Planning

Naomi here. Allow me to introduce you to the effervescent and convincing Anne from Dunskey Estate who is here to entice us all to plan not just a wedding day, but a multi-day wedding experience! As one of the most beautiful weekend wedding venues that the UK has to offer, Dunskey specialises in exclusive use for you and your wedding guests over three nights or more. With weekend-long weddings becoming more of a lusted after experience these days and after reading what Anne has to say, I'm sold. Over to Anne...


You know by now that as we get older, we debate straight vs skinny jeans, and we have an exceptionally hard time gathering a large group of people to simply hang out. After graduation, most of us scatter to different corners of the world, congregating only like disparate magnets at major milestone events. So I’d like to shake you by your shoulders and say...

Because it’s so hard and precious, and you have put so much effort into planning your wedding, WHY STOP AT JUST ONE DAY????

Anne at Dunskey Estate

Here at Dunskey, we urge you to spend three days in this glorious Castle, and pretend you’re swooning around with the Bridgertons on the ton. Perhaps get a smaller group of people together to create that exhilarating dormitory feel, but this time with posh Victorian lux and some Michelin-star food.

Need more reasons to have a multi-day celebration? Let me count the ways.

 

weekend wedding venue SLUMBER PARTIES

Let’s first state the most immediate and obvious: grownup sleepovers. It’s no surprise that over 70% of all college graduates rate “late night conversations with friends” as THE MOST legendary and significant collegiate experience. Bring together some of your dearest friends, introduce them to your family and one another, throw in a few roaring fireplaces and a platter of pheasant popcorn bites, and you’re golden. (We said PHEASANT, which is a delicious game bird, not a medieval farmer, you ghastly beast.)

 

give them the best experience

One of our clients cautioned all those who are considering a multi-day event celebration, “Just know your guests will leave not knowing how to top the experience” (Dunskey Estate Google review, Kevin Bronk). Indeed, three full days of swanning around like lords and ladies in a heritage Scottish castle, with incredible customised experiences such as a bespoke scavenger hunt that takes you to the sea. Come on, laze on a Morrocan rug at the private Dunskey bay and sip a hot toddy, with oysters in Bourbon butter bubbling on the grill, and watch the sun slip into the ocean.

 

THE HEART OF GATHERING at a weekend wedding venue

At the end of the day, the heart of all celebration is the act of gathering. With a three-day program, you’ll have endless moments and backdrops to catch up with far-flung friends, huddle over that hilarious cat meme--I’m prepared to go forward with it, Judge, and marvel at one another’s life journey thus far. Afterall, a study from Psychology Science showed definitively that extraordinary experiences forment the most unbreakable bonds, and can define your life travels together in the future.

 

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

Simply say a giant nope to the same old formula and the too-well trodden wedding industrial complex. If there is one singular lesson we have learned from months of virtual hugs and elbow bumps, it is this: true connection matters most. How many celebrations have you attended, where you simply desired for more time for a longer conversation, a slower sip of whisky (ok tequila), and to do that with all guests in attendance? It can happen, with a smaller, and longer nuptial. Moreover, you’ll note how your shoulders relax when not everything in the world is crammed into 29 thousand seconds (8 hours, natch). It is when you are savouring one another’s company that lifelong memories are made.

 

Let these words from George Eliot ring true in a space that encompasses all of you and your love for each other.

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.”

George Eliot

A huge thank you to Anne from Dunskey Estate for making us all want to scoop up our loved ones and head off to a secluded weekend wedding venue to spend days on end together. It would be such a tonic in these times. And if you're on the lookout for a weekend wedding venue for your own celebration you can browse our Recommended venues list or cut to the chase and contact Dunskey Estate for what seems to be a truly special experience. 

Naomi Liddell

Written by Naomi Liddell

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