SAMI AND KERRIE'S SCOTTISH DIY WEDDING

Today we are enjoying Sami and Kerrie’s wonderful and fun wedding at gorgeous Loch Lomond photographed by Amy Faith.

PROPOSAL

Kerrie proposed to me on my 31st birthday in the deepest depths of March! She met me from work and off we went in an Uber to a mystery location… I was expecting a nice restaurant in Central London… however, as the car continued on I started to realise that we were heading towards Peckham and soon it became apparent to our favourite local park, Telegraph Hill, which overlooks the London skyline. The taxi stops outside the entrance and we disembark… I am now thinking WHAT ON EARTH, itʼs dark, cold and my birthday… and we are wondering into a park rather late at night… what is going on!??! Kerrie took my hand and as we walked around the corner I saw what looked like hundreds of candles laid out on the ground… as I got closer I could also hear a playlist playing some of our favourite music… I still had no idea what was happening. As we got closer, Kerrie took me into the middle of the candles and I realised what it was… She had built me a ‘house of candlesʼ, for those Greys Anatomy fans out there, you will get the significance, but there I was standing in the foundations of our metaphorical future home marked out by hundreds of candles… (I was still thinking, oh this is cute for my birthday but itʼs March, get me indoors!!). Anyhow, then she held my hands and proposed! I was in such shock!! After all of the commotion calmed down and I had said Yes, I suddenly said to Kerrie, ‘How on earth have you done all this aloneʼ… at that point 5 of our closest friends came running out of the bushes with champagne! It was EPIC!

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING DAY IN ONE SENTENCE?

A wondrous mish mash of the both of us, celebrating our love with our nearest and dearest, in the most incredible location, exactly how we wanted it.

WHAT WAS THE THEME AND INSPIRATION FOR THE WEDDING DAY?

We are both extremely passionate about the outdoors, music, food and wine, so we wanted to intertwine this with Kerrieʼs Scottish heritage, combining all aspects to create an inclusive atmosphere for all.

DID YOU STYLE IT YOURSELF?

Yes we did everything ourselves in terms of styling, from the kilts, to the flowers, to the favours and cake. The great thing about our venue, The Cruin, is that they give you a blank canvas and are really flexible about everything! That was really important to us both as we didnʼt want to be dictated to, it was so important that we could bring our own creativity to the day.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE VENUE AND WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT IT?

As above, we choose The Cruin because it offered so much flexibility. We also wanted to get married outside and they have an outside courtyard overlooking Loch Lomond with a jetty (for some fab photos). Another great thing about The Cruin is the wide range of accommodation options there are on site and also closeby. Having met working abroad at Outdoor Wilderness Camps, and having people travelling from all over the world and UK, it was very important to us that all of our guests had the option to come for a long weekend. People stayed in lodges, cottages, BnBʼs, hotels and even a camper van so it really felt like we were all there for a long weekend reunion which made everything all that more special.

FLOWERS & DECORATIONS

We had some flowers arranged for us by a lovely lady from Kerrieʼs hometown called Margaret, she used to do the flowers for the local church and still dabbles now and again. We also wanted wild flowers on the tables so we had a little adventure the day before the wedding to Glasgow flower market and then some wonderful friends arranged them for us on the morning of the wedding.

CAKE

Our cake was actually made for us by one of our closest friends who is a creative goddess! She is a Creative Project Manager during the day, but bakes for a hobby with aspirations of opening her own bakery one day. It was the most beautiful cake!! Cath made us a 3 tiered naked cake which was DELICIOUS!! We also accompanied this cake with a ‘cheese cakeʼ from good old Marks and Spencers – this consists of several different cheeses because Kerrie LOVES cheese and not everyone always wants cake.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

We choose Amy for sooooo many reasons. What was most important for us to find in our photographer

was someone that made us feel comfortable and understood us as a couple. We didnʼt want to be told to do this and pose like that for every over-staged photo. We wanted someone that could capture our personalities in a really beautiful way but also give us a gentle nudge when we needed it. We needed someone we could trust. We wanted different, not run of the mill. And most importantly we wanted someone that shared our passion for the beautiful surroundings that we were in.

We first met Amy at Samiʼs bridesmaid Emmaʼs own wedding in Sorento and she encouraged us to look at Amyʼs portfolio. We did… and we were intrigued… then we saw Emmaʼs wedding photos and we decided if Amy wasnʼt free on our planned date that weʼd change our date to suit her so we could book her!

Amy delivered in abundance on all of our requirements and it was such a stress-free process. We both felt so comfortable around her and trusted her implicitly, thatʼs probably why the photos are so epic because we felt so relaxed. We havenʼt stopped recommending Amy since and we could not be happier with our photos.

WHAT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT AND MOST FUN PART FOR YOU?

The ceremony was probably our absolute favourite. We felt so strongly that we wanted it to be a celebration of our relationship and the celebrant, Clare the Humanist, certainly managed to make that happen. We loved the handfasting and it made the ceremony feel a bit extra ‘Scottishʼ. Not to forget the fact that we both got our dream of being married right there in the great outdoors with the beautiful loch and Ben Lomond in the background.

Other things we loved were how honoured and touched we felt hearing the speeches that everyone wrote/sung.

Kerrie: My highlights include seeing Sami for the first time when I turned that corner to walk down the aisle (you captured that so well) and of course Sami singing during the ceremony, she was so nervous and told me she wasnʼt going to do it beforehand but Iʼm so glad she did.

Sami: I loved the wedding breakfast as we both sat there looking out on our nearest and dearest all in the exact same room at the exact time, itʼs a very bizarre feeling!

We also both loved running down the jetty chasing that rainbow for one of our epic portraits! (Sami lost her shoe in the loch but, in that moment, that was the last thing on our mind.)

WOULD YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR COUPLES PLANNING THEIR WEDDING?

The planning of our wedding seemed to go well, to begin with… it really feels like there isnʼt that much to do, but then about 6 weeks before the day SHIT GETS WILD!!! Honestly, we werenʼt sure if weʼd ever stop making lists of things for us and others to do! There were no real disasters other than the almost- indoors-ceremony [due to the on/off rain showers] but we both feel someone was looking over us and took care of that.

Utilise the support on the day as much as possible and donʼt sweat the small stuff. We went a little ‘Monicaʼ on our bridal party and had them all meet the day before to go through their jobs and give them an itinerary. They all received this well but, then again, we do have an awesome bunch of people behind us.

Choose vendors you have confidence in, i.e. they ‘getʼ you and know what you want. We really felt we nailed that. The venue knew we wanted awesome food; the celebrant knew we wanted a unique and personal ceremony; the venue dressers knew we wanted simple and straight forward; the band knew we wanted banging tunes that people would dance their socks off to; and Amy knew we wanted just a few special family shots and loads of amazing couples portraits that were a bit different, maybe a bit weird but most importantly that we could proudly share and look back on for a long long time to come.

SUPPLIERS

CEREMONY VENUE	The Cruin Loch Lomond
RECEPTION VENUE	The Cruin Loch Lomond
CELEBRANT	Claire Dignance
PHOTOGRAPHY	Amy Faith Photography
DRESS	Benjamin Roberts
SHOES	Faith
HAIR	Get It Glam
MAKE UP	DIY
FLOWERS	DIY
DECORATIONS	All Dressed Up
STATIONERY	Made by venue
CAKE	Gingers Bakery
MUSIC	Sneaky Treacle
PHOTO BOOTH	Booths 4 U
Bridesmaids dresses	Chi Chi London
Groomsmen suits/kilts	Gilt Edged
Bagpiper	Family friend
Flavoured vodka favours	Made by brides