A 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY VOW RENEWAL AT COLLECTIVE EDINBURGH
Cat + Andrew chose to mark their ten year wedding anniversary in the most romantic way possible with an intimate vow renewal ceremony in Edinburgh.
“Don’t underestimate the expertise and knowledge of your suppliers. Trust them to do what they do best.”
~ Cat + Andrew
We Fell In Love With…
The meaningful details, heartfelt emotion and a family of WFIL suppliers!
This is a special one for us. Our very own Cat and her husband Andrew’s intimate Edinburgh vow renewal was a special celebration created without expectation, and made truly just for them. Marking such a significant milestone was made possible with help from a host of suppliers from the WFIL family and it couldn’t have been more perfect for our lovely friends.
Read on to find out all about it and stay tuned to the end to hear Cat and Andrew’s fabulous advice if you’re thinking of planning a vow renewal, elopement or wedding.
TELL US ABOUT YOU TWO + YOUR JOURNEY
We had always planned to do something to mark our ten year wedding anniversary, we just weren’t too sure exactly what. As the year drew nearer, and as a result of the way the world has been the last few years, it started to feel more and more important to celebrate and acknowledge our significant milestone. Being married for a decade is nothing to be sniffed at!
As a couple we’re in a significantly different place in our lives and careers to where we were when we first met and got married. This was a great opportunity to look back at ten years, how we’ve changed and grown, how we’ve supported each other and the challenges we’ve overcome. As well as looking back and reflecting on our vows, revisiting and renewing them, adding a few updates to reflect who we are now.
We got married at Lunga House on the West Coast. Funnily enough, not far from where Andrew had been brought up but he didn’t even know it existed until we started wedding planning! So for our vow renewal we wanted to do something completely different.
Lunga House is a Scottish country house, so this time we opted for the city. Edinburgh is so beautiful, and Andrew was born there so we have a connection to it. City breaks are a real rarity for us, so this was a lovely chance to have a couple of nights in Edinburgh, just the two of us. We could relax and really treat ourselves. As soon as we decided on the city we couldn’t think of a better place than the top of Calton Hill, with those stunning views. It was the perfect spot for us to reflect on our marriage.
Being a professional wedding planner in Scotland for nearly ten years now, this might be the most fun I’ve ever had planning! It was fab to be on the opposite side. Our only real challenge was working out who to choose from my many wedding supplier friends and colleagues! We really were spoiled for choice. In the end I made a shortlist and then presented it to Andrew (without letting him know who was who) for him to choose the photographer and videographer. It was actually really nice for him to be able to make that final choice.
As this wasn’t a wedding we didn’t have anyone else’s expectations to consider. It was just for us two, no guests to think of, so we really could just do whatever we liked.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR OUTFITS
Andrew decided to wear his original wedding kilt. He’d had it made especially for our day, ten years ago so it was an easy choice for him to wear it again.
I wore the red peep toe satin heels from my wedding day. I hadn’t worn them since, and they’d been sitting in a box for ten years so it was great to get to wear them again. Funnily enough they were a little bit loose, so Andrew had to run out in the morning to get some heel guards to slip in. The guards did the job for the most part, they didn’t last for the whole day but were fine for as long needed thankfully. Who knew your feet can shrink over a decade?!
My dress was actually a dress I’d bought back in 2015 for my hen do, another lovely little connection to our wedding day. The headband was also from our wedding, just without the birdcage veil this time around.
We both loved that our outfits had such significance to us and our wedding day.
As part of the ten year anniversary celebrations I decided to have my wedding and engagement rings remodelled. A few months ahead of the renewal I visited the wonderful Sarah at Brazen Studios. The diamonds were reset into a new ring setting and the two rings were remodelled into one ring. Sarah did an incredible job and the new ring is absolutely beautiful.
Andrew got his wedding ring engraved on the inside, adding a nickname he has for Cat to the original engraving that he has of her name. He was, shall we say, a little less organised than me (I am a planner after all!) so it’s been done post ceremony!
TELL US ABOUT YOUR CEREMONY
We had a Humanist ceremony originally so it made complete sense to have another celebrant conduct our vow renewal. Obviously a renewal is not a legal ceremony of any kind, so anyone could’ve done it but we really wanted someone who we knew could do the job justice. We couldn’t think of anyone better than my good pal, Claire the Humanist. Affectionately known as “Triple B”. Big, Blonde and Beautiful! That nickname has now been updated to “4B” but only Claire knows why!
Claire manages to merge the perfect balance of heartfelt emotion with laugh out loud giggles . She can have you crying your eyes out one minute to practically peeing your pants with laughter the next. This was so important to us. We wanted someone who could capture the opposites that we are – I am louder and more extrovert while Andrew is cool, calm and collected.
We found the original ‘homework’ we’d completed ten years ago ahead of our wedding so we sent that on to Claire. We then did some updated homework for her, talking about why we were renewing our vows, what had changed and what was important to us.
We made the choice of having a true vow renewal, rather than writing completely new ones. We took our original vows, tweaked them and updated them to reflect the last decade.
Ten years ago we had a handfasting, so didn’t want to redo that. Instead we opted for an oathing stone ceremony, creating our “Ten Commandments of Duthie” – our guiding principles that we’ve learnt over the last ten years and now plan to take forward with us in our marriage.
Our oathing stone was a stone that I have had since 2011. Not long after we started dating, while Andrew was back in the West Coast visiting his mum, during a morning walk along the beach Andrew picked up a heart shaped (roughly!) stone. He wrote a wee message on it and gave it to me. I’ve kept it ever since. It has always held great significance to us both so was the perfect choice to ‘set our new vows in stone’ over.
Our vow renewal took place in the small library at the Collective, Calton Hill. It’s a lovely, cosy room with a wee fireplace. My planner friend, the fabulous Amanda from Coorie has an exquisite eye for details so we got her in to decorate the space for us. She had complete free rein and absolutely smashed it. We were so pleased, she made it so cosy, warm and intimate.
Following our ceremony we walked out to “You Are the Best Thing” by Ray LaMontagne. It was our first dance song at our wedding, so we had a mini two step shuffle before enjoying cake and fizz.
TELL US ABOUT THE RECEPTION
We didn’t have a reception in the traditional sense as it was just the two of us. However straight after the ceremony we enjoyed cake and fizz with our wonderful suppliers.
I have worked with Caked by Catherine in the past and was always envious of how beautiful her couple’s cakes were. They looked like works of art and couples always raved about how good they tasted. So there was no other choice when it came to our cake!
Catherine created a mini gluten free cake for us and it was lovely to enjoy that and hang out for a bit with our suppliers. It was pretty toasty in there so Carol Ann of Harper Scott, our wonderful photographer – cracked open a window. Just outside, on the viewing platform, were some teenage tourists. As soon as they clocked we were celebrating, they starting cheering and whooping, chanting “KISS HER!” It was very funny. We FaceTimed our families, then headed off with Carol Ann and Stevie from Journal Wedding Films for some photos.
Afterwards we went back to our hotel for a few cocktails and then to dinner at The Spence at the Gleneagles Townhouse. It was magical!
WHICH SUPPLIERS ROCKED YOUR DAY?
This is easy to answer – all of them! Every single one of our suppliers were incredible.
Our ceremony wasn’t until 3pm so we had a really chilled morning together. Jenna Clayton arrived around 11am to get me ready. She did such an amazing job, recreating the makeup from our wedding day (keeping in mind ten years have passed!). I wanted my hair in a cute updo, think two little space buns with braids, Jenna smashed it. I felt amazing!
Stevie and Carol Ann joined us a few hours later. The two of them, plus Jenna, just kind of hung out with us while we got ready. It was very chilled, we had such a laugh. When they left us to go to the venue we got to spend a wee bit of time just the two of us. We headed to the bar, had a drink and then made our way over to Calton Hill.
Amanda was at the venue, Catherine had delivered the cake and Claire was ready and waiting. Every single supplier/friend was an absolute joy to be around.
To be on the other side of it was a wonderful experience. It was amazing to see how incredible they all are at their jobs – which we knew anyway but it was lovely to see it from the couple’s side. Everyone who was with us on the day was such a wonderful support and put us so at ease.
And we can’t forget Sarah from Brazen Studios. She created the most perfect, updated version of my rings into one ring (to rule them all…!). We simply couldn’t have asked for more from her.
Each and every single one of our suppliers, including our super helpful and accommodating venue, went above and beyond. What can we say?! There’s a reason they are all in our directory – hire them all!
ANY LESSONS LEARNED OR ADVICE YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE?
We didn’t really have any challenges. Emotionally or logistically!
We’re obviously very fortunate that with me working in the industry we are very aware of challenges that couples can – and do – face in the lead up to their day. We also knew what things are important that seem small, or low value, until the day itself. For example making sure the venue had glasses out for our post ceremony fizz. And plates for our cake. The little things that are so easy to overlook in the build up.
Even though it was a small vow renewal it made sense to have someone there to help run things. Amanda from Coorie did a couple of hours of on the day coordination for us, to ensure it all ran smoothly. She made sure there was a Bluetooth speaker to play our ceremony music, sorted those fizz glasses and cake plates… basically became our right hand woman. And we are so grateful she was!
So, our advice is, don’t underestimate the expertise and knowledge of your suppliers. Trust them to do what they do best, and try not to micromanage! Also, even the smallest celebrations can hugely benefit from having someone there to do all the little on the day jobs. The ones that probably won’t cross your mind until the wedding is up and running. You could always ask a friend or family member to take responsibility, but then of course they might not be able to relax and enjoy the day quite so much. We appreciate we may be biased here with me being a wedding planner, but having experienced it ourselves we can’t say enough how much of a wise investment an on the day coordinator is.
Film by Journal Wedding Films
