Happy New Year darlings! And welcome to all of you new to Love My Dress, who may have gotten engaged over the festive period – so much love and congratulations to you.
Love My Dress is a place for you to enjoy and and seek inspiration as you plan your wedding. It is a safe online space where you can find reliable and trusted venue and supplier recommendations, immerse yourself in beautifully produced, heart-led storytelling and find all the best bridal fashion. We’ve been wedding obsessed since November 2009 when Love My Dress was established by me, Annabel Beeforth – you can find out more here.
Every week, we share multiple real weddings and we take great care in doing so – honouring the couple’s story and memories of their day and showcasing their chosen supplier talent. This is our first wedding of the new year and it features the work of three of our talented recommended suppliers, including bridal fashion brand Indiebride London, floral designer Wild Flower Workshop and the incredible photographer Caro Weiss, whose work we’ve been sharing since 2009.
Couple Nicola and Andrew, who both work in public policy, tied the knot on 7th October 2023, at The Cow Shed in Crail. Their delightful Autumn wedding is full of charm and style and I know you’re going to love it. Enjoy!
The Dress
Indiebride London
I purchased my dress from the lovely Miina of Indiebride London. Indiebride is a one-woman business, and designer Miina’s showroom is very sweet and located in a converted church in South London. She was very helpful, guiding me through the options, and never pushy, and made me feel very at ease throughout the whole process.
After a significant search online, I stumbled across the Indiebride London website, and immediately found exactly what I was looking for.
I was looking for something very simple and elegant, without embellishment, (which is surprisingly tricky to find in a wedding dress), but with some features to make it stand out. I was also aware we were getting married in Autumn in Scotland, so would need something I wouldn’t freeze in…
The Anya dress I went for had all of this, and I particularly loved that I could have both full length sleeves, and a drop-back design.
I would highly recommend Indie Bride to any bride looking for a personal experience, and an ethical and sustainable approach towards dress making.
Bridal Beauty & Accessories
My makeup artist was Sophie Alexis, based in Fife – and her colleague Iliana, styled hair. They were really lovely, made the whole bridal party feel very at ease, and we were all very happy with the outcome.
I loved the Carly veil – from Indiebride, as soon as I saw it – it was completely different from anything I had seen before, with a beautiful floral print.
I wasn’t sure whether it was going to be right for me, but decided to go for it in – and was really happy with how it turned out, as it really paired well with the simplicity of the dress.
I really like independent jewellery company, Lines And Current, based in out Belfast, and found exactly the earring and rings I wanted for the day there.
My shoes (just like my bridesmaids shoes) were by Esska – my absolute favourite brand for heels (lovely designs, and comfortable enough to wear all night).
Shop Esska Shoes Online
The Venue & Flowers
We went with Wild Flower Workshop, based in Glasgow, when it came to flowers. I love absolutely all of their creations, and we were so happy with what they designed for our wedding.
I loved the natural look, which focuses on seasonal flowers. That perfectly matched the general aesthetic of the wedding.
We chose the venue for a number of reasons, the first being it’s stunning setting at the prow of a hill overlooking Crail and the sea beyond. Second, that the space itself was exactly what we were looking for: rustic, pared back, and blank canvass.
Third, that the location is halfway between Edinburgh, where I grew up; and North Fife, where Andrew grew up.
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The Ceremony
I decided I would prefer to walk into the ceremony on my own and we had a lovely harpist, Sophie Rocks, who played the traditional Scottish folk song ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’, as I did so.
Our ceremony was lead by Barbara Chalmers, a Humanist officiant. She’s our friend’s aunt, and was great – really got the guests involved, and had us laughing throughout.
We had two readings. The first was Colors Passing Through Us, by Marge Piercy. The second was a wonderful poem written by our friend. It was very funny, but also very sweet.
Whilst we didn’t want to go over the top ‘scottish’, we also wanted it to have links to our Scottish heritage (e.g. the Scottish elements of the ceremony). We ‘tied the knot’ an old celtic tradition. And we also drank Whisky from the Quaich, an old Scottish wedding tradition.
Our rings were both made by The Jewellery Repair Workshop based in Hatton Garden in London. They had repaired my engagement ring, which was a family heirloom passed down from my grandmother.
She has been given it by my granddad before WW2. They did a great job, and offered to make my ring to fit around the engagement ring. And we though it would be nice if they made Andrew’s too.
How They Met
We met on the first day of University, both studying Law in Glasgow. We got engaged a few (13!) years later on the Isle of Skye, on our first proper holiday post-Covid. And we got married just over a couple of years later.
Andrew went for Kinloch Anderson as they are known for their very high quality, and helpfully run monthly appointments in London, so he could go for his fittings from home.
Andrew wore a kilt, also autumnal in colour (muted browns, oranges etc). This was fitted and made by Kinloch Anderson. He also wore all the usual kilt accessories, ie, a sporran, sgian-dubh etc, and shoes from Tricker’s.
The Reception
We hired items from Vintage Gathering, who have a great range and a super helpful.
We designed the stationary ourselves (one of my bridesmaids designed little cow motifs to go on these, to go with the venue theme!) and then arranged for these to be printed.
Our favourite cocktail is a Negroni. So we bought little bottles, made a large batch of negroni at home, filled up the bottles – and stuck a little sticker on them! We also had No-Gronis for the non-drinkers on the day. We also used wild-flower seed paper for the name tags, so guests could take them home and plant them after.
Wild Rover Food provided our catering and our cake. We chose them because we liked the simple look of their cakes, and had some of their cake samples at our tasting, which were delicious.
Evening & Dancing
In the evening, the Foot Stompin’ Ceilidh Band Band entertained our guests.
We wanted to get everyone up dancing with us for the first dance, so we skipped the traditional first-dance, and went straight into the Gay Gordons ceilidh dance, which got everyone on the dance floor.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
- Organisation is key – and good excel skill shelp!
- Do a little bit of ‘wedmin’ every week if you can, to keep momentum and avoid a hugely stressful last couple of months.
- Don’t worry – as long as people are fed, watered and have shelter, they’ll have fun! Especially about the things you can’t control – we were very stressed about the amber weather warning over the weekend of our wedding, but it didn’t matter at all on the day!
Regarding our wedding budget – we had a pot, which we probably went deeper into that then we wanted! But we didn’t set out with a hard limit.
Also, working with a blank canvas venue can be a lot of work, especially if you don’t have a wedding planner. On the flip side, you get complete creative control, and free choice over suppliers, which we enjoyed. However – quite glad the weekends of ‘wedmin’ are over.
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Love My Dress Recommended Vendors & Venues
The below suppliers and venues featured in this article are part of the Love My Dress Wedding Directory.
Additional Credits
The below suppliers and venues are featured in this article, but are not part of the Love My Dress Wedding Directory.
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.
