Savannah Miller Elegance for a Joyful Autumn Wedding at Drumtochty Castle

Stephanie and Connor were married on 12th October 2024 at Drumtochty Castle – a grand and characterful estate tucked deep in the Scottish countryside. Their celebration was rich in meaning and full of life, woven together with nods to heritage and tradition, memory and ritual.

Stephanie wore the Danielle dress by Savannah Miller, an effortlessly glamorous gown discovered at The Wedding Club in London. She paired her dress choice with a pair of Manolo mules and a short, sweet veil.

This lovely day was full of beautiful, personal touches, including kilts in Kennedy tartan, wild fruit-laced florals and a delicately hand-stitched handkerchief with the handwriting of those no longer here. Everything was documented beautifully on camera by the brilliant Caro Weiss, whose gift for observing emotion and the many meaningful moments that naturally unfold on a wedding day is second to none.

We adore Caro – she’s been a supporter of Love My Dress right from the very start, back in 2009! Enjoy this beautiful day – and don’t forget to save your favourite images to Pinterest. You can also enjoy many more beautiful and inspirational Autumn weddings.

Our venue was Drumtochty Castle – we knew we wanted to get married in a venue with character and history from the beginning. After viewing a couple of stunning Castles, we made the drive up to Drumtochty and it absolutely blew us away. It had everything.

The aesthetic, accommodation, food, staff and location at Drumtochty Castle were unmatched. Booking it as our wedding venue felt like a no-brainer, from the minute we had our first tour. 

We didn’t hire a planner or event stylist, however Drumtochty provided a wedding coordinator (Nicky and Tamsin) and they were both on hand every step of the way and went way beyond anything we expected. They made sure everything on the day ran smoothly and honestly made us feel so special and well looked after. 

For styling, we briefed our florist, Kim Dalglish, on the aesthetic we had in mind and she brought it to life with her talent and creativity. The flowers were gorgeous, and she also incorporated fruit, candlesticks and the hiring of goods to make our vision a reality. 

My Dad was with me for the drive to the church and walked me down the aisle. We had a string quartet (aurora quartet) play Video Games by Lana Del Ray for walking down the aisle. For leaving the ceremony we had Feels Like Home, by Chantal Kreviazuk. For signing the certificate we had ‘Beth Rest’ by ‘Bon Iver’.

As much as I loved the girly fun vibes of getting ready in the morning. I feel like the day didn’t truly begin for me until Connor and I were together. All the anticipation was leading to the moment of walking down the aisle. But the minute I saw him, there were no nerves. I was just so excited to see him and couldn’t believe this moment was finally here.  I felt so present in that moment and will always remember walking towards him at the end of the aisle. 

Colin (Connor’s dad) lead the ceremony for us. He is such a huge part of our lives (we live next door) and we could not imagine anyone else doing that role other than him. 

He is a trained celebrant at Luna Plena Celebrancy, who focuses mainly on Funerals. But he brought so much joy and laughter into the ceremony and put us at ease throughout the whole thing. He made the day so personal and we will forever be thankful to him for standing with us in that moment.

We honoured the tradition of drinking whiskey from the quaich during our ceremony.

For readings, y best friend Rysha read an excerpt from Dolly Alterton’s Everything I Know About Love.

Prior to our main ceremony, we were legally married (for technical reasons) in a very small religious ceremony with only my brother and Connor’s mum as witnesses. This was the afternoon before the ‘official’ wedding in the same church we used for the wedding the following day. 

Our photographer was Caro Weiss. The minute we found Caro’s website and viewed the albums of other couples we were 100% certain she was the person we wanted to capture our day. 

Neither of us feel particularly comfortable near a camera and LOVED her ability to capture moments in such an authentic yet beautiful way without being invasive or staged. 

Barry of WN Films and Caro are friends and work together quite often and boy did that make for the best atmosphere ever! We had no idea they knew each other, we just loved their work. 

Having them both work in harmony was so impressive to watch, it was pure collaboration and resulted in continuity between our images and videos which I think it’s really rare and special.    

We met when we both worked at Bristol airport. I had finished my lunch break and was walking back to reception when Connor and my then boss walked by me in the corridor.

I said ‘hi’ to them as I walked past, then Connor stopped me to ask, “Is that a Scottish accent I detect?” We were together for four years before Connor proposed at Glenapp Castle on a weekend getaway. Our engagement was two years. 

Our stationery designer was Lolly Bespoke – such a talented artist who created a beautiful drawing of the venue which we used for pretty much everything and we now have it hung up in our house we love it that much. 

For the design of the invite, menus, table plans and all other stationary I created them all using Canva.

I learned to book bind and created individual books for each table with the guests names in library cards for the corresponding tables.

Our cake was by Liggy’s Cakes. We gave quite a specific brief of what we wanted (attached) and left all our trust in their hands to bring our idea to life. And they fully got the vibe, it was exactly what we hoped for.

For favours, we chose a sun and moon design pin which is sold by Macmillan Cancer support. They were beautiful and it was so nice to look out during the evening and the following day and see everyone wearing theirs in support / recognition of those who couldn’t be with us on the day. 

In the evening, I changed into a dress by V Chapman, which I had shipped from the USA. I am so glad I decided to change into a ‘party dress’ for the evening dancing. I loved my main wedding dress, but I wanted to dance the night away with something a bit more free to move in.

Our first dance song choice was a no brainer; Frankie Vally’s ‘I Can’t take my eyes off of you’. We love Frankie (We went to see him at the Royal albert hall for Connor’s 30th birthday a few years ago.  Our DJ was Calvin Haggis.

Savour and enjoy the period of being engaged and planning the wedding. It was genuinely such a happy and special time and I loved the anticipation and excited energy as the wedding got closer and closer. If it starts feeling stressful; then take a step back and remember the only thing that matters is the promise you are making to each other.

We would go on daily long walks and this really helped keep me focused and grounded on the big picture and the future we were planning.

Also – I kept a journal and I am so glad that I did. I love that I can read back and remember how I felt during this time, I don’t want to forget any of it. 

We added the following to our wedding website;

“We recognise that our wedding is costly for those invited. From travel and accommodation to outfits. It all adds up! We are therefore not expecting or asking for gifts from our guests. We would be happy enough that you have made the effort to join us on our special day. However, if you would like to provide a gift. We would be more than happy to accept a donation which can be put towards our Honeymoon fund. There will be a card box where you can place this on the wedding day.”

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