Lee Richards and Lynn Marie Evans
24th August 2022
Venue | Comrie Croft, Perthshire
Photography | JJ Greig Photography
“Lynn and I met while doing the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge in 2009. We got together the following year, and the proposal was whilst on a wild camp in October 2013 up Cadair Idris, a mountain in Wales. Lynn moaned all the way up and turned round at the top to find me on one knee with a bottle of champagne and a bit of bling.
We wanted an outdoor woodland wedding in the countryside. It took about six years for us find a venue that could accommodate our requirements.
Comrie Croft in Perthshire was a complete blank canvas; it was dog-friendly and included accommodation for all our guests. We really just wanted people to spend quality time together post-Covid, with a wedding thrown in for good measure. We had 50-60 guests, plus nine dogs.
The venue might have been our biggest expense, but it included everything we needed. It was a bonus that it was eco-friendly and enabled us to use mainly local resources and businesses.
We spent as much as needed to make the day special without wasting money for the sake of it. It was around £15k.
The wedding was originally planned for 2021, aka year two of Covid. Lynn works for the NHS, so we took the decision early on in the pandemic to move our wedding so restrictions would have much less impact on things.
Something old, new, borrowed and blue were the only ‘traditions’ we stuck to. It was out the window with everything else! Trees, woodland and no fuss were what we had in mind.
The night before the wedding, we had a large BBQ with all our guests, then stayed together with the dogs in a Nordic tent. Lynn spent the morning of the wedding getting ready, while I prepped the wedding location in the woods by ferrying hay bales and a few bits of decoration.
The ceremony was personal, romantic and funny. I cried the whole way through! It closed with us all singing ‘Islands in the Stream’.
We ditched all formalities for our reception and kept the food simple. We had top-notch fish and chips from a local chippy; an ice cream van and a hog roast and burgers in the evening. A £500 trip to Tesco and two years of collecting booze meant there was an entire tableful for all to tuck into for the week we spent at Comrie Croft. It was very much a case of help yourself.
We got changed into casual clothes after the ceremony – some guests even had their pyjamas on! We decorated the barn with a few tables and fairy lights and got the fire pit going outside. We connected a Nintendo Switch to a projector to keep the kids out of the way!
Our DJ was Lynne on the Radio from SMD Events. She was brilliant and didn’t even get flustered as two semi-naked cyclists flew around the dancefloor (could that have been the groom and his and best mate, LOL?!)
Truth be told, we didn’t really want an official photographer. However, we knew we needed a good record of the day for our memories and someone who fitted in among guests.
We met JJ Greig five years ago whilst he worked at a local distillery, and he mentioned he was a photographer and getting married at the same venue. Having lost his business card, I had to do some Instagram stalking to track him down again! He stayed back way longer than his official duties as he felt like as much a guest as anyone. We might have got some freebies there…
Venue Comrie Croft
Photography JJ Greig Photography
Celebrant Vivienne Hyndman, Humanist Society Scotland
Bride’s dress Ronald Joyce from Forget Me Not Bridal Boutique
Bridesmaid dresses ASOS
Flower girl dresses New Look
Bride’s nails Blush Beauty Studio Nuneaton
Hair Fiona O’Donnell at Bridal Hair and Make Up Design Scotland
Groomswear Scotland Kilt Company
Catering Central Fish Bar, Delivino Wild Kitchen and W. J. Ices Perth
Cake Cake 32
Flowers Fleur + Rebelle
Favours Seeds from British Hedgehog Preservation Society, bottle openers and flower bombs from Etsy
DJ Lynne on the Radio from SMD Events
