A polytunnel ceremony for a Harley-Davidson bride

Melanie and Richard fell in love with their venue the moment they drove up the driveway. They were married in the tranquil setting of Colstoun House’s walled garden (in a beautifully decorated polytunnel!) then partied the night away in the coach house. Determined to do things her own way, Melanie arrived at the ceremony on the back of her dad’s Harley-Davidson – talk about making an entrance!

How did you two meet?

So I hate this bit…….we met on Tinder. My friend Samantha encouraged me to join and a girly night and a few wines later I reluctantly agreed, she signed me up and we started scrolling. I never thought any more about it after that night until I was bored one night and thought “what the hell”…..and the rest is history.

What inspired your wedding plans?

The amazing thing with Colstoun is it’s a blank canvas, but a beautiful one at that. If you don’t want to do anything to it décor wise it’ll still look great but Colstoun really do want you to make the venue your own for your big day and are happy to help you achieve this or leave you to it. We had a fairly relaxed rustic theme.

We Fell in Love was something I looked at so many times. It was a great place to start when looking for suppliers. Anyone we found on We Fell In Love was already booked on our day but would always make sure they recommended someone who they had worked with or had a working relationship with. It had an amazing community feel to it. Also a great place to remind you of everything else you need to book – haha!

Tell us more about your venue…

I remember scrolling through a huge list of venues – all beautiful and all special in their own individual way but I didn’t find one that felt quite right or where I wouldn’t have to sacrifice something I wanted.

I stumbled across Colstoun’s website accidentally. I took a break and came back to my laptop, a few clicks later there it was. There wasn’t a huge amount about the venue/wedding packages online but I thought I would book in anyway and see what there was to offer, if nothing else a trip to Haddington is always good.

Richard and I headed along one Sunday afternoon, as soon as we drove down the driveway I was sold… that was only the driveway. We met Lynn and she showed us around the whole estate – with each turn it got better and better. We started in the house, a huge old Scottish house which had gorgeous big rooms all named after their theme, The Red Room, The India Room – I loved it. All so quirky but so practical too. The bathrooms were also HUGE!! Exactly what you need when you have packed everything but the kitchen sink for the big day.

We then walked down the small pathway to the coach house which is where we held our reception. The coach house is so beautiful without any decoration, a stone wall covered in fairy lights, the beams, the doors, everything was stunning and we were still only half way round. We moved through to the courtyard that leads on from the coach house, little tables and a firepit made it the perfect place to relax and really take in the beauty of the venue. We walked round and saw some of the cottages that can be used by guests. Then there was the polytunnel……..the absolute icing/cherry and everything else on the cake.

We viewed Colstoun at the end of Jan/mid Feb… Lynn was talking about the polytunnel as a potential ceremony venue. Richard and I side-eyed each other thinking this lady was crazy but she was right, it was absolutely stunning once it was all set up and we decided to book Colstoun right there and then.

We love your dress!

I had no idea what I wanted. I tried on a couple of very different styles to rule out styles I didn’t like. My dress was the third one I tried on the first time I went shopping but I didn’t decide on it straight away. It wasn’t one I had picked out myself and I wanted to make sure there weren’t any others that I liked as much.

I definitely didn’t have the eureka moment of knowing that was the one but I definitely picked the right dress and loved how comfortable it was to wear all day.

I wore a one tier chapel length veil and a hair vine, which was my something borrowed from my sister-in-law.

Richard wasn’t keen on wearing a kilt, being Yorkshire born. He and his best man had custom-made waistcoats and jackets with matching tartan trews in the Davidson tartan.

You look like you’re having a lot of fun in your photos!

I hate getting my picture taken and I was actually getting sweaty palms at the thought of having to “pose” in my wedding pictures, something I hadn’t really thought of. All of Fraser’s photos looked so natural and none of them were very stiff or structured.

He did not disappoint, our photos were everything we wanted and more… he captured our day perfectly and you can just feel all the emotion of the day through the photos. The food, music and everything else that goes along with your wedding is important but for me your photos are the only thing you take away from your wedding and keep for years. So for me a photographer is the biggest gamble as you don’t know how the photos will look until after the day has passed… We were just so thrilled with them. Our poppy field photo is our favourite.

What was your first dance song?

Richard and I spent a few moths living in Georgia, USA at the start of our relationship. We loved country music (influenced by my Dad mainly) before we went but really fell in love with it whilst there and it reminded us of our time in the US.

We picked Easton Corbin’s “Are You With Me”. Our DJ was also our MC for the day, he was great at keeping everyone entertained and making sure everyone was in the right place too. The dancefloor was always busy but the highlight was when James suggested doing some ceilidh dancing, I could tell there were a few groans but James took the traditional ceilidh idea and modernised it – that’s all I’ll say. Before long everyone was up on the floor, and I mean everyone, and it was probably the best bit of the day.

Honeymoon or minimoon?

We had a couple of days in North Berwick after our wedding. We love it there and it’s the perfect place to relax. We then went to Mexico for 2.5 weeks in September.

Any advice?


Never forget the reason you are getting married, you can get caught up in all the organising and it can be really stressful at times. Planning a wedding is a true testament to your relationship (ironically), much like building Ikea furniture.

It’s a day to celebrate you both as a couple. Everyone said to me ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff, you probably won’t even notice it on your day’ and it’s true. Take the time to enjoy it and take moments to yourself to just look at your guests having a great time and remember they are all there to celebrate you as a couple. It’s a really lovely feeling.

What’s the one moment you’ll always remember?

The poppyfield. We were so lucky, this will never flower again and although Fraser was suffering from hayfever he was determined this would be a great photo opportunity and he was right. That’s dedication.

The fact I was a biker bride – something my dad was happy about too! Much to my mother’s horror, I hopped on the back of my dad’s bike once we were all glammed and he whisked me down to our ceremony venue.

And also just the fact we had all of our loved ones all in the same room celebrating with us. We felt extremely lucky.

Motorbikes, boats, Landrovers… we love seeing all the different ways WFIL readers arrive at their weddings! You’re an adventurous crew and we couldn’t love it more. Thanks for sharing your incredible day with us Melanie & Richard! x