A relaxed barn wedding in Dumfries & Galloway

Inspired by their travels together and mutual love of gin, WFIL readers Jane and Mark personalised their modern barn wedding with lots of DIY touches. From the homemade Limoncello and bramble gin favours to the world map table plan, we are loving their work!

How did you two meet?

Mark and I met at the rugby club where he plays. They had a ladies night which I went along to with my mum, sister and best friend. They had a catwalk set up and the boys modelled a range of things from evening wear to swimwear! Mark was one of the models and was introduced at the start of the night as being an accountant, his favourite destination was Cuba and he made a mean mojito. I turned to my mum and said ‘I think that guy is the one for me’, to which my mum agreed! We got talking later that night and the rest, as they say, is history!

We were together for 7 years before Mark finally proposed! We were up early thanks to jet lag on the rooftop of our hotel in Havana and I was busy taking pictures of the sunrise and turned to find him on one knee. It was so romantic and I cried a lot! It was really nice for us to enjoy that time together on our own then celebrate with everyone when we got home.

Tell us about your venue…

Scotland is home for us and we both love it! We both have big close families and the most important thing for us was that they could all be there to celebrate with us, so we decided that we wanted to have our wedding here in Scotland.

We both loved the idea of having a relaxed barn wedding where we could spend a few days and really enjoy celebrating and spending time with our family and friends. We ideally wanted to get married within a year or so, which limited our choice quite a bit as most venues that ticked the boxes weren’t available.

In the end we heard about GG’s Yard through word of mouth as it was still pretty new and wasn’t on a lot of wedding websites. We went to see a couple of other venues but as soon as we walked into GG’s we both knew it was the venue for us. It was so open and bright and had lots of nice spaces so that if the weather was rubbish, which was highly likely (we have the worst luck in the world with weather!), it wouldn’t matter.

Vicky, the venue owner showed us around and her ideas and vision just completely mirrored our own and everything was finished to such a beautiful standard. She inspired so much confidence that we wanted to sign up there and then! We absolutely loved all the small personal touches all over the place and we got such a good vibe from the whole venue.

All the staff at GG’s Yard were amazing. Julie, the front-of-house manager, was just brilliant, she was so helpful and supportive and helped me keep calm on the day. Jamie, the head chef, created an absolute dream for our wedding breakfast. He listened to all our ideas and the food was absolutely delicious. We’ve had so many comments from guests saying it was the best meal they’ve ever had at a wedding and it really was! He also assembled our cake, which I only asked of him the day before and, having only seen one picture of what I was thinking, he made it exactly what I wanted.

Duncan and Vicky, the venue owners, were fantastic as was Jackie, the venue manager. Nothing was too much trouble and they really went out of their way to make the day wonderful, from bringing us breakfast from the cafe while we were getting ready to answering all my crazy emails in the run up to the day. They just made our wedding the best day of our lives and we can’t thank them enough!

What inspired your wedding plans and styling?

I knew about We Fell in Love from when my sister got married and loved looking at all the real weddings and reading everyone’s stories, so when I was planning my own wedding I was straight back on it looking at all the pictures for inspiration for the big day! There were so many lovely stories and I loved looking at all the personalised touches people had made, to make their day special.

I had an idea of what I was after for the flowers and after searching Pinterest and looking at blogs, I settled on unstructured with neutrals, lots of foliage and a pop of colour. I’d seen a few bouquets that our florist, Maybelle had done for previous weddings that I loved, so I gave her ideas of flowers I particularly wanted and an idea of colours, then left the rest to her!

I’ve done the table flowers and decor at a few family weddings and loved how it brought all the girls together the day before, so I was really keen to do that again. Maybelle organised a couple of big tubs of flowers which we then arranged ourselves which was perfect and they turned out amazing! Maybelle was brilliant, she’s GG’s in house florist and one of the aunties and it was so lovely that it’s a family run affair. She knew exactly what I wanted and everything was just perfect. The table display she did was magnificent and my bouquet was absolutely gorgeous, as were the bridesmaid’s bouquets!

Our celebrant, Kathryn Hanson from Independent Humanist Ceremonies was such a sweetie and she really helped us to completely personalise our ceremony and gave us lots of great suggestions for things to include. We had a traditional Scottish hand-fasting and a candle lighting ceremony, which were both brilliant!

I really liked the idea of personalising the venue as much as possible to represent us as a couple. We didn’t have a theme as such but we both love to travel and having spent a year travelling together, we wanted to incorporate some of that into our wedding. I’d seen table plans using maps and I loved the idea, so we bought a worldwide map with a frame and chose our favourite places as the table names which we then pinned on the map. We printed Polaroid style pictures of us in each place and had them on the tables as table names. We’re both lovers of gin as well, so had a different bottle of gin on each table as a vase with a few jam jars.

For the favours we made our own Limoncello and bramble gin, and decanted them into little bottles with a tag saying ‘Take a shot, we tied the knot’ which I saw on Pinterest and thought was a lovely little touch.

We also made our own signs from floorboards, old drawers and a pallet! A friend of ours does calligraphy writing, so she wrote all the signs for us. We then decorated them with flowers and ivy, and they looked amazing! I also bought some artificial flowers and fixed them in with the real ones, which worked well.

The day before the wedding I had lots of helpers to arrange all the flowers which we put into the gin bottles, jam jars and lovely big vases that friends had lent us and made posies tied to wicker hearts to go on the end of the chairs, along the aisle. My mum, mother-in-law and I dried petals throughout the year which we used for confetti, which turned out nicely and we also picked a whole load of rosemary from our various gardens and used them for the place settings with place cards that I’d written. Our brother-in-law built us a letterbox to put cards in and we made a picture for everyone to sign instead of a guest book so that we can frame it and have it on our wall to look at in the years to come.

We found a lovely invitation by a designer on Etsy. It had a stag’s head entwined with beautiful flowers. I’m totally obsessed with stags so I fell in love with it immediately! It also tied in nicely with the venue as their logo is a stag’s head and they have a large stag that sits proudly in the venue. I wanted a slightly different image to what was online so I contacted the designer and described what I was after. He then made up the design and sent us the PDF to print off. We used Printed.com to print the invitations. They had lots of options for types of card and it was really easy to do.

I didn’t want to spend a lot on a cake so I had the crazy idea that I could make it myself but after realising that would likely cause me a lot of stress, we decided to get a naked tiered sponge cake from Waitrose. We then bought a topper from Not on the High Street and the florist wired fresh flowers for us. I also picked up some fresh fruit and the chef at GG’s then assembled it for us, and it looked amazing!

We love your dress! Tell us more…

I had no idea what sort of style of dress to go for when I set out. I thought maybe something with beading as I like 1920s style dresses but I’m quite busty so I wasn’t sure what would suit me and I found looking at dresses online confusing because there’s so much choice!

Gwenne’s is close to where we live and after a few recommendations I decided to go with my mum and bridesmaids and tried on every type of style I could find! Steph was really supportive and gave me very honest opinions when I was trying dresses on, which I really appreciated.

In the end the lovely 1920s style beaded ones didn’t suit me at all and my sister picked out a completely plain strapless number by Sweetheart Gowns which I’d not thought much of on the hanger but when I tried it on I just fell in love with it. It had a fitted bodice with a floaty skirt that had an organza overlay and pockets which I absolutely loved! I went to a couple of other shops just to be sure but nothing else really stood out, so I settled on the Gwenne’s one.

It was very plain and also strapless, which I’m not that into, so I decided I wanted to get a jacket made to go over it. I got in touch with Gemma Sargent who makes bespoke wedding dresses. I went in with an idea of what I wanted and after lots of discussions and various fittings, I completely changed my mind! Gemma was amazing, she had so many ideas and despite me being super nervous she kept me sane and I just knew that it would look fab, which it absolutely did!

What started as a jacket turned into a fitted bodice with straps after lots of chats, fittings and panics from me! Gemma had so many ideas and, as I wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking for, she really helped me to come up with a plan of what I wanted for the dress. She showed me lots of different lace and I finally settled on a 3D lace called Jordana that was really delicate with lovely flowers.

My mum also bought me a gorgeous pearl and diamonte belt to wear with it, which Gemma incorporated into the dress. I was so nervous about it looking good but I honestly shouldn’t have been as it was absolutely fabulous! Gemma did an amazing job and it fitted like a glove.

I had always dreamed of treating myself to a pair of Louboutins for my wedding day. I had settled on a pair of black patent ones until I spotted a pair of insanely high, teal velvet ones (that also happened to be in the sale, yay!) and instantly fell in love with them. Mark then offered to buy them for my birthday so it was a win win! I didn’t want to ruin them or my feet (!) on the day so I changed into a pair of nude Primark sandals after the photos, which was a good shout. Everyone kept asking to see my lovely shoes but I had to confess I’d already swapped out of them!

I wore antique drop gold and pearl earrings which were a gift from Mark’s mum with a matching pearl and diamond necklace that Mark gave me. I also wore a pearl bracelet that belonged to my late gran as my ‘something old’ and a gold bracelet that my dad had given me. My ‘something borrowed’ and ‘something blue’ was my sister’s garter that she lent me!

It took me forever to decide on what I wanted for the bridesmaids and after seeing a number of different blogs I thought that it would be nice for them all to wear different dresses as the four girls all have different figures and I didn’t want to force them into the same dress. Since I hadn’t suited the beaded wedding dress, I decided they should wear beads instead! I found a lovely style by Adrianna Papelle on John Lewis which I managed to get in the sale for two of the girls and another one that was a different style but by the same designer on Ebay. My sister’s dress was a surprise find in Quiz which she then had altered to a v-neck, which looked amazing!

And what about Mark’s outfit?

Mark really likes his own kilt so he decided to wear it and have a new jacket and waistcoat made. Very conveniently my best friend (and bridesmaid’s!) husband’s company, St Kilda Store make kilts and all things to go with it, so he helped Mark decide what kind of jacket to go for and also helped him decide what the boys should wear.

Mark decided on a light blue tweed jacket and matching waistcoat to go with his green kilt, with green socks and brown brogues. He wore his late dad’s Zenith watch and blue tweed tie on the day. We updated the watch with a green alligator strap which looked great! It was really special for Mark to wear them since he couldn’t be there with us.

Both of us liked the idea of the boys all wearing different kilts and jackets that toned but didn’t match, so we asked the boys what they liked and they chose their own. Mark gave each of the boys a different coloured tweed tie to wear on the day, which looked really nice. Mark also had a new leather sporran made with his and his dad’s rugby club’s badges embossed on the back, which was a really nice touch.

Your photos are beautiful!

Becky, Ena May Photography, was the second photographer at my sister’s wedding five years ago and we have so many gorgeous pictures in our house that she took from that day.

She was really helpful for inspiration for venues when we were planning and we got on so well that we decided we wanted her to photograph our wedding. Her photos are candid and I just love how natural they are.

Our photos are exactly that and really represent the day and how amazing it was! Becky is so down to earth and a great laugh and will go the extra mile to get the pictures that you really want. She was an absolute superstar and I can’t recommend her enough!

What was your first dance song?

We don’t really have a song as such, so we were pretty stuck on what to go for. We then heard Tom Walker’s ‘Just you and I’. It came out not long before the wedding and after listening to the lyrics we felt it summed us up perfectly, and we thought – “That’s the song for us!”.

The band were brilliant! They played our first dance beautifully and had an amazing range of tunes which had everyone up dancing all night. They also threw in a few ceilidh dances throughout the night which are always great for getting everyone up and are so much fun, especially since we had lots of foreign visitors!

GG’s had a baby grand piano and they recommended a local guy who came and played the piano during our wedding breakfast, which was just lovely. He played a real range of old and new music and everyone commented on how nice it was.

Were there any challenges along the way?

Mark’s dad sadly passed away the Christmas before the wedding, which was really hard for us all but having something so happy to look forward to kept us busy and brought us all closer together, which was lovely. I also lost my gran around the same time, so it was a difficult time for everyone. We incorporated them into our ceremony by having a candle lighting ceremony to remember those who couldn’t be there with us, which made it more special for us.

We also decided to have a few get togethers before the wedding for my birthday and also a big party the following day. In hindsight, planning three different events was maybe a bit much. We were both absolutely shattered by the end of the week!

Did you manage to stick to your budget?

Erm, not really! We got a bit carried away and probably underestimated a few of the costs but I saved money on my shoes, so we were all good!

Honeymoon or minimoon?


We went to the Lake District for a couple of days for a minimoon after the wedding. We stayed at the Low Wood Bay Hotel which was right on Lake Windermere and it was just perfect. The spa was gorgeous and we relaxed and ate and drank, and just enjoyed each other’s company, which was just what we needed.

We are going on a safari to Kenya then on to South Africa for our honeymoon. We are both so excited and literally can’t wait!

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

We sneaked off down to the beach for some photos during the reception and it was so good to have a few moments where it was just the two of us (and Becky!), to take some time out and reflect on the day. We danced and laughed, and we now have some of the most beautiful photos to look back on and our happiness is reflected in them.

Jane & Mark’s wedding advice

1. Go with whatever you want to do for your big day. People will have their own ideas of what they think you should do but in the end it’s your day, so go with what will make you happy. We had a bit of opposition for our choice of venue in the beginning because it was far away but we stuck with our instincts and once everyone was there and saw the venue, they all loved it and actually everyone loved having a few days away to really enjoy themselves.

2. Invest in a good photographer that you get on well with. We had a total giggle with Becky and she made us feel so relaxed and that resulted in simply beautiful photos! I would also recommend getting a good band, they really livened the place up and made sure the dancefloor was full all night!

3. Pinterest is amazing for inspiration but I had to take time out from it as I found it a bit overwhelming. I also realised early on that my budget probably wouldn’t stretch to a lot of the things I saw on there! Blogs were great for inspiration too and I found them really helpful for ideas on things I could personalise. Don’t stress too much over having a theme. Choose things that reflect your personalities and it will all come together! We had a total collection of different themes and it all looked super!

4. Try not to get too hung up on the weather, especially in Scotland. The weather is unpredictable here, which we were expecting and true to form it was pretty wet and wild on the day but it cleared up for us to pop down to the beach for some pictures and the best pictures we have are ones where it was a bit grey and stormy. The landscape here is so beautiful which makes for amazing pictures!

We had one of the worst days in May in years but it literally didn’t matter one bit! We still had the best day of our lives despite not being able to have drinks out on the terrace.The venue was so lovely and we were too busy having such a great time that we didn’t notice the rain! You also really can’t beat a good ceilidh for getting everyone up dancing and having a great time. Plan for the worst and hope for the best would be my advice!

5. Lastly, enjoy the process and try not to get too stressed! I made sure that we’d booked the big things early then everything else just really followed from that. Try not to let it take over your lives and remember that you’re marrying your best friend and soulmate and they will love you however you look and really in the end the small things that maybe don’t turn out as you’d planned really don’t matter. What matters the most is the two of you and all the special people in your lives who come to share your day with you.

Love this advice from Jane and Mark – especially when it comes to rolling with the Scottish weather and investing in a great photographer, who you can feel relaxed with. Their photos say it all!  x