5th August 2016
Venue | Threave Gardens, Castle Douglas
Photography | Denise McDonald Photography
“The first decision we made was that we wanted an outdoor summer wedding. We’d wrongly assumed that Threave Gardens was out of our budget, but when we popped in when returning from viewing another venue we fell in love with the stunning grounds and potential of the place. I emailed to enquire and we discovered it was a lot more affordable than we’d thought!
We had almost all of our 55 guests for the whole day as we really wanted everyone to feel included and we didn’t want to have to choose how ‘important’ we considered our friends and family. Only two guests joined us for the evening party, purely because they’d just had a baby and couldn’t be away from her for the whole day.
We decided everything should be bright and vibrant to reflect the kind of people we are. We also wanted to have some little nods to Holland because Vincent is Dutch. As a result, we went for orange for our bunting decoration, had some Dutch foods included at dinner, and my sister and I wore Delft blue porcelain floral temporary tattoos.
Probably the most personal thing for me though, was having my parents walk me down the aisle. I don’t like the idea of being ‘given away’ by my dad, and both my parents love me and brought me up so it felt right.
Our food was pretty special. We had a little buffet served to each table, served in picnic baskets with red and white checked fabric lining. The baskets were full of little Mason jars of couscous, chutney and other tasty bits, as well as cheeses wrapped in brown paper and fresh bread in the baskets. We also had tarts, potatoes and hot smoked salmon served to the tables with the basket contents.
Top tip: be prepared for the fact that everyone will have something to say about your plans, and not all the advice will be invited or helpful. I had comments about how my hair should be a ‘normal’ colour for my photos; about the risk I was taking having my mother-in-law do my flower-arranging; about how stupid arranging an outdoor wedding in Scotland was. In the end we did things our way and we’ve since been told by multiple people how wonderful and unusual our celebration was.”
Dress Coast
Veil IreneJewelry on Etsy.com
Bride’s engagement and wedding rings NIXIN at Etsy.com
Bridesmaid dress Hobbs
Cake Harriet’s Cakes
Catering Hullabaloo to You
Flowers Supplied by Flowers on the Vennel, bouquets arranged by the groom’s mum
Entertainment Dumfries DJ Hire
Transport Excalibur Wedding Cars
Hair Curl Up and Dye
