Lauren & Marc

Lauren and Marc's classic and elegant Scottish wedding at Kirknewton Stables is so pretty. With a romantic lilac colour palette, boys in super smart kilts and fairy lights galore, it's a wedding I know you're going to love. Images come from Ross Alexander, who has captured everything in such a beautiful, natural way - if you're looking for a friendly and easy going wedding photographer in Scotland, he's your guy!

The Bride

Lauren the Bride: The first shop we went to was Christie Couture. I had seen a dress on their Facebook page and thought it would be it but when I tried it on it just felt like a ‘nice’ dress. I had chosen a few others just to try on while I was there and the 2nd one I just didn’t want to take off. It was so different to what I had in mind but I felt amazing in it and after dragging my mum round loads of other shops I went back for the dress I just didn’t want to take off. It was silk crepe material with a delicate lace top, off the shoulder with lace sleeves. I got my veil from Bijoux Bridal - I LOVED my veil it was the best thing about my outfit I just didn’t want to take it off, it made me feel like I was a bride! My friend Susanne bought my shoes as a wedding gift they were t-bar peep toe shoes by Benjamin Adams which went perfectly with the style and length of my dress. I met Lianne from Vintage Belle at a wedding fair and I loved her hair pieces. I had her make me a subtle and sparkly hairband and I was really happy when I went to collect it, she knew exactly what I was looking for.

The Groom

Marc chose to wear a kilt from Kilts 4 U, he went with his mum and they chose a tartan ‘the spirit of Loch Earn’ which was very apt as Marc and his friends go fishing and camping at Loch Earn. Marc’s kilt was bespoke meaning he could make subtle changes to his kilt compared to the rest of the wedding party and have it just the way he wanted like the colour of the lining in his jacket. Marc wore a tartan cravat the the rest of the boys and Dads wore a purple cravat. Marc chose the tartan himself and the colours worked perfectly with what I had in mind for the bridesmaids.

The Venue

I have been planning our wedding in my head for a long time and I loved the idea of a DIY barn style wedding with personal touches, candles and fairy lights everywhere. Kirknewton Stables was perfect, we hired the venue for the weekend allowing us to set up the day before. We had Wedding Lighting Hire put up a fairy light wall and additional lights draping in the ceiling. The stables are beautiful on their own and I realised it would be better to think ‘less is more’. The gardens are stunning and so well kept. We had hoped to get married outside under the trees but that week we had all four seasons although it was dry for the ceremony it was still snowy and cold. Instead, the ceremony was in front of the fairy wall which was still beautiful. It was a lot of work to organise the wedding, harder than I expected! We had to book and plan everything as the venue is just the stables and garden so everything from the decoration to catering, drinks, set up etc. It also took a lot of time to decorate the stables so it was ready for the next day, we are so grateful to everyone who came to help the day before.

The Decor

I loved the idea of a dusty purple theme, we did this with some shades of pink and the ushers wore a deeper purple cravat. We liked this because it wasn’t to matching and the colours came together so well giving a nice spring feel (even if there was snow in the ground!)

The Flowers

I asked family and friends to keep jam jars for months in the lead up to the wedding for our centre pieces and to put flowers in them around the room. I organised a few craft afternoons with friends to cover all the jars with hessian and lace. I also made some decorations out of corks, my friends were more than happy to help collect these too! Bridesmaid, Lois’s Dad cut us log slices for the centre pieces and for the cake to sit on which looked really effective in the room. We hired whisky barrels for the cake, end of the aisle and for tables around the bar. We also had one barrel with loads of bottles of whisky on it for our guests to help themselves to a ‘wee dram’ throughout the day, my Dad loved this! We decided we would try to arrange our own flowers, my mum’s friend was a massive help. She knew how to make bouquets etc and two days before the wedding some of my bridesmaids, mum and I spent the day carrying out her instructions until all the jam jars were filled and the bouquets and buttonholes were made, we couldn’t have done it without her! I loved choosing the flowers, we ordered them at a wholesale flower company in Glasgow, it meant that I could choose exactly which flowers and shades I liked best.

The Wedding Party

My bridesmaids were my best friends, Lois and Melanie, my oldest friend, Ruth, Marc’s sister Amanda and my close friends from Uni Hannah and Katie. I had a proper bride tribe!! The girls were amazing, I wanted to enjoy all the fun things in the lead up to the wedding with my best friends I didn’t want to leave anyone out and I’m so glad they were all part of our special day. The girls wore Dessy skirts and tops ordered from Christie Couture, 3 in blush and 3 in suede rose (purple) I loved how that pulled the colours in the flowers together and it all just worked! Marc’s brother Darren was his best man and Ushers were his friends Derek, Chris and my brother David. They all wore kilts from Kilts 4 U in the same tartan as Marc including our 1 year old nephew Lucas who was our page boy he was so cute in his baby kilt, when he walked down the aisle he carried a sign saying ‘Uncle Marc here comes your bride’ - adorable!

The Ceremony

We had a religious ceremony, our minister Rev Elizabeth Clelland is a lovely lady who made everyone feel really happy and at ease. We asked our grandparents to be part of the service, Marc’s Papa, John and my Gran, Margaret. John read from the bible and my gran asked us to drink from the quiach. We loved this part, Gran told everyone how it is an old Scottish tradition for a couple to drink from the quiach on their wedding day so we drank some Single Malt - Jura 18, I had given Marc a bottle as a wedding gift. She also asked both of our Dad’s to drink from it as well and explained that it is a day to celebrate not only two people coming together but two families or clans as it would have been. We loved having them as part of our day, we love them very much. My cousin Kirsty came over from Canada with her family, I asked her to sign the register along with Marc’s best man, Darren. I got ready in Kirknewton house and had to walk from there to the stables just me and my Dad which was so lovely to take our time and have a chat before the cermony. I don’t know how we managed it but we misplaced the marriage certificate and Marc only found it minutes before I arrived!

The Entertainment

Years ago when we first started talking about getting married Marc said he had found our wedding band, Papa Shandy and the Drams. We’ve looked them up on YouTube loads of times, showed them to family and friends and went to see them in a few pub gigs before we were even engaged, so when we were planning we knew this had to be our band. They weren’t available on the Saturday and so that was the reason we chose to get married on the Friday instead - so we could have this band. We had high hopes and couldn’t wait to hear them play - they did not disappoint! They are a six piece band from the Southside of Glasgow, the lead singer embraces his Scottish accent and they have a rock/folk sound, putting their own twist on the songs. Everyone has commented on what a great night they had and how different but excellent the band were.

The Food

Our caterers were Food Creations, as it was a DIY venue they did everything they could to help make the day a success. We booked them purely on recommendation and because they knew the venue really well, we didn’t even have a tasting and when the food came - it was amazing! We were able to send out a menu with our invitations so our guests could choose what they wanted to eat in advance. We liked this as it meant we could both choose food we liked instead of just having one safe option. We had canapés after the ceremony and a sweetie table at night which we organised ourselves with all our favourite sweets. 17 boxes and not a single sweet left at the end of the night so I think people enjoyed them! My mum’s friends made our wedding cake. We had chatted about what I would like one afternoon and I showed them a few photos of nearly naked cakes then I left it to them to decide. I knew it would be lovely but when I first saw it I was blown away! They set it up the morning of the wedding and decorated it with our wedding flowers and also tasted delicious too, we were so grateful to them.

The Photography

When we got engaged Marc was adamant that out photographer would be Ross Alexander and after looking at his photos I completely agreed! Like the band we wanted, Ross wasn’t available on the Saturday either but he was the Friday so it seemed like it was all coming together. We had an engagement shoot with Ross, We’re so glad we did this as it helped us to know what to expect on the day. Ross has a really quirky style and isn’t a big fan of posed photos if fact we were encouraged to limit the posed family shots to have more time to enjoy our day and I’m so glad we did this. We loved going away for our couple photos, it was nice to spend time just Marc and I (and Ross!) We are over the moon with our photos and can recommend him highly enough, if fact two of my friends have since booked him for their weddings.

The Videography

We decided not to have a videographer, a part of me regrets this as it would have been nice to look back on but we just had to draw a line somewhere we were already over budget and felt it wasn’t essential. Instead my brother, David used his GoPro to video key parts of the day and is going to put something together for us. We did chose to have Bygone Photo Booth as part of the reception they are also a bit different, everyone loved their props and it helped to add to the evening.