Regular readers will know I am currently in bonnie Scotland at the wedding of dear friends, and it was such a funny coincidence when a couple of weeks ago we received an email from photographer Shane O'Sullivan of Sosac Photography sending us the most gorgeous and fun wedding in Scotland! So this is our first ever Scottish wedding, but even more coincidentally it's an Irish-Scottish celebration.
Laura and Kevin organised their summer wedding celebration near Inverness up the North of Scotland, from thousands of miles away in Equatorial New Guinea(!) Guests too, were far from local, making their way to the Highland wedding venue from Ireland, Shetland and even as far as Houston, West Africa & Australia, so Laura and Kevin were determined to make sure everyone had a weekend to remember and it looks like it was one super Scottish wedding...
"Living and working internationally mean you meet people from all over the world and we were so delighted that people made the trip to spend time with us on our special day. We knew that people were travelling a long way so we hired the house for the weekend and planned events to keep everyone occupied - we had a BBQ on Friday so everyone could get to know each other and we got to catch up with all the relatives we hadn’t seen in a while, Saturday was the wedding and Sunday we did a brunch in the ballroom to take advantage of the flowers one last time and a cruise on Loch Ness for those who could stay on a little bit longer….it was an action packed weekend that I’ll never forget!"
Laura and Kevin met at work in 2005, with Kevin recalling a flash of blonde hair across the office, but it wasn't for a few months, a few clinkies and nights out with friends in Aberdeen, before Kevin got up the courage to properly ask the blonde bombshell to be his girlfriend (awwww). Fast forward a few years, and after jet-setting it around Australia, Laura and Kevin enjoyed a stopover in Hong Kong, in September 2010. After a day of walking and shopping round the city, Laura wasn't in the best of moods settling down for dinner in the Peak Restaurant overlooking the magnificent Hong Kong skyline. Undettered by Laura's less than happy vibe, Kevin stuck with his plan and popped the question, shocking Laura and eliciting a very emphatic Yes!
But with all that travelling around and living so far away from home, having a wedding in Scotland was important to the couple. "As we were living and working abroad, we only had a week to find a venue when we were home at Xmas. We took a few days and toured around Scotland looking at numerous castles and venues. The weather was horrific, and it was so hard to see the potential in some places. I had already seen Achnagairn house in a magazine article and had a feeling it might be what we were looking for. Unbeknownst to Kevin, I had already fallen in love with it…but was trying to be pragmatic and look at venues that were more suitably located etc. Our first attempt to get to Achnagairn was hampered by the snowy weather conditions and the train broke down half way there. Undeterred, we planned to make another trip up there later in the week. We both fell in love with the house, especially the ballroom — it was a fantastic setting for both ceremony and reception."
"When we started planning our wedding, the only thing that we both knew for sure was that we both wanted our day to be one big party. We did not want to go down the traditional route and wanted to infuse the day with fun and frolics so we would never forget. The whole thing exceeded our expectations!"
Laura and Kevin chose to have a humanist ceremony based on their non religious views, it was a fun ceremony with lots of small traditions brought it. Tying the Knot using two coloured cords (we used blue and green to represent the joining of the Scottish and Irish clans!). At the end of the ceremony it is customary for the whole wedding party to drink whisky from the Quaich which got everyone warmed up nicely!
"We wanted to have a bright summer feel to it as we thought it would be a good contrast to the dark wood finish in Achnagairn house. We had already worked black, white and purple into the stationery and wanted to keep that theme throughout. We then met with Stephen Seedhouse who completely transformed our basic black, white and purple idea into various shades of blues, purples, pinks with even a splash of orange flowers giving it a really bright and vibrant, summer feel. All the planning for the wedding was done remotely and in isolation as we were living and working in Equatorial Guinea, West Africa. We were so glad that everything came together so perfectly on the day."
So we all know the tradition of the bride throwing the bouquet to the single girls, but one I haven't seen before is the groom recovering the garter with his teeth and threw to the single guys...
For the best men's speech Kevin's mates had something very special in mind - the twins Tom & Dave Coleman donned Jedward masks to serenade (?!) the happy couple...
They weren't the only entertainment during the meal, Laura and Kevin had a special treat for the guests in the form of singing. "I’ve never seen so many jaws drop when the waiter and chef started belting out some opera classics."
But the fun was just starting at the reception, once the dancing got started it was full-on festival time - the band started with a few ceilidh dances, but with Laura & Kevin having placed glowstick bangles on the tables and silicone wristbands made up with all the details of the wedding embossed on them as favours. "It was like we were at a music festival after dinner with everyone walking around with their wrist bands on and even my granny was sporting a couple of yellow glowsticks! We also bought a polaroid camera (our own take on a photo booth) so our guests would take pictures throughout the day and stick them in our guest book with a message. It worked really well and we have some crazy pictures from throughout the day (right through to 5am...)"
What advice would you give to brides and grooms planning their day?
Get a good photographer - these are the pictures that you will look back on and remember your day. Shane and Adele (SOSAC Photography) really captured the day as it was and every picture I see brings back a memory. The majority of the pictures were natural un-posed shots and it really brings the day back to life seeing all the movement and commotion going on in the background of each one. We are also really looking forward to seeing the video of the day!
Don’t fret about the things you do not have control of - this was the best piece of advice that my new husband gave me!
Weddings are not just all about the bride - Kevin and I worked out a lot of the details of the wedding together which made the process more enjoyable and much less stressful.
Get someone to help you coordinate everything on the day. We had a wedding coordinator to oversee everything on the day to ensure that everything went smoothly…just one less thing to worry about and allows you to really enjoy the day stress free!
And do you have a favourite moment?
To be honest though the whole day/weekend was a favourite moment….everything seemed to go like clockwork and my only advise to anyone who is just about to get married is don’t sweat the small stuff…small things will probably go wrong but you are unlikely to notice….you’ve done all the planning and the hard work, now it’s time to remember what this is all about and enjoy every minute of the day.
Congratulations Laura & Kevin - thank you so much for sharing your day with us. Hope life is good wherever in the world you are right now!
And to Shane from Sosac Photography - huge thanks for sharing this beautiful wedding with us. If you're impressed by Sosac Photography's work - make sure and check out the rest over on www.sosacphotography.com
Credit where credit is due...
Ceremony and Reception was held at Achnagairn House, Near Inverness | Photographer — SOSAC Photography | Dress: Cymbeline from Perfect Bridal Rooms, Aberdeen | Bridesmaids dresses: Dessy from Pretty Woman, Edinburgh | Flowers: Stephen Seedhouse, Nairn, Scotland | Groom(smen)’s suits: Grey Granite & Platnium Pride Tartans from McCalls in Aberdeen | Accessories: Jewellery & Veil — Perfect Bridal Rooms, Aberdeen | Cake: Fondant Cake Design - Aberdeen | Wedding Coordinator: Rebecca Barnett of RB Wedding Design | Caterers — Mike Crook Good Highland Food, Nr. Inverness | Make Up & Hair: Headgardener, Inverness | Make-up: Sleeping Beauty, Inverness | Sweetie Table — Love is Sweets, Nairn | Lighting for the ballroom - i-light — Stephen Lesley Inverness | Band — Callanish Edinburgh |String Quartet: Cappricio Strings, Edinburgh | Entertainment: SOS (Secret Opera Singing Waiters), Glasgow | Videography — Screenways Glasgow | DJ — MB disco’s Glasgow
