Midsummer Woodland Wedding at Murthly

Both these fantastic pictures by Anna Urban

Lovely reminder just appeared from this time last year,of this stunning international occasion held for Mila & Christie up in the woods beside Murthly Castle.

The whole event was set to reflect their national colours - including me!
The ceremony was in two languages throughout, with colour coded Orders of Ceremony containing translations of most of the words spoken, so that neither the Portuguese or the English speakers would miss any of the ceremony, should that bit be delivered in the other tongue.

It took a lot of work from Mila to get that all accomplished, but I think if you had asked either of their grandmothers on the day, they would have told you it was well worth the effort!

Whole article and lots more photos in the 'Love my Dress' website can be seen here:  Love My Dress

Murthly Castle: Max & Hannah

Photographs by Ricky Baillie

I'm very excited to share these pictures, and had a hard time choosing as you can see...While the actual ceremony was in Murthly Castle Chapel, with the reception in a Triple Tepee in the walled garden there, the Brides Team got ready at Eastwood House, and the Grooms Team got ready at Dunkeld House - so between them they covered almost all my most local venues...in fact a few photos over at the Hermitage would have completed the set!

Anyway, the Chapel is amazing in many ways...the colours, the history, the artworks, the positive feel of the place, and indeed the family who care for it and by whom it is still used by as a place of worship, as well as allowing Humanist's like myself to conduct ceremonies there.

...and although I've conducted several over the years, I have so far failed spectacularly to get any decent photos...So Hannah sending these through and saying I can take my pick pretty much made my day, and I couldn't wait to get them up here! 

Photographs by Ricky Baillie

 Hannah & Max fell in love with the place on their first speculative visit, and wanted to get all the family and friends away from the usual haunts in Edinburgh for the celebrations.

They'd been together for over 10 years already, and are very close to all of each others families and friends, so there weren't going to be any awkward introductions or quiet tables at the meal, and that familiarity also meant that they felt comfortable enough to be absolutely themselves, and pretty relaxed - even in all their finery, and standing in front of everyone.

Photographs by Ricky Baillie

Who says veils don't work on windy days? Depends what you want to use them for!

Photographs by Ricky Baillie

In contrast to the drama of the setting the ceremony itself was elegantly simple and flowed beautifully, with a string quartet playing and particularly lovely readings, but no handfasting, candles or anything...just beautiful words about Hannah & Max themselves, their lives together and their friends and families...and several teasing mentions of their devotion to food!

Photographs by Ricky Baillie

 The vows were simple but heartfelt too, borrowed from the work of Bertrand Russell

Today I marry my Best friend,

The one I have laughed and cried with,

The one I have learned from and shared with,

The one I have chosen to support, encourage,

And give myself to, 

Through all the days given us to share.

Today I marry the one I love.

Thank you for letting me share a few glimpses of your day guys, and my very best wishes for the future.

Links below to the Venue at Murthly Estate and to the Photographer, Ricky Baillie

Photographs by Ricky Baillie

http://www.rickybaillie.com/edinburgh-wedding-photographer-ricky-baillie-latest-weddings-blog/


http://www.murthly-estate.com/

Alina & Andrew at Gaurdswell Farm

As promised below when I posted about the very first ceremony at Gaurdswell Farm a few weeks ago, I now have some lovely photos from the bride and groom to share, and they each give me an opertunity to talk about why they are the way they are...so first up, the big KISS moment!

Photo by Michele Lamb

I try really hard not to photobomb my couples big moments, so as seen here, I am WAY off to the side while they share their vows and exchange their wedding rings...which most often puts me out of shot when the moment happens.

I have several reasons for this, but the first, most important and most obvious one is that this is very much THEIR moment, and the ceremony is about them, and they don't need a strangers face between theirs in the pictures that will grace their Mums mantelpiece for ever more!...as a side note, we blew out the candles you can see on the left there just after this, as there was a definite risk to bridesmaids frocks when they all stood for photos.

Next one shows that maybe I'm not a total stranger by this point...

Photo by Michele Lamb

I always (aim to!) arrive an hour before things are due to start.

First off I need to know that if I get lost, delayed by traffic, or some sort of natural disaster, I should still be able to get there on time. Once I arrive I will check that the legal paperwork is there too - so if it is not, we can hopefully retreive it from whereever it has been left. With legal paperwork assured I have time to move furniture if needed, chat with photographers; venue hosts; bridesmaids; groomsmen; readers; musicians - and as seen here - might have a chance to chat with the bride herself, often with accompanying Mums, frocks, fizz and make-up artists!

With Alina I had to check a few of my pronounciations (again!) as we had a properly international gathering, and I'm loath to trip over someones name as I introduce them!

I trully love that brides room buzz, with the excitment almost as thick in the air as the hairspray, and as noted in my first post about Gaurdswell, the accomodations were pretty lavish, so I had a good Oooo and Ahhh as well!

After that, with all my checks made and everyone happy about how it's all going to go, it's into my suit, a fresh coat of lippy, and sit quietly in a corner out of the way until we're good to go!

And after it's all done....

Photo by Michele Lamb

...well...I can't say it's my favourite photo of myself, but I am one of those folk with the 'expressive'  faces (plasticine?) so still shots are not always kind (another reason not to photobomb my couples!) ...but I do enjoy chatting with guests after the ceremony, and I take photos too...even though they are generaly not good enough to use on here, I still like to 'collect' all my couples...which sounds a bit creepy now that I write it down!

Alina and Andrew, thanks for sending me these through, and for sharing your day at Gaurdswell Farm with us all, and as I said in the other post - I'm so glad you took that leap of faith booking a stone shell and some mud with an amazing view!

Erica & Joachim, Inchyra Byre, April 2017

This photo is by me, which is why it's not so good...but it was such a lovely scene I had to try...

I first met these two down at the McRobert centre at Stirling Uni 18 months ago, and we've met several times since then...and it has always been great fun! We practiced Handfasting in a cafe in Perth one afternoon, much to the amusement of the folk at the next table, who were kind enough to wish them all the best for the wedding when we left!

 ...i'd like to say that we started on time, as Erica was all dressed, coifed, primped and ready to head down the aisle, but the bus that was bringing most of the guests from Stirling got caught in the tailback from the roadwork’s at Broxden...so for once we had the bride waiting for the guests, rather than the guests waiting for the bride!

That kind of delay may be inevitable on occasion, and it is usually not a problem to hold things up for a wee while, but it can be worth checking local events and letting your guests know if a delay is likely...so Highland Games, sports events and music festivals have all caused delays to ceremonies I was conducting...but the record goes to one much loved but slightly dotty Gran who took an alternative route the whole way round Loch Tay to get to the Kenmore Hotel...we started 75 minutes late...but the guests were in fine voice by then since they had been in the bar all that time, so the upside was that the singing was braw!

No singing at Jo & Erica's ceremony...but a great competition that was to run all day...Jo is a serious Star Wars geek, and the guests could earn 'nerd' points by spotting all the references or lines they managed to sneak into the speeches and the ceremony...I suspect there was a line in the vows too, but I'll have to watch all the films again to be sure!

I really couldn't choose which pictures to go with here, so here's a link to the Photographers page too, and can see them all!
https://picturesque-by-mr-and-mrs-m.smartslides.com/erica-jo

The huge flower heart was made by Louise, a friend of the bride...and many couples used it as a backdrop for photos of themselves in their glad rags after the ceremony, an unintended bonus!

Photo by 'Picturesque, by Mr and Mrs M'

Photo by 'Picturesque, by Mr and Mrs M'

 

Wooden Quaich, wax finished so the whisky wouldn't taste of linseed oil!

I bought this one for a friends wedding toasts, and their preference was for a more rustic feel, rather than pewter or silver with knotwork. Hand turned by Ian Strachan of Eskdale Bowl & Quaich.

Congratualtions to Jester & Anna...sorry I couldn't be there!

Leanne & Alex at Dunkeld House

This was one of those perfect summer days in Perthshire...and it feels so right that you can trully imagine it being like this all the time! Though everyone was dressed up and the setting was rather grand, the wedding still managed to feel small and relaxed with lots of laughs, and really personal vows spoken by both the Bride & Groom.

Down by the river after the ceremony. Photo by David Lozowy.

I took this one myself...just amazed that so much of the river bed was exposed...where Alex & Leanne are standing will 20 feet under the Tay by the end of November!

Don't tell the Bride!

John & Jackie Clark at Strathallan Castle...who brought me three of the craziest weeks of my life as we got ready for and filmed 'Don't tell the Bride'. My only irritation with the show was that John of course wrote the ceremony with me - as well as organising everything else,  and they never gave him any credit for the huge amount of work he did on that side of the planning, and at that time he was the first groom to have had to do so on the series...and I thought he did a brilliant job of it!