Rebecca and Eilidh finally made it down the aisle at Enterkine House on their fourth attempt – but getting married wasn’t the day’s only highlight as guests discovered
Rebecca McCormack & Eilidh Connolly
18th July 2021
Venue | Enterkine Country House and Resort, Ayrshire
Photography | Kev Moulds Photography
“Eilidh and I got together in 2014. On Christmas morning 2018, she proposed to me in the first house that we’d bought together. She instructed me that I couldn’t come downstairs until I heard Christmas music. When I did, I was greeted by candles, rose petals, a slideshow of photos of us and a nervous Eilidh about to pop the question!
The Covid pandemic heavily impacted our plans. Our original wedding date was meant to be 27th June 2020, rearranged to 21st November 2020, then 14th March 2021 and finally 18th July 2021!
We had originally had a guest list of 150 and, so kept pushing back hoping to include everyone. However, over a year later, we decided to go ahead with 50 guests. We still had a fantastic day and, as a result, we were able to spend more quality time with each of our guests on the day.
We lost out on a couple of deposits from suppliers unable to accommodate the changes, but luckily most of our other vendors were able to move dates.
It was tough because my heart was set on a big day with lots of guests and for Eilidh, a live band was a priority – neither of which we ended up with!
The first wedding-planning decision we made was the venue. In fact, we booked the wedding barn at Enterkine before it had even been built! We were confident that from looking at the designs and blueprints, it was going to be stunning – and we were right!
We used an independent celebrant – Caroline Middleditch, Ayrshire’s Celebrant – as we wanted the essence of the ceremony to tell our personal story. Caroline managed to do so amazingly! We have had many compliments on how beautiful the ceremony was thanks to Caroline.
We incorporated a sand-pouring ritual into our ceremony using sand from Portobello beach in Edinburgh and Ayr beach which nicely symbolised our respective east- and west-coast roots (Eilidh’s family are from Edinburgh and mine are from Paisley). We carried this on at dinner by placing dialect cards on the table as ice breakers.
Some traditions – like having our dads walk us down the aisle and the first dance – we kept, but we threw others away. For example, we didn’t keep apart on the wedding morning. We wanted to get ready together and enjoy every aspect of the day by each others’ sides.
We were blessed with brilliant speeches from both our dads, my brother Lewis and two bridesmaids, Rachael and Eilidh. However, the highlight had to be Eilidh’s speech where she announced our pregnancy! We are due a little girl in February 2022. It was incredibly special to share the news with our closest people – another reason the smaller guest list was actually a benefit.
We both had very different wedding dress shopping experiences. I picked my dress within an hour at Diane Honeyman in Ayr, while Eilidh went to four different shops and tried on what she says felt like 100 different dresses!
In the end, Eilidh found her dress at Emma Roy of Edinburgh. They stocked sample dresses in multiple sizes so she was able to actually see her dress on properly before ordering. Lots of shops only seem to carry one or two sizes in samples and there can be a bit of guesswork involved.
Kathleen Richmond Couture altered my dress. Kathleen was amazing – she even came to the venue on the day to help me into my dress.
All of the male members of our bridal party wore the Highland Sky tartan from Slater Menswear. The staff in the Ayr branch were very helpful and the kilts looked great next to the ASOS bridesmaids dresses.
Both of us are uncomfortable in front of the camera, but as soon as we met photographer Kev Moulds, we got a good vibe. He is a lovely guy and put us both at ease. He said he wouldn’t keep us away from our guests for long on the day, something that was really important to us. We have ended up with the most stunning pictures that captured the essence of our wedding, without feeling that we were stood in front of a camera all day.
What surprised us most about getting married? We thought we would be much more nervous. When the day came, we were both just so happy that most of the nerves melted away.”
Top tip: “Our advice is to start with the biggest thing – the venue – and work your way back from there. Keep a spreadsheet to manage costs, due dates for money owed, and guest information.”
Venue Enterkine Country House and Resort, Ayrshire
Photography Kev Moulds Photography
Celebrant Caroline Middleditch, Ayrshire’s Celebrant
Rebecca’s dress Diane Honeyman
Rebecca’s dress alterations Kathleen Richmond Couture
Eilidh’s dress Emma Roy of Edinburgh
Bridesmaids’ dresses ASOS
Male bridal party attire Slater Menswear
Cake Rebecca’s Aunt Aida at Great Cakes
Flowers Flowers at Wildwood
Stationery designed by Eilidh’s mum
Favours scratch cards
Piper family friend, Frank Fitzsimmons
Reception music DJ G-Man, booked via Coast Entertainments
Hair Arlene Colquhoun
Makeup Siobhan Morton Makeup Artistry
