A most gorgeous, romantic day for Katie & Jordan, with sentimental touches to celebrate their families, and beautiful beach treasures from their native Scottish isles to bring a touch of the beloved sea to the Perthshire countryside!
How did you two meet?
I moved to Shetland in August 2014 for a new job, in September of that same year I was in the only nightclub in Shetland which was called ‘Posers’. I was out with some friends after being on a blind date that didn’t go very well. Jordan had been convinced to go on an impromptu night out by some friends. After a few drinks we bumped into each other on the dance floor, Jordan asked for my number and we met a couple of days later for our first date! The rest is history.
What inspired your wedding plans?
The main thing we wanted for our wedding was to spend time with our family and friends and celebrate in a beautiful place where we could all relax.
We are both from islands and absolutely love being by the sea. We spend a lot of time on the beach and swimming, so we knew we wanted to incorporate that into our day in some way. We collected sea glass and lots of different kinds of shells for a couple of years to use as decorations and place names. I hand-painted the scallop shells with people’s names in a teal colour to use for place names and we used the beautiful sea glass and smaller shells on our tables.
We also wanted big, beautiful, bright wildflowers and our florist, Elizabeth, made the most amazing bouquets we had ever seen. We were absolutely delighted with them!
When we started planning our wedding we knew we wanted to make it as personal as possible. Jordan made bottle openers from wood and steel for all of the men which were branded with our initials and I made wee papercuts in tiny frames for all of the ladies as favours. The day before the wedding we took photos on our polaroid camera and left them in wee envelopes around the venue for people to find. We also had a table which had wedding portraits of our grandparents and great-grandparents which people loved. We had some old family photos for people to look at too and a Polaroid camera so people could add photos to it throughout the day!
Tell us about your venue…
We had visited Guardswell and stayed there a couple of times in their cool huts. When we got engaged we just knew it was the place that we wanted to have our wedding. The view is amazing, the venue is so open, bright and beautiful, and Jade & Anna who run it are just so kind and accommodating. Guardswell has a big wooden swing at the top of the hill, lots of places to explore, a boat you can have a whiskey in with the fire on, and donkeys & goats to speak to, what more could you want?! We loved that there was plenty of accommodation on site too, so we could have all of our nearest and dearest with us for all of the celebrations!
We love your outfits! Tell us more…
I chose the Harlie dress with a Tulle skirt from Made With Love bridal. I had seen photos of this dress on Pinterest before trying it on and loved the floaty and whimsical look that it had. When I went to try it on in the Unbridled Shop in Ayr, I fell in love with it. I went for my dress in a bone colour as I wasn’t sure a completely white dress was for me. After it had been made for me I took it to Elizabeth Wallace in Kilmarnock and they added on tiny pearls to the bodice and made it fit me perfectly!
I also wore a set of Pearl earrings and a matching bracelet from Lilly and Roo which Jordan gave me on the morning of the wedding.
Jordan wore the Leask tartan which is his family tartan. He wore a moss-coloured jacket and waistcoat and green tie to keep all the colours matching! He also wore a Harris tweed watch, which is different shades of green, this was my gift to him.
How did you choose your photographer?
We first met Hayley when we booked her for our engagement shoot. She was so friendly and chilled and we loved her style of shooting. When we received the photos we loved them and thankfully she was available for our wedding too! She was great at communicating the whole way through our plans and kept us in the loop with what we would be doing on the day to get the best photos and the shots that we really wanted! When we received our final gallery we were delighted and couldn’t have asked for better.
Were there any challenges along the way?
The only spanner in the works when planning our wedding was covid! We were due to get married in August 2020 but unfortunately, that didn’t happen so we re-planned for September 2021 and we were delighted that it could go ahead with no restrictions!
Did you manage to stick to your budget?
We just about managed to stick to our budget, but went slightly over which was to be expected!!
Any advice?
Make plans because you want to, not because you feel you have the expectations of others. Take a minute to savour the day and the feeling that you have in that moment! Enjoy that all of the people in the room are there to celebrate the love that you have for each other! That is pretty special.
Honeymoon or minimoon?
We had planned to go on safari in South Africa however due to covid couldn’t do this. Instead, we opted to stay closer to home. We went to Glasgow first of all and stayed in a fancy hotel where we wined and dined, then went to Auchterarder where we stayed in a yurt in the hills with a wood-fired hot tub, then onto Skye where it rained a lot so we stayed cosy inside and on the day it was sunny we went swimming in the sea with the seals, then onto Raasay and stayed in the distillery and did lots of whiskey and gin tasting by the fire, then finally onto Uist to visit some family. We absolutely loved it all!
What’s the one moment you will always remember?
I’ll always remember Jordan’s speech and the way it made me so proud of him and so happy to be his wife.
We took a minute in the middle of the ceilidh to go outside and catch our breath, it was so nice to watch both our families laughing and having fun together! It gave us the chance to let it sink in, that we were now husband and wife! Jordan will never forget walking down the aisle in the church once we were married, and smiling at each other as our family followed.
So much to love. Christina x
Venue – Guardswell Farm
Photographer – Hayley Palmquist Photography
Florist – Bothy Blooms
Hair stylist – Sian Martin
Make-up artist – Hannah Wilkie
Celebrant – Father Gregory Umunna
Katie’s dress – Made With Love from Unbridled
Jordan’s outfit – Ben Wyvis Kilts + Slanj
Videography – Utopia Films
Catering + Cake – Lazy Sundays
Stationery – Bee Davies
Musicians – Highland Fire
Styling – Gloam
