Wild rustic blooms for a relaxed summer wedding

A homely-feeling historic house in Aberdeenshire was the relaxed setting for Annabel and Colin’s summer wedding. They ditched the traditions that didn’t resonate with them to create a personal day filled with DIY touches and lawn games galore. With luscious greens, birch trees, blush flowers and tea lights, plus eucalyptus from Annabel’s Granny’s garden, it was an absolute dream of a day.

How did you two meet?

We’ve been friends since secondary school and got together when I was in my second year of university.

What inspired your wedding plans?

We wanted to make it personal and reflect our personalities as much as possible. We weren’t going to stick to any traditions we didn’t feel we wanted.

We walked down the aisle to a piano version of Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros. Most people know the song from Chicane’s dance remix. It has such a memorable tune and we loved it!

We made our own invitations and Colin did a lot of DIY work. He made all the copper signage, the seating plan and our perspex table numbers. My mum made natural petal confetti which was incredibly pretty and environmentally friendly!

We had our favourite drinks of Pimms and beer served at the drinks reception and my dad, who is a fisherman, supplied lobster he caught himself for canapés. We didn’t have a cutting of the cake or first dance – neither of us like being the centre of attention and we would rather get straight into the ceilidh!

I was so glad that the sun was shining on our day, as we had planned everything around an outdoor drinks reception. We had garden games and a busker singing – we had so many compliments on how good Finn was as a musician and he created the perfect atmosphere for our drinks reception in the garden. My brother made garden jenga from wooden blocks, and we had croquet and ring toss set out in the garden to occupy our guests.

I always think the reception is one of the best parts of a wedding, where you can mingle with all your guests. We decided to have extra canapés instead of a starter so we could prolong this part of the day a little more. Hudsons Catering created unbelievably good food and nothing was a problem for them!

We had a cheese cake from Gourmet Cheese Co. in Aberdeen. Colin’s mum also made a traditional fruitcake to keep the oldies happy!

Tell us more about your venues…

Elsick House was the first venue we visited after getting engaged. After then viewing many more around the North East of Scotland, nowhere else compared. We are both one of four siblings, so we wanted somewhere big enough for all our close family to stay together for the weekend. Elsick has such a homely feel to it and I completely fell in love with the gardens. I loved the grand entrance – it has a long driveway lined with hedges and was a spot that I picked for getting photos taken on the day.

We always knew we wanted to get married in a church and St Machar is such a special one. It’s a beautiful building with lots of history and gave me serious Harry Potter vibes.

How did you style the day?

I instantly fell in love with Karen’s (This Is 36) wild, rustic style blooms. She really got my vision and I had so many compliments on my bouquet on the day. They really were a dream. She even stuck a silver sixpence of my Granny’s (who couldn’t be there on the day) onto my bouquet and used some eucalyptus which was grown in my Granny’s garden.

Isla Duncan had the mammoth task of transforming the white marquee. I wanted lots of greenery, foliage and a rustic style to tie in with my bouquets. Colin and I bought two old fashioned wooden ladders on Gumtree and Isla suspended these from the roof of the marquee – she hung lots of luscious greens, blush flowers and glass baubles with tea lights, which looked amazing. She placed birch trees around the marquee to really bring the gardens of Elsick inside.

And we love your outfits!

Annabel: I knew from the beginning that I didn’t want a princess dress – I wanted something that was comfortable, unique and to reflect my style.

There were two dresses I liked so I went away to think about it. Not long after we went back to try them on again, the assistant then pulled another dress off the rack that was new in that day and when I tried it on I instantly knew it was the one! It had a lace bodice and chiffon skirt and was unique to anything I had ever tried before. I wanted my dress to be ‘me’ and with the comments on the day I achieved that with this dress. I had a long veil with a little sparkle on it to wear at the church – I ended up not taking it off until after the meal as I loved it so much.

Colin: I decided to get a kilt made for our wedding. After a lot of looking through fabric swatches I decided on a Hunting Stewart tweed kilt and brown tweed jacket. Georgian Dress Hire were fantastic through the whole process.

Your photos and film are beautiful!

We liked Nicola’s documentary style and after meeting her we were 100% sure we wanted her as our photographer. She is super nice, funny and reflected the vibe we wanted on our day. I love how she captures the natural moments.

I wasn’t 100% sure if I was going to have a videographer at the beginning of our wedding planning but I’m so glad I did! Dean from Pinnacle Films travelled from Edinburgh to record our day and fitted in with our photographer perfectly with his chilled out vibe.

Any advice?


Don’t feel the need to stick to traditions, do your own thing and enjoy every minute.

Honeymoon or minimoon?

We travelled around Vietnam then finished off with four nights in the Maldives. It was the perfect mix of adventure and relaxation!

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

One of my favourite moments of the day was when my brother and bridesmaid did a surprise duet at our drinks reception. It was a beautiful day and everyone was outside in the gardens at Elsick House. My brother played guitar and my bridesmaid sang two of my favourite songs – Cocoon by Catfish and the Bottlemen, and Dreams by Fleetwood Mac. It was special!

 Loving these chilled, summer vibes. And we agree, ditch any traditions that don’t work for you!  x