Emma & Simon

Emma and Simon are childhood sweethearts, so their big day was a long time coming for friends and family! Not to mention the lovely couple themselves. They chose gloriously rustic The Tin Shed at Knockraich Farm to host their wedding and were lucky enough with the weather that they could have their ceremony outside. The bridesmaids wear the sequin and tulle ASOS dresses that remain extremely popular with our lovely readers, and it's clear why - not only are they really flattering, but come in such lovely colours too. This wedding is a rustic dream, so sit back, relax and enjoy...

Joyce Young Wedding Dress

Emma the Bride: I was really lucky with my dress; I found it soon after we got engaged when I went with my mum to the Scottish Wedding Show. My dress was in the Joyce Young display with the illusion back facing front, I was nervous as I’d seen so many dresses with a gorgeous back but that were a bit too bare at the front for me. As soon as the assistant turned the mannequin around and I saw the beautiful lace neckline I fell in love straight away – I didn’t even try anything else on! I don’t normally wear much jewellery so I only wore my engagement and wedding rings on the day. I decided I wanted a floral hair piece and came up with the style during my hair trial while playing around with a cheap flower crown I bought from Claire’s Accessories – I sent some pictures to our florist and they designed it perfectly. If you fancy a hair accessory/crown I would definitely recommend buying a cheap version to play around with at your hair trial, I had originally wanted a full flower crown but changed my mind after playing around with styles. My shoes were cute 1920’s style ‘Footglove’ sandals from M&S – a godsend! – they were so comfortable and as you couldn’t see my shoes under my dress it felt a bit extravagant to get a designer pair. I also bought floral wellies from Joules just in case the Scottish weather played havoc – luckily we had a beautiful sunny day but the wellies still came in handy when we ventured into the fields for our sunset shots.

Groom & Groomsmen In Kilts

It was never a question that the guys would be in kilts – though Simon and I knew we wanted brown jackets which are quite difficult to find as hire items, we must have been round every kilt hire shop in Central Scotland! Luckily, we found the perfect kilt at a local kilt shop in Stirling which complemented Simon and the groomsmen as well as our colour scheme really well. I bought Simon Dr. Martens shoes as a wedding gift – which he wore, with his kilt, while riding his motorbike to the venue!

The Tin Shed at Knockraich Farm

Simon’s sister-in-law worked at Knockraich Farm and she had introduced us to The Tin Shed before we got engaged so we already had it in mind when Simon popped the question. I used to work as a waitress at weddings in a local hotel while at university so I knew I wanted to do something different and we didn’t want to get married abroad due to the potential logistical headache that could cause so The Tin Shed seemed perfect. I loved how much we could personalise it and that we had exclusive use of the venue for the weekend – two things I felt you wouldn’t have with most hotel venues. Our intention was always to get married outside, weather permitting, and the venue offered a gorgeous backdrop of the Fintry hills. As well as giving us the opportunity to decorate it how we wanted, the venue also offered quirky features such as a fire pit in the evening so we bought tonnes of marshmallows and skewers – the flower girls and page boys were in their element taking orders from guests inside on how ‘well done’ they would like their toasted marshmallows, it was definitely a hit!

Blush Pink, Coral & Copper Wedding Styling

We picked our gorgeous blush bridesmaid dresses very early on in the planning and that really dictated our colour scheme from there. We decided to go for a neutral colour palette with peach and coral accents and decided to team that with copper and gold décor. We decided to go down the DIY route as much as possible early on in the planning so our friends and family collected empty bottles and tins which Simon painstakingly cleaned and spray painted and which we then used as candle holders and flower vases to decorate the long guest tables (top tip – we filled our bottles with sand to weigh them down before melting the bottom of the taper candles into the mouth of the bottles to make them extra secure). I picked up copper geometric lanterns and candle holders from the high street to decorate the top table and cake/guestbook tables. We were worried about taper candles being knocked over in the evening so I bought packs of plain glass tealight holders from IKEA which I covered in craft glue and a mixture of gold/copper glitter to use on the tables in the evening. We also stained an IKEA children’s easel to look a bit more rustic and made this into an ‘order of the day’ sign and wrote our table plan on a large chalkboard – I became an expert in using chalk pens after these! To decorate the bothy building we bought two lengths of voile fabric (again from IKEA!) and draped these through the wooden ceiling beams – it made such a difference and was actually a really cheap but effective way to transform the look of the interior. We used a lighting hire company to set up the fairy light canopy in the Tin Shed and the festoon lighting outside – it made such a difference, particularly in the evening. They set up two days before the wedding so we could finish the rest of the decoration the day before – it was great to have that extra time.

The Flowers

Flowers were something I really only learned about through planning the wedding, I had no clue beforehand. This is where looking through real weddings on blogs like Rock My Wedding really came into play, I took lots of screenshots of the styles I liked and gave this to our florist at our initial meeting. Endrick Blooms came recommended by the venue and it really helped to have someone who was familiar with the layout and could make brilliant suggestions we hadn’t previously considered. I wanted a rustic undone style with lots of dark green foliage and specifically asked for some of my favourites: coral and peach ranunculus, cream peonies, peach chrysanthemums (which are a great substitute for dahlias if out of season) and white anemones. The rest were a mix of nude and blush roses. I ordered hand-dyed blush ribbon from Etsy which was used as binding and trails for mine and the bridesmaids’ bouquets. The bridesmaids’ bouquets contained the same flowers but less greenery and the gents’ buttonholes tied in with the other flowers and were bound with hessian. Simon’s sister made lovely gypsophilia flower crowns for the flower girls which she put on them on the morning of the wedding. We had a gorgeous floral arch and two milk churns as our backdrop during our ceremony. We used an arch provided by the venue and decided to go for an asymmetric style for the flowers which I had seen from doing some laborious Pinterest searching and it turned out great. We had small copper tins with flowers tied with ribbon to the chairs during the ceremony to line the aisle and had larger copper tins filled with flowers to decorate the reception. We also asked the florist to fill the bottom of our geometric lanterns with flowers and they were one of my favourite decorations on the day, simple but gorgeous.

The Wedding Party

We had three bridesmaids and four groomsmen; the groomsmen all wore the same kilt as Simon and I found beautiful sequin and tulle dresses from ASOS which were really flattering and comfortable for the girls. I bought them rose gold Fossil necklaces which I gave to them the night before the wedding and they all wore different shoes which we found on the high street. We had four flower girls and three page boys – all Simon’s nieces and nephews. The boys wore miniature versions of the kilts – they were so cute! I found gorgeous flower girl dresses and shoes from Monsoon, they were in the sale so I bought them a bit earlier than I had originally intended but made sure I got larger sizes for all the girls so they had some room to grow and luckily they all fit perfectly. Their tights and cardigans were from John Lewis, we were so lucky with the weather but I’m glad we had little cardigans for them to put on while they ran about daft outside in the evening.

Humanist Wedding Ceremony

Although raised Catholic, Simon and I chose to have a Humanist wedding ceremony. My dad passed away when I was 16, around the same time that Simon and I became a couple, and we held a humanist funeral for him, which was very personal and moving. We found Ross Wright through the Humanist Society Scotland website and he was just brilliant, so funny and unflappable – even when we had some technical glitches and a car alarm going off during the ceremony! We’ve been together for almost twelve years and been best friends since primary school so I think everyone was quite emotional on the day – it was a long time coming! Music plays a big part in our relationship so we made sure it was a big part of our day. My mum walked me down the aisle to an instrumental version of Here Comes the Sun which is my favourite Beatles song. During our ceremony Ross told the story of us and we had a communal sing-a-long to Madness – It Must Be Love, which was sung to Simon and I by our school friends when we first became boyfriend and girlfriend at High School. We are very lucky to have very talented friends and family and both of our readings on the day were self-penned. Our Maid of Honour Hannah read an original poem and my Uncle Richard read a toast to accompany us drinking from the Quaich – an ancient Scottish tradition! We walked back up the aisle to The Wannadies – You & Me Song which I edited on our laptop beforehand to get straight to the chorus – don’t be afraid to skip to the good bit with your ceremony music!

The Music

We didn’t have any entertainment during the day but we bought a few Bluetooth speakers which we dotted around the venue and played Spotify playlists that we had put together in the months leading up to the wedding. If you’re planning to do this don’t underestimate how long it takes to create a playlist that will last an entire drinks reception and meal – it took us so long to decide on the perfect music! Everyone commented on how lovely it was to have music throughout the day so I would definitely recommend it as an alternative to daytime entertainment if you can’t accommodate that in your budget. We found our wedding band at a wedding showcase. We had actually gone to see another band but as soon as The Watershed started playing, we knew they were perfect for us. We had Stevie Wonder – As and INXS – Mystify for our first and second dances respectively. We were unable to do our confetti photo outside earlier in the day due to venue restrictions so we planned to have it straight before the first dance. It turned out to be amazing as instead of being up there by ourselves, everyone stayed on the dancefloor after the confetti throwing and danced and cheered around us – it was one of my favourite moments of the day. As it’s a Scottish tradition, we had a bit of ceilidh after the evening buffet which was great for getting everyone back up on the dancefloor.

The Food

Our venue didn’t have onsite catering so we hired an external catering company. It was important for us to hire someone who had worked with the venue before and Bespoke Catering was our first choice. From the first meeting with Kelly it was clear she completely understood the relaxed atmosphere we were going for and we loved having the opportunity to do something different from the usual wedding fare. We decided to have a selection of canapes during the drinks reception – fish and chips, duck spring rolls and mini beef sliders – and skipped a starter or soup course during the main meal. We served BBQ food for the main course, with a selection of five different meat and seafood options which were served to the guests and a mixture of garden salad, pasta salad, potato salad and bread to share on the tables. I didn’t want guests to have to get up from their seats so it was a perfect way to do something different without everyone having to queue up with their plates. We had a four tier lemon sponge naked wedding cake which was decorated with fresh berries and icing sugar. The cake was served as dessert along with the berries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream which was made onsite by the dairy farm – it was the perfect light dessert to follow such a large main course. We also had a doughnut stand which was very popular and looked awesome – definitely something that went from an optional extra to a major feature on the day. In the evening we had a mac and cheese bar and chip station – carb overload I know but it was great for soaking up the alcohol!

The Photography

Jo was our first choice of photographer, we saw her photographs of a previous wedding at the Tin Shed and we just loved her relaxed informal style, it suited the venue perfectly. When we met her we knew she would be perfect for us, she’s full of fun and makes everyone around her feel comfortable, having a photographer you get along with was so important because you spend so much time with them on the day. Having two photographers was essential for us as we wanted as much of the day to be captured as possible, we didn’t have many formal photographs but having two shooters meant Jo’s partner Liam could still take candid photos of our guests while we were off with Jo and our wedding party.

The Videography

We hadn’t given a wedding video much thought when we started wedding planning, it wasn’t until I realised from reading wedding blogs that I noticed a recurring theme of brides saying they either regretted not getting a video or saying it was the best decision they made! For us it felt like a ‘nice to have’, particularly after going to the top of our budget for our dream photographer, so we looked to see if we could find an affordable package that we could stretch our budget for. Eleven Six Films offered a five minute mini-movie package that looked perfect for us and I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions we made. I would say if you are planning to get a videographer make sure their style ties in with your photographer, Eleven Six Films had the same informal candid style that Jo had so they really complemented each other.

Advice

It can be really hard at the outset to know how expensive everything can be, I made sure to get three quotes for every supplier we hired so I understood the relative cost of things. If other brides are anything like me, no matter how relaxed you try to make your wedding, the planning process can get very stressful. Everyone says not to sweat the small stuff and that’s honestly true, as long as your guests have good food, alcohol and a great band to dance to, they’ll have an amazing time. Focus on making it personal to you and letting your personalities and relationship shine through even just in small ways throughout the day. My favourite thing that our guests said about our wedding was how much it felt like ‘us’ – that made me so happy and made all the extra effort we put into the ceremony, music and decorations totally worth it. Oh and at some point you will probably start to second guess every decision you’ve made (I certainly did!) but stick to your guns, see through your vision for the day as you imagined it and it will be amazing.

{Watch The Film}