A back garden wedding with family, friends & cherry blossoms

When Covid struck down their wedding plans, April & Nick pivoted. They switched venue to a back garden in Portobello, Edinburgh and designed their Humanist ceremony to honour their Chinese and Scottish cultures, with a tea ceremony and drinking from the quaich.

Surrounded by family, friends and cherry blossoms, their fusion wedding was everything they ever dreamed of.

Where did your love story begin?

Our story began in Dumfries – our first home from home. We both started our careers in the hospital after qualifying for our respective degrees in Aberdeen. I studied Pharmacy and Nick studied Medicine. We never met until I approached him first in the surgical wards in Dumfries Hospital to amend a patient’s drug chart – or so I thought! If you ask him – he will say that we first met at an Inter-professional Education night in Aberdeen where he taught me how to take a blood sample from a dummy patient back in 2013. He was obviously very good at teaching me if I did not remember him!

I wanted an excuse to talk to him more, so I would try to stay on his ward more often than the other wards I was also managing. Thankfully the feeling was mutual and we enjoyed each other’s company! We began chatting constantly – sharing our TV shows, movie and food recommendations, as well as our ideal future holiday destinations.

Conversations on the ward escalated to online chats – I was in Glasgow one weekend for an outdoor concert with no signal and did not realise that he messaged me to organise drinks until seven hours after he sent the message. We then organised a date and the rest is history!

What inspired your wedding plans?

Initially we were to be married at Edinburgh Zoo – however since the Covid pandemic occurred we had to drastically change our plans. We knew we did not want to delay getting married!

Since the venue was changed, this meant no more decorative restrictions (yay!). We both have a strong affinity for Asian culture so we thought the most important thing in planning our wedding was incorporating both of our drastically different Asian and British cultures into a day where everyone would enjoy it. To honour the Chinese and Scottish culture we added the Chinese tea ceremony and quaich respectively to the end of our Humanist ceremony. We also had no restriction on food therefore – being foodies ourselves – we managed to create a Scottish/Asian fusion menu for our guests.

We wanted to add personal touches to the day and since Nick had initially planned to propose in Japan under cherry blossoms, but was unable to due to annual leave issues, we missed cherry blossom season and we got engaged in Arashiyama Bamboo forest instead! Since we could not go to the cherry blossoms, we decided to bring cherry blossoms to us and incorporated them into our wedding day. I purchased cherry blossom flowers in addition to the florist’s flowers – as well as adding DIY touches by creating our own personalised napkins by stamping cherry blossoms onto them. Because of Covid we also added special precautions such as personalised hand sanitiser favours.

Tell us about your venue…

Our initial venue was Edinburgh Zoo, however since the pandemic happened and they had to restrict their seating arrangement and numbers, it meant that we could not invite as many guests as we had hoped. As such, we decided to not let the pandemic ruin our plans and discussed alternative options.

I have always loved the idea of an outdoor wedding, with sunshine *fingers crossed in Scotland in September* and lots of lovely outdoor picturesque scenery. The idea of getting married in Nick’s parents’ back garden was a fleeting one at most, as I never thought his parents would agree to it! Once we sat down to discuss the logistics, we realised it was actually possible and the wedding planning was back on!

We did not realise what a gem it was from the beginning – it has a wonderful patio area, beautiful archway leading into the garden and more importantly, it was already well maintained by their gardener. All it needed was a gazebo or two with tables and chairs! It was spacious enough for our guests to socially distance and had the necessary entrance and exits.

We love your outfits! Tell us more…

I wore a crepe fishtail dress with a lace embroidered bodice and scalloped hemline, button back detail and thin shoulder straps! I chose this style because strapless dresses do not suit me. I also knew I wanted a dress with a wow factor on the top and the bottom parts of the dress without overwhelming each other – hence the lace train. I tried on quite a few dresses and several came quite close to being “The One” – I am very easily pleased and didn’t have a specific style in mind. I think it helped to try various styles to see what suited and what did not. Bijoux bridal was the third place I booked an appointment with and going along with an idea of what worked and what didn’t really helped. My dream dress was the first dress I tried on there – third shop’s a charm!

I wore a Tiffany four-leaf clover necklace gift from my parents as well as diamond earrings gifted from Nick. For shoes – I knew I needed comfort and low block heels for a garden wedding and opted for rose gold strappy block heels, which were a godsend, for the whole day!

Nick wore a full Scottish kilt for the ceremony and trews in the same pattern for the evening. Nick already had his own outfit, therefore, did not need to rent and luckily the flowers matched the colour theme of the tartan! Some joke that he was more of a diva than I was as he had an outfit change throughout the day!

How did you choose your photographer?

I was so bamboozled by the number of talented photographers I honestly did not know where to start! Looking at many online portfolios I was drawn to the romantic and candid pictures of everyone. One important factor in picking the right photographer was their ability to make people feel comfortable – it’s not every day you get a large camera pointing your way! Nick is quite a shy guy and not often the one in front of the camera – he much prefers to be the one taking pictures so I thought it was important that he is comfortable! When I saw Joy Story‘s pictures in her online portfolio – everyone was looked so relaxed and having fun! Her glowing reviews also reflected her amazing personality and experience. We arranged for a time for an online chat and it was clear that Sarah was passionate about her job and more importantly, super friendly – just what we needed!

She was faultless throughout the day. I knew I was going to be pulled in all directions but Sarah was able to guide us back into some sort of order and got the shots we needed. Sarah kept the mood light and fun, had great banter and most of the time you would not have even known she was there taking pictures (and I mean that in a good way!). All the guests loved her! We received preview pictures really quickly after the big day and they captured our happiness as well as events of the day so we could relive it. What I love most about the photos was seeing everyone so happy – she captured the shots perfectly!

Tell us more about the flowers and florist…

Demi is a local florist and was amazing from the get-go. You can tell she is so passionate about her job and that really shone through when meeting her (when physical meetings were allowed!). She gave us so many ideas that were out of the box and reduced wastage. Even when the pandemic happened, her ideas to scale down to a back garden wedding were nothing shy of spectacular.

When it came to the actual types of flowers, I knew that with Nick being Scottish I wanted thistles within the bouquet. I browsed Pinterest relentlessly and chose flowers and colours that complemented the thistle as well as each other. We had hydrangeas and roses with cream, blue and green hues topped with grey accents by adding in eucalyptus leaves. On top of that, to tie in with the cherry blossom theme we were also able to rent cherry blossom trees from Demi to form an arch that we got married under. To finish off decorating the place, we had fishbowls with tealight candles and lanterns hung around the garden to create a romantic space.

What was your first dance song?

Unfortunately, the band was the only thing we had to fully cancel due to Covid and the limited numbers that we could have. Therefore for music and entertainment, Nicks sister and fiancé created an amazing playlist for guests to enjoy dancing to underneath the gazebos and twinkling lights. Our first song was “Just You and I” by Tom Walker as the lyrics resonated with our feelings for each other and it is the song we often would slow dance to when cooking in our new home.

Were there any challenges along the way?

Covid happened – that was definitely the main challenge but I guess that is the case for many couples out there! For our revised plan quite a few things had to be adjusted to comply with new guidance – one of which was the number of guests! We could not have the family and friends we would love to have attended due to restrictions. Although we were saddened by the thought that quite a few family members were unable to attend, we are hoping to have a bigger party when it is safe to do so!

Furthermore, having a garden wedding meant we could not have additional waiting staff due to limits in numbers and food options had to cater to different cultures and intolerances. We had already decided on a menu in the original venue but now we realise it was a blessing in disguise as it meant we had free reign to create the perfect menu on the day! Everyone went up for seconds (and thirds!) of the main course served by Nick’s family, so cross-contamination would not be an issue.

We also wanted to go to our local Figgate park for our wedding photoshoot, but since it was getting late and the weather threatened to rain we had to think on the spot! We ended up having an impromptu photoshoot in the garden of the GP surgery close by – it looked so rustic and romantic, I could not have asked for a better scenic setting!

Did you manage to stick to your budget?

Fortunately yes! Since we initially planned for a larger wedding that did not go ahead, a lot of the funds were diverted into the smaller garden wedding that we managed to cater and decorate ourselves! We did have to pay for things that we did not initially anticipate like canapes, gazebos and outdoor heaters but we ended up saving money in the long run. Hopefully, we get to put that towards an amazing party and/or honeymoon once the pandemic settles!

Any advice?


If you are wondering whether you should do a small intimate legal wedding before the big party you really wanted at the beginning of planning your wedding, I would highly recommend it! It was so much fun and you get to put so much more of your personality in the planning of it compared to a traditional venue package.

We realised that we worried too much about offending/upsetting friends and family but at the end of the day, the most important thing is to have fun and being married to the love of your life. Nothing – not even a pandemic – should stop that. All of our friends and family were very understanding and it just makes us look forward to seeing them in a bigger celebration sometime soon *fingers crossed*.

Honeymoon or minimoon?

Minimoon! Luckily before the severe restrictions were put in place we managed to go to St Andrews where Nick studied for his first degree. We spent a long weekend there renting a cabin with a private hot tub and just enjoyed our first trip away as a married couple! We wandered around the idyllic town, perused its small markets and enjoyed the beautiful beach and glorious weather.

The best part of St Andrews for me was the number of independent shops that we were able to visit and support during these difficult times! The minimoon gave us some time away after the hustle and bustle of wedding preparation and was just the break we needed before we got back to work. Once the pandemic is over, we hope to go to several Asian countries for a food-filled honeymoon!

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

I will always remember the “First Look” that I requested the photographer to organise. I tend to be the emotional one and knew I would cry walking down the aisle if I saw Nick at the bottom of it. To prevent that I needed a private moment just to see Nick before everything kicked off.

He is about the only person in the world that can calm me down and as soon as I saw him waiting for me, all my anxiety and worry melted away and I could not stop smiling. I loved that Sarah was able to capture our reactions to seeing each other as well as our last moments as an engaged couple before we became husband and wife.

While big weddings are back on here in Scotland, there’s something incredibly special about seeing and celebrating the love stories that took place in the height of the pandemic restrictions. Thank you for sharing your incredible day with us April & Nick! x