Robyn and Niall tied the knot on 20th May last year in their beautiful cottage garden in Dumfries & Galloway – a spot the couple describe as their favourite place on earth – and the perfect size to host the wedding of their dreams.
This laid back, elegant and intimate Spring wedding involved a ceremony where the couple exchanged vows beneath a tree. Robyn wore a Needle & Thread – dress and I encourage all of you who are keen to avoid a more traditional wedding dress, to find time to explore the more affordable options that Needle and Thread provide, in The Love My Dress Shop.
Photography was captured by Suffolk based creative, Charlotte Wotton. Enjoy!
A Wedding in the Garden at Home
Our style is heavily inspired by our spiritual beliefs. We love all things homegrown, earthy and vintage.
Having the wedding in our garden was a no brainer for us as it is the place we love and cherish most while also giving us the best backdrop for a whimsical vibe.
The Dress
I wore the Petunia dress, by Needle & Thread.
I ordered my Needle & Thread dress online and it was the best dress I could have picked! I absolutely love all of their dresses and I can’t get over how comfortable it was.
I just didn’t feel like myself in traditional bridal gowns and I wanted a bit of colour so a needle and thread dress was the perfect choice for me! I loved how comfortable it was while still looking like a bride.
I got so many compliments on it. I’m also so glad I opted for a dried crown and bouquet as I’ve now got them forever.
I would recommend Needle & Thread to other brides, their dresses are gorgeous and comfortable – exactly what you want for your wedding day.
I wore a pink cape veil from the Etsy shop, Kimalpha Bridal and my shoes were ASOS Bridal.
I had rose quartz earrings and a necklace from the Etsy shop, Dew Crystals.
I wore a dried flower crown from the Etsy shop, The Kraft Flower Co., which matched my dried flower bouquet from the same shop.
My perfume was Glossier – it’s my all time favourite.
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The Ceremony
Spiritual Wedding Ceremony
I walked down the aisle to an acoustic version of ‘Concerning Hobbits’, which was a surprise to Niall, as it is one of his favourite movies and the song means a lot to us.
We had a traditional handfasting ritual, a ring warming and blessing, oathing of the stone and a closing of the ceremony drinking cup blessing.
We wanted to fill our ceremony with as many traditions and rituals as we could.
We wrote our own personal vows. Niall also wrote his own set of vows to our daughter. We also had a couple of blessings during our ceremony but my favourite was closing the ceremony with a ‘tree blessing’. This was very significant as we were stood underneath a huge beech tree in our garden.
Niall wanted a deeper meaning to his ring so opted for a ring with Viking runes carved into it that symbolize eternal love. We found this in a small shop in the Scottish Highlands, unfortunately I can’t remember the name of it though!
It took me ages to find a wishbone ring that was deep enough to fit into to my engagement ring but I found the perfect one and I’m so happy with it! I found it at H.Samuels.
Photography
We had Charlotte Wotton and she was one of the best decisions we made wedding wise. From her first enquiry response, I knew we would get along perfectly and her talent really speaks for itself.
Charlotte made us feel so comfortable during our photoshoots and all our candid photos are incredible!
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How They Met
I had a (pretty big) crush on Niall in high school but with him being a senior, three years above me, he had no idea who I was until I later tracked him down and matched with him on Tinder.
We were dating for 18months before we proposed and then were engaged for almost two years before our wedding.
Niall proposed on a little cobbled street while a holiday with friends!
The Reception
With Wood-Fired Pizza
We had wood-fired pizzas from Kayantics.
We did have a florist booked but about a month before the wedding they dropped out which left the flowers up to us!
With the help of my Maid of Honour, we foraged for our table flowers, bouquets and buttonholes the day before.
I think it turned out great and I love that it was flowers we had collected close to our home!
We went for bluebells and daisies because they are my all-time favourite and our home is surrounded by bluebells in May so there was plenty to pick from.
Our cake was made by a friend of a friend as a wedding gift.
I really wanted our garden to be filled with little pieces of decor for our guests to enjoy! We had jenga blocks for guests to sign instead of a guest book, our table centre pieces were different types of herbs and plants that I had grown myself, we had a ‘family tree’ where we hung frames of other family members on their wedding day and I also put up strings of photos of us on a pallet to highlight all of our moments together as a couple. We also had a Haribo pick’n’mix and popcorn station!
Evening & Dancing
Our friend played the song, ‘Forever Like That’, by Ben Rector on guitar, a song we have loved for so long and means so much to the both of us.
For both of us our favourite part of the day was our second/last photoshoot we did with Charlotte! It was such a perfect moment for us to take in the whole day and enjoy each other’s company as we lay in the grass and bluebells.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
I think its amazing how more and more couples are opting for smaller, more intimate weddings reflecting their personalities more.
So much of our parents’ generation focused on planning a great day to impress friends and family and although you definitely still have people trying to give their opinions on how you should do you own wedding, I think it’s so important to follow your own instincts and plan a day that feels the most ‘you’ or ‘us’ because at the end of the day it is all about you both as a couple and I think that’s what you want to remember most about your wedding day.
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Part of me wonders if it had been better to have a smaller reception but I did love the crowd when everyone got up to dance! We had fifty guests at our reception and twenty at the ceremony.
We actually didn’t have a budget as such but wanted to keep it under £10,000, which we did. I genuinely don’t know the exact figure though as everything was done little by little.
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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.
