Emma and Richard
21/01/2006
Luss Parish Church
Cameron House, Loch Lomond, Scotland
 
 
Dawn and Arnie's wedding photos
 
How and when did you meet?
We met while we were both at law school in Chester.

How old are you both?
I am 29 and Rich is 31.

Where, when and how did he (or you!) propose?
Rich proposed at the Grosvenor Hotel in Chester at our end of year ball.

Did you have hen and stag celebrations? If so, what did you do?
I didn't have a hen night as such but had a very nice meal in London with some of my closest friends before Christmas where we had a good natter and a few glasses of wine. Rich had his stag do in London as well with the boys playing five-a-side football in the afternoon and then on to Carwash in the evening.

How did your groom help with the wedding planning?
Rich was great considering he was also revising for exams. He would let me do the groundwork but we would make all final decisions together on the important aspects of the wedding as it was important to us that the wedding reflected both our personalities. He also organised our ‘first’ honeymoon to Singapore.

Did you use confetti to plan your wedding? If so, how did the website help you?
I had a look at the various advice pages which were a great guide as to matters we should be thinking about.

Do you have a confetti web page?
No.

Did you buy any confetti products for your wedding? If so, did you visit a store, buy online or by mail order?
I ordered disposable cameras for the tables online but also visited the London store to buy ivory petals to pop into the envelopes with the invitations.

Tell us about your outfit, and where you bought it
My dress was made by a fantastic designer called Shane Rosanne, based in Wimbledon Village. I had been to several shops but hadn't quite found what I was looking for. The first time I met Shane, we spent over an hour discussing ideas and the look that I wanted. I was looking for a 1950's vintage/ Grace Kelly style and Shane sent me some wonderful designs (it was very hard to decide which one to choose!) and we took it from there. I had a number of fittings over the following months and nothing was too much trouble for her, even when she had to take the dress in the week before the wedding as I had lost weight! The result was a beautiful vintage-style strapless silk A-line dress with a delicate lace overlay. It had buttons that ran all the way down the back to the bottom of the train. I also had a matching short lace jacket which tied at the waist with a satin ribbon. This was perfect for the day as I was able to wear the jacket for the service and then take it off for the reception. Shane was also absolutely brilliant at suggesting places where we could look for accessories and sent us off to some marvellous places that we would never have found otherwise. She also designed and made my mum's outfit and was generally a real help in suggesting the colours/ styles for the rest of the wedding party.

you have bridesmaids? If so, who did you choose and what did they wear?
I had four adult bridesmaids. Lisa and Sarah were friends from school, Daniella was a friend whose husband was one of Rich's ushers and I also had Rich's sister. They wore two-piece outfits made in a rich brown silk with two of the bridesmaids wearing strapless bodices and two wearing sleeveless fitted bodices as I felt that they should all look slightly different given that they were all adults. However, the skirts were all the same and were tea dance length. Luckily, Lisa's mum makes bridesmaid dresses so I knew they were going to look stunning! They also had cardigans (which Shane had hand-beaded) to wear in case they were cold! I also found little matching beaded purses for them to carry their lipsticks in and they had matching earrings and necklaces.

Who did your groom choose for his best man and ushers, and what did they wear?
Rich had his best friend from school, Chris, as his best man. He also had four ushers: Alex, also a friend from school along with Mark, Paul and Rich who were friends from university and law school respectively. The boys wore navy Edwardian style three-quarter length jackets with matching trousers along with ivory and gold waistcoats and gold cravats. Rich's dad and my dad also wore the same.

Did you have a civil or religious ceremony?
Church of Scotland religious ceremony. The minister was absolutely wonderful and really allowed us to make the service personal. This meant that we had my uncle doing a reading, a close friend doing another reading and two of my cousins sang during the signing of the register. It really made the service special and I was moved to tears a number of times (fortunately the make-up did stay in place!).

Where did you hold your ceremony?
The service was held in the beautiful parish church of Luss which is a small village on the shores of Loch Lomond.

Where did you hold your reception?
The reception was held at Cameron House which is also on the shores of Loch Lomond. It was a stunning location with brilliant staff who were really helpful and friendly both on the day and in helping us organise the reception.

Did you have any special wedding transport?
We hired a 1936 ivory and black Rolls Royce to take my dad and I from Cameron House to the church and Rich and I back to Cameron House after the service. As plenty of people had hired cars for the weekend, there was plenty of transport for everyone else in the wedding party.

How many guests did you invite to your wedding, and did you have a separate evening guest list?
We had 85 guests in total and everyone was invited for the whole day. We had no evening guest list as the majority of the guests were travelling from quite far away.

Did your reception have a particular theme in terms of colour or style?
We wanted to have a subtle Scottish theme, given the location that our wedding was in and the fact that I am Scottish. We were keen to use warm rich colours as it was a winter wedding so we chose ivory, gold and chocolate brown for our colour scheme. We also wanted to make the most of it being a winter wedding and create a cosy, warm atmosphere so wanted candles wherever possible.

How did you incorporate this in to your table settings?
This was brought out in the favours that we had on the tables, the flowers and also the entertainment. We had a reading during the ceremony which was a poem written by a Scottish poet (The Poetry of Persons by Tessa Ransford). The hotel also organised a piper to greet guests on arriving back from the church and into dinner.

Did you give your guests favours?
Yes, I spent many (painful!) hours making Scottish tablet to give to all our guests which I then wrapped into little parcels which were decorated with either gold or chocolate brown organza ribbon and little tags that had been made to match our wedding stationery. The result (and the burns!) was worth it as they looked really pretty on the tables.

Describe your flowers (bouquets and table decorations). Who was your florist?
The flowers were by Endrick Blooms who did a marvellous job. My bouquet was hand-tied and comprised ivory roses, lily of the valley, hypernica berries, small thistles and lots of greenery. The bridesmaids had smaller versions of my bouquet but had more emphasis on the ivory roses as a contrast to their outfits and my bouquet. The boys had simple buttonholes of roses and berries. The church was very simply decorated as it is so beautiful in its own right and the flowers again followed the simple theme of roses, greenery, berries and winter foliage. The table decorations were stunning and were tall lily vases with ivory roses and twigs. These were stood on small round mirrors on which were placed small ivory and chocolate brown tea-lights. Around these were scattered strands of ivy and pine cones all of which tied in beautifully with the winter theme and our colour scheme. The effect, especially when the lights were turned down, was magical.

What did you choose to have on your menu? Did you have an outside caterer or did your venue handle the catering?
Cameron House handled the catering and did a superb job. We had canapés during the drinks reception which were mushroom and truffle risotto balls, mini smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels and individual toad in the holes. We then had a four-course meal which started with warm goats cheese and caramelised onion tart with a spiced apple chutney. This was followed by Champagne & lychee sorbet. Our main course was individual beef wellington served with julienne carrots and dauphinoise potatoes (or spice dusted field mushrooms with asparagus broth for the vegetarians). Dessert was bread and butter pudding with caramel sauce. Again, as it was a winter wedding, we wanted quite hearty food and it certainly lived up to our expectations!

What did you choose for your wedding cake, and who made it?
Our cake was made by Top Tier in Glasgow. We had a two-tier dark chocolate cake which was covered with white chocolate curls and filled with a white chocolate ganache. It was topped with fresh berries and strands of ivy. It was absolutely delicious.

Did you have any entertainment during the day or evening?
We had a clarsach player during the drinks reception prior to the meal. After the meal, we had the Nicky McMichan ceilidgh band who were great fun followed by a DJ. The band was a great way to break the ice between guests who would not necessarily have talked to each other.

Did you have a gift list? If so, who did you have your list with?
We had two guest lists: one with John Lewis and a charity list with World Vision. We also requested Marks and Spencer's vouchers as an alternative.

Where did you spend your first night and honeymoon? Who did you book your honeymoon with?
We spent our first night at the hotel. We stayed in a beautiful suite overlooking the loch and it was lovely to wake up the next morning to watch the sunrise over the loch. We then went to Singapore for five days and stayed at Raffles, which was sheer luxury. Our main trip is to Japan in May for two weeks. We are starting off in Tokyo and ending up in Kyoto. It is really good to have something to look forward to after the excitement of the wedding has died down.

What was your most memorable moment of the day?
There are too many to count! The service was beautiful and holds so many memories in itself. Arriving back at the hotel with the piper greeting us and walking into the reception and seeing all our friends and family are also fantastic memories for me. Later on in the evening, the dancing was also great fun and has provided many anecdotes amongst our friends!

Did you experience any 'nightmare' moments in the run up to your wedding or on the day?
Generally, organising the wedding was extremely stress-free. The only thing that nearly did go wrong was when two of the ushers suits were lost by an airline the evening before the wedding. Fortunately, they turned up at 11pm that night! By that time though, there was very little we could have done except run out and buy some plain suits the next morning so there was no point in getting stressed about it. At the end of the day, we still wanted them to be ushers, irrespective of what they ended up wearing!

Is there anything you would do differently, or any advice you would give to other brides?
I wouldn't change a thing about the day. The best advice I can give is to enjoy the organisation of the wedding and build-up as much as the day itself as it gives you the chance to spend some quality time with your partner, parents and friends. Use the internet/ read magazines for advice and research so you can get a good idea of what you want before you start trailing round the shops and suppliers. That way, you can have a fun shopping trip with your mum/ friends followed by a nice meal and a bottle (or two!) of wine. As we live down in London, it meant that I was organising a lot from a distance but it also meant that we were very focused. By doing the research in advance, whenever we went to Scotland we were able to achieve a lot in a short space of time without any arguments or stress! Finally, don't feel that you have to conform with someone else's idea of what your wedding should be like. It is a very personal thing and whilst it is a good idea to listen to what they have to say if you explain to them the choices you have made and why, they will usually fall into line with you. If they don't, don't let it worry you!
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