Lindsay and Andrew wanted a wedding that reflected their Scottish heritage so the day was held at Culzean Castle on the Ayrshire coast. The castle is surrounded by 240 hectares of beautiful countryside and inviting sandy beaches and the spectacular views made for the most perfect photographs! Lindsay wore a dramatic Terry Fox gown with tartan Christian Louboutin shoes. Andrew wore a version of a traditional Scottish kilt which was designed by the bride herself.

“Andrew always wanted to get married in a castle in Scotland”, Lindsay began. “Being Canadian where no castles exist, I couldn’t say no! I do not see myself as a princess at all but I just wanted to play off of the beauty and nature of the castle itself with our wedding theme. Because the castle was so magical and elegant, I didn’t want to veer to much away from this but add to it with a bit of quirkiness and fun along with the much needed avant garde.”

“We were engaged for over two years before we actually tied the knot which gave me plenty of time to research and plan. I am notorious for changing my mind like the weather so I guess the most exciting thing was for Andrew to see what exactly I came up with in all of that time. When we first started planning our wedding was going to be in a forest with tree trunks and gold leaf everywhere but instead we ended up with the ‘movie set fairy tale’ – which I now wouldn’t change for the world! The best part of the actual day was the emotion. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house during the ceremony or the speeches. It was truly amazing to share our love with our families and seeing them both come together as one.”

“Although the wedding was very classic and elegant, we made the wedding more of an event and treated it like that from the beginning to end”, she continued. “My dress was not your everyday off the peg wedding dress, it was one of a kind with vintage pearls and jewels hand sewn and although the veil was very classic and vintage I added a bit of Scottish Rock n Roll with my tartan Louboutins. For the reception I wanted to have a bit more fun so I changed my delicate pearls to multi stands of pearls and jewels and a handmade one-of-a-kind headpiece with a teacup and saucer and a little bird on it!”

“The guests received a bit of both of our backgrounds with our favours. Everyone had a teacup, a small bottle of Canadian Maple syrup and some Scottish Shortbread biscuit on their place setting. The guest names were on vintage tags with a silly poem on the back. We had little tricks and treats in every room of the castle like adding flowers to the cannons and pots in the armoury and Georgian kitchen. We played a lot with the flowers and I added special bits and pieces in each room to keep the guests guessing. I loved that our wedding was in so many different rooms and locations of the castle. I loved that it was a flawless day and I loved that our special touches were everywhere.”

“Our biggest expenses were the flowers and our photographer”, Lindsay concluded. “Flowers can make any room look 1000x better and seeing the castle already had the beauty, we felt the flowers would bring a bit of ‘us’ into each room. When Andrew and I got engaged, the first search I did before anything was for the perfect photographer. After a long search I found Claire Penn Photography on Facebook. Booking her was one of my best decisions for the entire wedding. She was just starting out and I was her very first wedding enquiry and the first bride to book. Claire was different to many many other wedding suppliers we dealt with. She has since became friends with my sister, a fellow photographer in Canada, and she was also interested in my life adventures other than the wedding plans. I was in constant contact with Claire throughout the two years we were planning the wedding and I would recommend her to any bride looking for love and support from day one. She filled my brief to the moon and back and I am certain we will keep in touch for many years to follow. In fact, we are already sorting another shoot, our version of a ‘love the dress’… I can’t wait!”