{Watch The Film}
The Bride
Louise The Bride: At the time I was beginning my search I was dress buyer so felt a level of pressure to find the dress of my dreams. I've always loved vintage dresses which lead me to
Elizabeth Avey in Greenwich which is a treasure trove of wedding dresses throughout the decade. The dress I ended up not being able to stop thinking about was 1930s French Lace with button back, long sleeve and long trail at the back. It had gorgeous seam lines and was so delicate that to me it felt like art. Plus when I sent the picture of me to my parents, brother and Gran they all agreed it was the one. I splashed out on
Miu Miu Swarovski heeled sandals mainly because you could see them as the dress was higher at the front, they are one of my best ever purchases! I still look at them with wonder!
The Venue
We chose the venue where we got engaged in September 2015. The setting of
Monachyle Mhor is so magical and we knew it would be the perfect wedding backdrop. We then decided to get married in Balqhuidder Parish Church which built in 1853 and had views of The Trossachs and after meeting the local minister it just seemed the perfect location for a cosy winter wedding.
The surroundings were just about all the decoration we needed so we concentrated our efforts in the Barn. As it's a working barn we had seen it with Highland Cows in it so knew we had some work to do to make it cosy! I worked closely with
our florist and she created a magical kingdom for us which was unrecognisable to what we had visited when planning the wedding.
The Flowers
The flowers is really where the budget was blown! We picked some flowers from my parents garden for the church and just filled all the windows with about 40 candles then we concentrated on the Barn. Our florist,
Green Pea Studio & Garden, was very creative and grows most of her flowers from her own gardens. We went back and forth on powerpoint showing each other lots of images and ideas, she even helped with the layout of the tables to best show off the hanging flower chandeliers with hanging bottles. We also had different sized candles everywhere.
The Wedding Party
My only bridesmaid Fiona wore a dress from
Ghost in London which mirrored the styling of mine. Elliot's niece Corin was my flower girl and wore a dress from
Monsoon with a fur stole to keep her from getting cold, she looked like a little angel and followed me all day.
The Ceremony
The ceremony was my favourite part of the day. I couldn't have been more happy walking down the aisle with my dad. It was incredible to have all our people in this small little church celebrating our marriage. We had met the minister a couple of times and the words she used in the ceremony were so heartfelt, we were both full of emotion and our parents loved it. My brother and Elliot's sister both did readings and we sang One More Step Along The World I Go, I've always loved the words.
The Entertainment
We did some Scottish ceilidh dancing which resulted in absolute carnage and confusion with all our London friends and then we had a band and then a DJ to finish the night off. My favourite part was the two of us dancing in the middle of all our guests to Loch Lomond by Runrig, a traditional end to many Scottish weddings - everyone gets involved and its really really good fun.
The Food
Elliot's cousin Brogan has her
own cake business so very kindly offered to make our wedding cake. It was three tiers and decorated with a mixture of flowers, berries and fruit and had a very prime position as you walked in the barn propped up on a barrel. It looked very magical and worked perfectly with all the flowers. The food at Monachyle Mhor is another reason why we fell in love with the place. The Head Chef worked really closely with us to create a warm cosy meal for all our guests, we had big serving plates of venison, pork and beef cheeks with roasted winter vegetables and a side of my favourite mac and cheese! I'm still thinking about the canapés and how I didn't eat enough of them!
The Images & Film
We found
Tub Of Jelly on Instagram and were attracted to them as they weren't typical wedding photographers. They produced a perfect wedding video which is like nothing I've ever seen before and I honestly could not be more happy with it. We made the right choice with them.