Customised denim jackets for a Scottish castle wedding

When it came to choosing their wedding venue, a castle surrounded by rolling hills and beautiful countryside in Central Scotland stole Laurie and Michael’s hearts. Inspired by the colour palette from the bridesmaids’ dresses and the flowers, art teacher Laurie loved getting the chance to use her talents to create the stationery, seating plan and signs, plus custom cropped denim jackets for the bridal party. Maybe not quite what her mum had in mind when she suggested shrugs, but we love them!

How did you two meet?

Michael and I were set up on a blind date by our mutual friend, Sarah. However it wasn’t all plain sailing at the start, to begin with I was the second choice of set up, with Sarah having already unsuccessfully set Michael up with one of her other friends just a month or so before me! Then Michael didn’t actually show up to the first date that was set, calling off sick (though I think it was a hangover reading between the lines!). When we finally did manage to meet up, it was a roaring success and we were inseparable from then on.

Just under three years later, during an amazing holiday to the tiny and remote island of Tioman in Malaysia, where we were visiting Michael’s cousin Niall, a dive instructor, Michael got down on one knee during a snorkelling trip in the sea and the rest is history.

What inspired your wedding plans?

I designed my own stationery using images I had drawn of the venue and flowers that had been planned for in the bouquets. I used the colour scheme from the bridesmaids’ dresses and the flowers to design and paint the floral motif from the invites onto boards for the seating plans and boards to welcome guests to the wedding. This was great as it used my artistic talent (I’m an art teacher) and cost almost nothing.

Our favours were raspberry jams made by my dad and mint jelly made by my aunt, all using local produce from near where they live. I decorated the jam jars with labels using the same floral motif and tied name tags onto them so they also worked as place settings.

Michael’s brother in law is a baker and made a three tier naked cake for us as our wedding gift. The flavours were red velvet, lemon drizzle and carrot.

Sophie at Cosmos Floral Design was brilliant and completely exceeded my expectations when I saw all the bouquets on the morning of the wedding. She also did all our table flowers, flowers for the cake, buttonholes and a few bits and pieces to go on different signs and tables throughout the ceremony.

Sophie listened so carefully to what I wanted and the colours we were using for the bridesmaid dresses, and used all that information to create the perfect rose arrangements for our wedding.

Our jeweller, Tim made a fabulous shaped wedding band to match and fit the antique diamond ring that used to belong to my Gran.

Tell us about your venue…

We went to see Culcreuch initially because of its proximity to Killearn, where Michael comes from. When we visited it was the most dreich rainy and dark August day and we absolutely loved the overcast lighting and the looming castle in the drizzle. I am probably the only bride who’s been happy when, after this summer’s heatwave it absolutely hammered with rain on our wedding day. In fairness, we had a good mix of very heavy rain and then bursts of sunshine where there were guests with their shades on!

It also stood out to me because the staff were so lovely and answered every question I didn’t even know I had, before I could even think to ask it! They just filled me with confidence that they were really organised and had every detail under control, so I knew we could relax and enjoy our day because we would be in capable hands.

We love your dress! Tell us more…

I loved the bridesmaid dresses in Monsoon and knew that was where I wanted to get my dresses. When I went with my bridesmaids to try on their dresses, I fell in love with the bridal dresses too!

At that point I had already tried on other dresses previously and had pretty much settled on one from a shop all the way down in London. However, the range and quality of the dresses in Monsoon made me rethink that decision.

My mum had worried for ages about the bridesmaids maybe being cold on the day (even though it was July!) and had been trying to get some sort of shrug to cover their shoulders. I searched for ages and there wasn’t anything that I really liked, or that I felt wouldn’t look too stiff or formal on the day.

In the end I got some cute cropped denim jackets from ASOS and customised them with our names painted on the back. I liked the crop on the jackets because it sat just at the point where the waist of the dresses was. I only revealed to my mum on the morning of the wedding that the shrugs I’d told her ages ago I’d sorted out were in fact denim jackets!

Michael wanted the Hunting Buchanan tartan as it is our family tartan. The ‘hunting’ version of the tartan is a softer dark green compared with the brighter colours of the standard Buchanan tartan. Slanj were the only kilt company we could find who stocked the Hunting Buchanan to hire.

Your photos are beautiful, you must love them!

Working with Elaine was 100% the best wedding decision we made. So much of the day feels like a blur, but her amazing photos just captured the whole feel of the day perfectly and more specifically all the tiny little special glances between guests and quiet moments of happiness that go on at weddings.

I swear she is a ninja because it almost felt like she wasn’t there, yet she must have been everywhere because she captured everything and everyone. She is also such a genuinely lovely person and was so fun to have in the room with us on the morning of the ceremony whilst we were getting ready.

We did a couples shoot with her about a month before the wedding and that was brilliant, just the best opportunity to get rid of any worries or awkward anxieties we had about posing for photos or getting to know Elaine. It made both of us really look forward to getting our pictures taken on the actual day, which isn’t something I would have ever thought I would have said!

A wedding video was the one thing I was absolutely adamant I didn’t ever want. Having spoken to friends and family who had already been married it was the one thing they all advised we should do!

When it was explained to me that there would be lots of parts of the day that as the bride I wouldn’t be present to see, for example the guests arriving at the ceremony, then I was convinced it would be a great idea. The whole Boda team were fantastic to work with and we can’t wait to see our final video!

What was your first dance song?

Our first dance was to ‘In my Life’ from The Beatles Rubber Soul album. Michael is a lifelong Beatles fan, and this is one of his favourites.

Brother Man were the perfect wedding band, they sounded absolutely amazing and all the guests said they were one of the best wedding bands they had ever heard. The dancefloor was jumping all night!

Stuart from The Wellgreen was one of Michael’s ushers (and friend since childhood) and together with his bandmate Danny (and their guitars) they led all the wedding guests in a surprise rendition of ‘All you need is Love’ by the Beatles as the finale of the best man Andy’s speech.

Any advice?


Everyone will tell you to ‘take a moment’ during the day to stop and drink it all in. Our venue was amazing and actually stole Michael and I away from all our guests and family for 15 quiet minutes together before we went into dinner. It was the best chance to reflect on how the day had gone up to that point, catch our breath and actually talk to each other!

Accept help. Lots of people will offer to help out with things, but I didn’t accept enough of it and did far too much myself.

Everyone comes to a wedding ready to enjoy themselves, let them get on with that, and don’t spend any of your day worrying about whether people are enjoying themselves, trust that they are!

What’s the one truly unforgettable thing about your wedding day?

Looking around and seeing everyone you know and love in the one place, all there to celebrate and share in a happy occasion.

You just can’t go wrong with a denim jacket – bet these custom cover ups will get worn over and over again. Hope you had an amazing honeymoon in Cyprus Laurie & Michael and thanks for sharing your wonderful day with us! x