A relaxed tipi wedding in the Scottish Borders

Outdoor lovers Lisa and Neil wanted a rural location and secluded setting for their relaxed Scottish wedding. After spotting photos of its Nordic tipis, they fell for Hartree Estates and planned a weekend-long celebration with family and friends gathered from near and far. Sounds pretty wonderful to us!

Where did your love story begin?

We met about 15 years ago while we were both living in Glasgow and studying at Strathclyde University… probably at a flat party but the details are a little hazy! After graduating and moving around for work, we got chatting again and eventually agreed to meet up for coffee, which sort of turned into a date! The rest as they say is history.

We got engaged while on holiday in one of our favourite spots in Scotland, the Isle of Mull. We went for a walk along the coast and when we got to a little viewpoint, Neil got down on one knee to pop the question. He (very stealthily) had stashed a bottle of bubbly and two glasses in his bag so we sat there for a few hours afterwards just chatting and letting it all sink in, it was absolutely perfect.

Tell us about your venue…

We love being outdoors in the countryside so wanted a rural location. We spotted Hartree Estates in a wedding magazine and it instantly stood out to us. We wanted our day to have a relaxed, laidback feel and the tipis seemed like the perfect venue. The rural location of Hartree was also a big plus for us, we loved the secluded, peaceful feel of the estate and surrounding countryside. Viv and Alan from Hartree Estates did a brilliant job!

Our family and friends are spread out across Scotland and further afield, so we wanted to make a weekend of the wedding as it’s not often that we get all of our favorite people in one place! The night before the wedding we got together for drinks at the local inn and the day after we served up lunch and wedding cake back at Hartree. It was really fun!

Our food was provided by Matt and his team at Pickled Haggis. Matt is super passionate about what he does and worked closely with us to create a personalised menu with all the food we love. Dinner was served up in platters which gave us the freedom to include lots of our favourite dishes (everything from beef massaman curry and chargrilled halloumi for mains to peanut butter brownies and rhubarb crumble for dessert, among other things!) and meant that there was something for everyone. It was also so lovely to see all of our family and friends sharing food and getting to know one another along the way.

What inspired your wedding plans?

We wanted a relaxed, fun and personal day that really reflected us. We also wanted to add little touches to remember our family who are no longer with us.

We had personalised confetti, personalised vows (Iona, our celebrant, rocked!), our favours were our favourite whisky and a candle from our favourite place, where we got engaged. Our table names were places in Scotland we had visited.

Chloe Costello, my hairdresser and friend, does beautiful hair ups and was the only person I wanted to do my hair on the day. Christina Grace’s work is absolutely stunning. Her make up is meticulous and she made sure I was 100% happy with it before walking down the aisle.

To tie in with the rustic theme of the tipis and the wild flowers in and around the grounds of Hartree, we went for an unstructured mix of pale blue, blush pink and soft grey spring flowers, filled out with lots of beautiful greenery. Our florist Emma was a dream to work with! Emma took time to get to know us and to get a sense of our style, then guided us through the process, turning our rough ideas into a very pretty reality! The flowers were absolutely stunning and smelled amazing!

(Editor’s note – Lisa’s experiences of working with Emma echo what many readers have told us over the years. We hope these words bring some comfort to her family and friends, as tragically Emma, who was only 29 years-old, had a cardiac arrest while hillwalking in August 2020. She was a much loved friend, and inspiration to many, and the Scottish wedding industry has lost an incredibly talented florist).

Your photos are gorgeous!

We first met Audrey and Dave (Tandem Photo) when they photographed our friend’s wedding and we just loved their relaxed, natural style of photography. They have a real eye for detail and we loved the emotion they were able to capture during our day.

We also have some brilliant photos of moments that we didn’t necessarily see at the time or think to capture (like the chef cooking our dinner!), which makes the photos even more special for us.

We love your outfits! Tell us more…

Lisa: I wore a blush pink, A-line, chiffon Sincerity Bridal dress with lace overlay and an illusion back.

Went I first went dress shopping I really wasn’t sure what I wanted. I tried on a lot of different styles but in the end kept circling back to the second dress I had put on (picked out by my mum!). It was a simple, A-line cut with a huge train – I felt amazing when I put it on and my sis cried… so I knew it was the one!

I wore my mum’s garter for my something old, and bought my dress using money gifted to me by my late Great Auntie Violet.

We bought the bridesmaid dresses from David’s Bridal and hired the groomsmen outfits from Slaters Menswear.

Neil: I wore a navy Braemar Tweed Jacket, white shirt and Highland Sky tie, along with a Highland Sky Kilt.

I wore my late dad’s watch which was given to him by his parents on his 21st birthday and then passed down to me. We wanted to make sure that even though they couldn’t be with us on the day, they were still very much part of it.

Were there any challenges?

We were really lucky that all in all, everything went smoothly for us. We were planning on having our ceremony outdoors. However, the weather didn’t play ball and a few hours beforehand, we made the decision to bring the ceremony indoors. Although it wasn’t exactly what we had planned, it was still beautiful and didn’t take away from our day in any way.

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

Meeting at the bottom of the aisle!

Any advice to share?

Our advice would be to try and relax and enjoy every moment. Do what is right for you (don’t worry about pleasing everyone else) and try not to sweat the small stuff as on the day it really doesn’t matter.

Oh and make sure you remember to eat (we missed both our canapes and evening buffet, gutted)!

Honeymoon or minimoon?

We honeymooned in Malaysia. We spent a few days in Kuala Lumpur before travelling onto the island of Borneo. We travelled through the jungle, climbed Mount Kinabalu (the highest peak in South East Asia, 4,095m!), and then finished up at a spa resort at the beach. It was such an adventure and a holiday we will never forget. The perfect end to our celebrations!

Gatherings like this may feel like a very long time ago, but we have faith that they will return. And we’ll cherish them all the more when they do! x