A Suzanne Neville Dress + Bridesmaids with Hoop Bouquets for a Rainy Day, Chemistry Inspired Wedding in Edinburgh

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Outside of London, the most eyes we draw into viewing Love My Dress come from beautiful bonny Scotland, which is where we’re heading for this stylish modern wedding held April this year.

I’m delighted to be sharing the wedding of Chemistry PhD Student Amanda who tied the knot with Chemistry Secondary School Teacher Philip. The couple exchanged vows at St Margaret’s RC Church in South Queensferry, followed by a reception at Kirknewton Stables in Edinburgh in Edinburgh.

“Ultimately, we both agreed that we wanted every detail of our wedding to reflect a personal choice of ours. I think this really helped us in the planning aspect as we just had to think, what would we like? Especially when there is so much inspiration out there and people opinions of what you should do.”

Photography – Miss Whittington’s Photography

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The couple chose Laura of Derbyshire based Miss Whittington’s Photography to capture their day.

“My maid of honour’s sister got married and I thought the photos were so stunning. Both Philip and I both loved how natural the photos were and how well the day was captured. We were so happy when Laura agreed to travel up to Edinburgh to be our wedding photographer. We would recommend Miss Whittington’s Photography in a heartbeat!”

Laura was so professional and calmed my bridal nerves in all her pre-wedding Skype calls. When it came to our wedding day she had already scouted out the perfect locations for our wedding photographs and she went above and beyond especially in the pouring rain to get us the perfect pictures which we cherish! Laura was so discrete on the day and managed to get such beautiful, natural pictures of every single one of our guests.”

“Philip’s dad kindly filmed the majority of the day for us on his video camera. The best man and bridesmaid also collected clips throughout the day to make an excellent music video of the whole day. We both really appreciated these videos and will treasure them forever.”

“I was so happy with my earrings, which I received so many compliments about on our wedding day. I wanted to channel the gold detailing on my shoes with a statement earring which I felt I could get away with because of the beautiful high neckline on my dress and my simple hair style. I bought my gold, face earrings from Trouva which allows you to buy from small independent boutiques across the UK.”

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“I wanted to match the elegance and simplicity of my dress and show off the lace detail at the back of my dress so I opted for a slick back look with a low bun.”

“My brother and sister-in-law gifted me a bridal makeup session at Bobbi Brown which was perfect as I felt more confident doing my own makeup on the wedding day.”

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Amanda wore the divine Geddess dress by Suzanne Neville, which she discovered via Rachel Scott Couture.

“The team at Rachel Scott Couture made the experience of finding a wedding dress a dream. They were so easy going and so accommodating which was perfect was worrying bride like myself. We exchange multiple emails any time I have questions and they were very happy for me to call and ask to pop by to try my dress again and with my bridal party.”

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“They went out of their way to make sure my dress was altered to exactly how I wanted it. Their seamstress Lisa is incredible and she comes to the boutique which is such a bonus. They advised me and together we created the perfect veil to match my dress.”

“I would highly recommend Rachel Scott Couture for any bride who wants a dress with elegance and flare in their wedding day as well as a smooth and care-free process in finding a dress.”

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“I was watching a video of Lydia Elise Millen trying on wedding dresses at the Suzanne Neville boutique and I instantly fell in love with how elegant the dresses were, yet they made a statement.”

“I was so lucky that Rachel Scott Couture stocked Suzanne Neville dresses and they were based right in the centre of Edinburgh. I originally has my eyes on another Suzanne Neville dress (Swanson) but Rachel has encouraged me to pick a range of dresses to try on, even some I would of never picked myself.”

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“I can still picture the moment I walked out the fitting room wearing my dress Geddess. I was in love with the elegance, the simplicity yet the flare it had of a beautiful lace back. And I never thought I would have a wedding dress that had all those qualities and was comfortable.”

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“Amber at Rachel Scott Couture had such a knowledge about veils and really fulfilled my dreams of having a matching veil to my dress. We picked a Helen Martin light tulle veil to show off the beautiful lace detailing on the back of my dress. Then we selected a lace trim that started at the finger tips which matched the edging lace on the back of my dress. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.”

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“I wore my favourite perfume, Fleurs de L’Himalaya by Rituals which I have purchased on mine and Philip’s first holiday together to Copenhagen.”

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“Having invested in my dress I wanted to have shoes that I could wear again. So I stayed away from white and found a pair a nude sandals from Carvella. The little gold details added an additional little quirk which I loved.”

“I ordered a bespoke bouquet from Mud Urban Flowers which allowed me to pick certain flowers and colours. The bouquet was massive and I really appreciated the help from my bridesmaids who used it to create my bridal bouquet and the button holes for the bridal party. I chose eucalyptus as it reminds me of when I used to live in Australia. Chloe from Mud was also so helpful to recommend flowers that were in season and would tie in with the blue tones of the bridesmaid dresses.

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“For the bridesmaids this was another DIY job, where I purchased metal hoops and tied eucalyptus from Narcissus along with some selected white flowers. We tied ribbons on the end of each hoop and the girls loved them!”

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“Philip and I met at Heriot-Watt University whilst both studying Chemistry. We were always great friends and admittedly, our soft spots for each other grew and after leaving university we began dating. We had been dating for just over three years and we regularly discussed our plans to get married.”

“However, Philip wanted to make the engagement a surprise so following a trip back from Italy he had tried to put me off the scent. Little did I know he had the ring in his jacket pocket for seven whole months before he proposed on a scenic night time walk overlooking the three bridges at South Queensferry.”

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“We were both very excited and having discussed what we would see our ideal wedding being like we were booking suppliers soon after the engagement. We set the date for the 6th of April 2019 as Easter is my favourite time of year. So we were engaged for a little under a year and a half.”

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“Philip and myself wanted a wedding car with a bit of a twist and when we came across the Lincon Capri from Edinburgh Classic Wedding Cars we knew it was for us. It even matched the bridesmaid dresses! John helped set everything up over email and Kevin was the most courteous driver who we had for 4 hours.”

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“He drove all the bridal party to the church and after the ceremony he drove myself and Philip to the Forth Rail bridge on the way to the reception. The car made a fabulous feature in some of our misty photos.

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The bride’s father accompanied her into the wedding ceremony…

“Our ceremony was held at St Margaret’s RC Church in South Queensferry – our local Roman Catholic church, and the church Philip has gone to since his he was a child with his family and the one we now attend together.”

“Therefore, it was really special for us to have the marriage ceremony there and a lot of the local church community came to support us on the wedding day which was so heart-warming.”

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“Because of the traditional natural of our ceremony, we picked the hymn ‘Holy is his name’ for me to walk down the aisle to. We had a talented family friend playing the piano so we asked if it could just an instrumental version, which ended up being really beautiful.”

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“We picked traditional readings, with the gospel reading being special to Philip as he remembers reading it to his little sister when she was younger.”

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“Philip’s ring was from Ernest Jones – it is white gold to match my white gold rings. My engagement ring and wedding ring were from Point No Point Studio. They are recycled white gold and the rough diamond in my engagement ring is conflict-free and I felt the rough diamond symbolises both mine and Philip’s love for science.”

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“On route to the reception venue we stopped at the pier in South Queensferry to take photos with the beautiful Forth rail bridge in the back. This iconic bridge is close to our hearts, not only because Philip grew up in South Queensferry but also because this is the place he proposed.”

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“I couldn’t have been happier with our bridesmaid’s dresses as I was so conscious of finding a dress that suited all the girls, as well as being comfortable.  I absolutely adore the blue/grey colour and it really worked well with all the girl’s hair colourings. We order the dresses directly from TFNC and took the time to get each of them tailored so you girls could walk confidently in them.”

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“Our reception was held at Kirknewton Stables in Edinburgh which was a short car journey from the church. We fell in love with the venue as soon as I saw it online and this was reconfirmed when we visited. We really wanted to be able to tailor the day to exactly how we would like it, so being able to bring in our own vendors was really important to us.”

“Kirknewton Stables was a beautiful blank space which we were able to add our decorations resembling our passion for science and love of our Scottish heritage. The stunning walled gardens surrounding Kirknewton stables made the venue feel very intimate and we got some fabulous photos (in the rain) there.”

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“Stationery design was yet another one of our DIY jobs. Philip and myself have aspirations to visit Japan and see the culture. Therefore, we decided to make origami paper cranes in origami boxes which had tags to our wedding website! I loved getting this personal touch into the planning stages of our wedding. Poor Philip did pull the short straw making them all though.”

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“We felt that the venue itself was really beautiful and we only need to add a few decorations to complete the look. We have liberty print pin-wheels around the large double doors leading the gardens and my mum had crafted paper cones to hang on the backdrop wall along with a sign reading ‘it was always you’. My favourite flowers were daffodils so for our centre pieces we had yellow and white daffodils in conical flasks.”

“We were able to tailor every detail of the day and we took the opportunity to add a little personal touch for our bridal party by placing their favourite drinks at their seats at table. Therefore, a lot of Irn Bru featured.”

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“When we are cooking at home we always reach for inspiration from Madeline Shaw as we love her healthy, flavoursome and colourful food. Therefore, we were so over the moon when we hired Gary Moore as our caterer as he was really brought our vision of bringing Madeline Shaw style food to our wedding to life.”

Every dish was a personal choice of what Philip and I like to eat and it was so nice to be able to share that with our guests. And of course, we were very proud of our DIY skills making our very our Periodic Table inspired seating plan to fuel our inner scientists.”

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Gary was an outstanding caterer. He took our vision of a Madeline Shaw inspired (healthy, flavoursome and colourful) menu to life and fitted it to our budget. If we had any questions he was always free to meet up and answer them. He ran the whole reception in such a relaxed and smooth manner and his staff were so lovely and accommodating.

“We had Tunnock’s caramel wafers for our favours as they were Philip’s choice of snacks nearly every day in university. It was really nice to add this Scottish element which was also a secret personal touch. And our guests who weren’t Scottish loved them as well!”

“Both Philip and myself love a small café in Edinburgh called Grams. The café serves up healthy food and the cakes are delicious, as well a being dairy and gluten-free! We ordered a white chocolate and fudge cake which was decorated with real flowers, dairy-free chocolate blocks and date balls. “

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“We both have a passion for live music and therefore, it was important to us to get a good live band that would have us dancing all night.”

“Just before we began dating Philip used to play open mic nights at a pub in Edinburgh. In his set list he played a song by Snow Patrol called Lifening and I thought it was such a beautiful song which comments on all you need in life is family and friends. Therefore, it felt so personal to pick that song as our first dance. Little Red did a great job performing it as well.”

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“Our favourite part of the day was the last song of the night, Loch Lomond. Philip and myself were in the middle of a circle surrounded by all our friends and family. It was such a special moment. All these people were here to celebrate and support our love for each other and we feel that is what weddings are truly about.”

Little Red absolutely made our night! Not only were they lovely people but they produced a great sound with some serious guitar skills! And their set list was like a dream for us, featuring a traditional Wootton family favourite of Mr Brightside by The Killers. They even did incredible mash-ups and had everyone dancing ALL night creating some special moments with friends and family! They were also kind enough to let Philip surprise Amanda by singing with his guitar. They were great in keeping it a surprise and were very supportive throughout the whole process.”

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Words of Wedded Wisdom

“I would say to a Bride to Be if you can, try to make your wedding a celebration of your life together. And don’t be worried to take some time away from Pinterest and think about what do you want to have on your wedding day and what matters to you?”

“I would also say don’t be afraid of the rain. As the wedding day came closer and closer and the weather began to look worse I worried over it. But in fact, those ivory umbrellas became an ionic feature of our wedding photos! And our photographer Laura absolutely loved the Scottish mist which gave our photos an incredible atmosphere.”

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Amanda and Philip, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful and stylish wedding day with our brides.

You can see more Suzanne Neville brides here and if you are planning a wedding in Scotland – lose yourself in these beautiful celebrations absolutely packed with inspiration and suppliers details.

Love Annabel x

Credits & Thanks

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.

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