, Mia Sposa. There’s a lovely mixture of floral inspired and geometric embellishment on the sparkly bodice and fluttering cap sleeves; such a pretty contrast with the lightness and simplicity of the tulle skirt.

“I wanted a dress that felt comfortable, and that allowed me to move, and also something that was a bit unique, and that had a flowing skirt. I was looking at completely different dresses in most of the shops, and tried this one to try on a different style, since I wasn’t really finding anything that felt right.”

Mila’s glorious auburn hair was styled by Kelly Tall, with radiant make-up by Sophie White, both from Sophie Alexis Make-up Artist. How stunning is that combination of shimmery copper eyeshadow and dramatic, berry coloured lips?

In her hair, Mila wore an incredible crown of fresh flowers and greenery – little orange spray roses, bright yellow balls of craspedia and sweetly scented freesias, waxflower blooms, thistles and sprigs of olive – made by Lorna from Floristic Designs.

“I didn’t wear anything fancy in terms of jewellery since I don’t usually wear anything. Earrings – I can’t wear most metals, so I got some nice simple earrings from Emporio do Aco (a shop that specialises in anti-allergic jewellery). I also wore a ring from my grandmother, and after the ceremony a friend of mine gave me a necklace with a small gemstone that I put on at the spot.”

“It had all the things I was looking for – very comfortable, with a lovely flowing skirt, and I could move easily in it (my arms and waist were not restricted). It’s very different from what I would usually go for, but once I had it on it felt right. It was light and the skirt was lovely, and it wasn’t too tight on my waist.”

“Most of all, I wanted something I could walk and dance in. I somewhat wish I had gotten rid of the train though (it was impossible to dance the ceilidh with it!) but it was a relatively short train, and it looked lovely in the photos.”

“My shoes were by J. Maskrey for Melissa, with Swarovski crystals (very comfortable, no heels, and a Brazilian brand with a certain Cinderella feel to them – they were perfect).”

Mila’s bridesmaids wore their own outfits and shoes, and carried miniature flower posies, whilst Mila carried a spectacular, wild bouquet with vibrant orange and lemon yellow garden roses, craspedia, succulents, thistles and foliage – wonderful work by Lorna of Floristic Designs.

“I only had some vague ideas of what I wanted in terms of flowers, and I was very lucky to work with a talented florist that managed to make sense of my ramblings, as I couldn’t really picture what I wanted at all. I knew I wanted lots of green leaves, and succulents, and some bright colours, which included yellow and orange, and because the wedding was in Scotland, some thistles.”

“I also knew I wanted the table arrangements to be very simple, and the bouquet to be a bit loose, and I wanted a flower crown. The results were amazing, and the flower crown was particularly spectacular; it gave the dress a whole new look. The flower crown and bouquet got a lot of compliments from our guests.”

Supporting Mila and Christy in the planning of their day was Wendy McArthur, of Utopia Scotland. Post-ceremony drinks were served in custom made blue and yellow flutes (which also doubled as guest favours) from Fannix, with a special logo by stationery designer Emmy Designs (who also designed exquisite hand illustrated foldout invitations).

Ahead of their ceremony, Mila and Christy found a secluded spot in the grounds of the Murthly Estate for a first look (I always love to see first look images!). Christy wore a wonderful Highland Heather kilt from the Kilt Company.

The wedding ceremony was held outdoors, surrounded by breathtaking, tall pine trees and ferns, and Mila and Christy walked with their parents to the top of the aisle, before they went ahead, and the couple walked down together, with Piper Dan playing Highland Cathedral.

“Our engagement wasn’t a big surprise, but Christy did arrange a nice day out with tickets to see a play, and we went to one of my favourite places in London for dinner. We got engaged at the beginning of December 2016 – so it was quite a long engagement! (20 months). The long engagement was due to the fact that we wanted to get married during summer, and summer 2017 was too close for my relatives to organise their travels.”

Mila and Christy opted for a Humanist ceremony, conducted by celebrant Jane Bechtel, with unique, heartfelt vows written by the couple.

“They worked a bit like a conversation, where Christy said something, and then I said something and back again. We very briefly thought of keeping the vows secret but decided to just share them before the wedding, as that made us more relaxed on the day, and it meant our vows had a similar tone. I had the vows translated to Portuguese in the programme for our Brazilian guests.”

“A small extract: C: ‘I promise to always do my best to be an enduring, reliable, secure and stable influence in your life. I solemnly swear never to become too boring, or too predictable and always keep your life interesting.’ M: ‘I’m not entirely sure of what we’re getting ourselves into, but I know that as long as we do it together, we will be fine. I’m very much looking forward to this crazy, wonderful adventure with you.'”

The touching ceremony included handfasting (where a couple’s hands are tied together, usually with ribbons, to symbolise their union) and there were two readings; one in Portuguese and one in English.

“We didn’t want anything too sentimental, and were keen on having readings that had a sense of humour that reflected our personalities. The reading in English was How Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog by Taylor Mali, and the reading in Portuguese was Poesia exploratoria a voce by the poet Millor Fernandes, which is a short, funny take on expectations within a relationship.”

“I think the best part of the day was the ceremony, as this was what the whole day was about. The day was dry, and beautiful and I just felt calm, and it was easy. I thought I was going to be nervous, but I wasn’t at all – it just felt right and calming after all the morning chaos.”

We’ve featured the splendid work of photographer Anna Urban before on Love My Dress, and what a phenomenal job she did of capturing the natural beauty and fairy tale atmosphere of Mila and Christy’s day.

“We wanted pictures that looked natural, as we’re both a bit awkward in front of the camera, and we didn’t want the photos to feel too forced. Anna’s photos were simply perfect. They really captured the day and the feel of it, and all the smiles and emotions from our guests.”

“We also wanted plenty of pictures of our family and friends, and we have some gorgeous candid portraits of them, and lots of pictures of people dancing and having a great time. We had a lot of people commenting on how amazing our photos are, and I can’t recommend Anna enough.”

The bright pops of blue, orange and yellow inside the light and bright reception marquee look fantastic, with blue drinking glasses etched with a personalised message, courtesy of Fannix, beautiful floral centrepieces, as well as hanging horseshoe shaped arrangements from Mila and Christy’s dining chairs.

“We added some small decorations, which included some wedding-related Playmobil figures around the tables, and we had two small bride and groom rubber ducks on our table, and there were postcards with art images everywhere (from the table names to the little sign next to the bar). The napkins were blue to add some colour to the tables, but mostly the flowers were enough for the décor.”

“For the colours, I wanted bright colours, and at some point, we started to use the them as a language marker; everything in blue was English, everything in yellow/orange was Portuguese.”

I also love the assortment of postcards gathered from galleries and museums used as part of the pin board table plan – such a lovely idea and a great nod to the couple’s careers.

Piper Dan piped the newly married couple into their reception, where everyone sat down to enjoy a delicious buffet style dinner from Gourlay Events.

“It was really nice having all our family and friends there with us. I had friends I hadn’t seen in over 5 years who came to the wedding (the downside of living abroad and having friends from all over the world), and it was really nice having them there.”

The evening entertainment was a brilliant extravaganza of music – a mini festival of sorts, with performances by Tuna (sadly unable to find any details about this ceilidh band), Running wi’ Scissors (Christy’s father’s band) and the Red Pine Timber Co. , as well as photobooth fun from Blur Productions.

“We are both terrible dancers, and wanted to avoid a first dance – the first band was the ceilidh band! Christy’s father did, however, surprise us with a song that he wrote based on the handfasting ceremony (which we had asked him to read during the ceremony) and it ended up being our sort of first dance.”

“Was there anything I would have done differently? Probably not. Things went wrong, but most of it worked out well. I wish I had more time to talk to people (the reception went by so fast), and I wish I wasn’t so emotionally exhausted after the ceremony; but none of it is something I would have changed.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“A lot of the complications in our wedding was the bilingual nature of everything – with half the guests not speaking much English (including my parents), I had to make sure everything was accessible, and a lot of effort was put into making everything in both English and Portuguese.”

“Being the point of translation for the whole party was quite exhausting, and I was lucky to have my two bilingual bridesmaids to help me navigate the day. For anyone planning a bilingual wedding, I would recommend taking your time, as a lot of it ends up being a one-person job.”

“I would really advise anyone to have the day before the wedding and the day after the wedding completely free. We had a dinner on the Friday before the wedding that turned out to be very stressful, and had to leave the hotel the day after the wedding at 7am.”

“I somewhat regret both these things, and really wish I had kept those days completely free. The dinner was, however, nice to catch up with people before the wedding, but I wish we had made something less formal where we could just show up and leave as we wished.”

Mila and Christy, many thanks for sharing your delightfully colourful day with us. What a spectacular setting the Murthly Estate is! Huge thanks also go to photographer Anna Urban for her absolutely wonderful images, too.

Until next time!

Love, Laura