9th April 2016
Venue | Lunga House, Lochgilphead
Photography | Bill Baillie Photography
“It was really important to Joe and I that my gran could come to our wedding, which meant it had to be close to Oban where I grew up. We looked at various venues but immediately fell in love with the charm of Lunga House. Neither of us is any good at rigid schedules, so when Kriszti at the venue spoke about ‘Lunga time’ – things will happen when they happen – we were sold.
We chose a forest theme for the wedding to echo Lunga’s beautiful setting, and used small, local and sustainable suppliers where we could. We were also able to use whatever we wanted from Lunga’s quirky and intriguing collection of accessories, including beautiful candelabras and jars with moss and tea lights.
We don’t like buying things just for the sake of it, so we decided to make some items for the wedding. We spent a lovely day creating our place settings, and my stepdad supplied herbs to decorate them with. We also made our wedding invitations using pebbles that we’d collected from the beach in Brighton, where we live.
Joe’s dad is an artist and painted us a beautiful jigsaw with us both as a tree of life. We asked our guests to write us a message on the reverse of each piece, and had a lovely time afterwards putting the jigsaw together and reading everybody’s messages.
We chose to be married by local registrar Jean Campbell, who is the mother of my best friend and maid of honour, Sarah. Jean’s husband Donald piped me down the aisle too! We put a lot of thought into choosing the readings. Mike (one of the two best men) had us giggling with ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’, and my brother Lewis had us holding back the tears with some beautiful reflective lines from Philip Pullman (one of our favourite authors).
Our friends and family truly made the day. Joe’s friend Janusz is a film producer and musician, and he filmed the whole wedding as well as playing piano during the meal. Joe’s Cuban aunt Raquelita composed some songs just for us, including our truly magical first dance, and my cousin Emma got the party rocking with some superstar DJing.
Top tip: Remember that your wedding brings joy to everyone involved, despite how stressful it can be to plan it. Be prepared for it truly to be the most amazing day of your life!”
Dress and bridesmaids Lady JoJo’s Brides
Shoes Pumps from Miss L Fire and wellies from Joules
Groomswear Hugo Morris Tailors
Cake Oban Chocolate Company
Bouquets Gill Stewart Flowerscape
Rings Victoria Jarman
Hair The Studio Oban
Makeup Saint Saviour
