A fun wedding with cool street food market at Kinkell Byre, St Andrews

 

 

When English woman Emily and her Scottish fiancé Andrew got engaged they knew they wanted to wed in Scotland.

Visiting Kinkell Byre the two musicians could immediately envisage their wedding there and set about planning an awesome day filled with DIY details, amazing food, and, of course, fabulous music.

Check out all the gorgeous details, captured by Glitter & Twigs.

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Professional violinist Emily and jazz bassist and composer Andrew first met playing in Aldeburgh, a small seaside town on the English coast.

They hung out for a few days before Emily “played hard to get” for several months and eventually met for a couple of dates.

Fast forward three years and the couple were on a trip to Thailand where Andrew made several attempts to create the perfect proposal moment, only to be thwarted by Emily being afraid of stray dogs or suffering painful sunburn.

“Eventually on the last night of the trip, Andrew persuaded me to go on an evening walk along a quiet beach, and the perfect moment was found,” says Emily.

Kinkell Byre wedding

Back in Scotland, Emily and Andrew started the search for their perfect venue with a rustic feeling.

“When Kinkell Byre was recommended to us, we knew we wanted to check it out,” says Emily.

“Once we viewed it, it was clear there would be nothing that compared to it.

“It’s an incredible venue with so much character.

“We loved that it was by the sea, and close to an area with personal meaning to Andrew’s family.”

Emily and Andrew chose to get married in autumn and tailored their décor to the season’s colours.

“The flowers were one of the aspects I cared for most in the design of the day, and our fabulous florist Aoife from Feather Grass Florals created incredible, wild autumnal bouquets and garlands that absolutely glowed in the atmosphere of the barn!” says Emily.

The bride approached their large blank canvas venue with lots of small DIY ideas, accessorising with lots of candles, lights, confetti, photos and garland as well as furniture hired from their caterer Scott’s Catering.

“In hindsight I needn’t have worried, because when we finally arrived to decorate I had forgotten how much character and beauty there already was in the venue,” she says.

“However, I am glad we were prepared with lots of small decorative details as it all came together in such a perfect way.”

Creating the perfect look

Emily set out with one idea for her wedding dress but actually wore something completely different.

“I had ideas of quite figure-hugging, lacey numbers and ended up with a floaty, chiffon A-line dress!” she remembers.

“I think you will only realise what is best for you once you can touch the fabrics and feel them on your skin.

“It is then easy to know what feels most like ‘you’ and what lifts you up to feel most natural and beautiful on the day.”

Autumn vibes

While her Catherine Deane dress was beautifully simple, she specially commissioned a custom designed cape from Glasgow designer Nutmeg Couture Bridal.

“The designer Megan found a beautiful Chantilly lace leaf pattern that was sewn across the top of the cape where it attached to my dress straps, came down my back in a V shape to meet the back of the bodice and was sewn in a wild pattern across the tail of the cape,” says Emily.

“When she found this leaf design it felt perfect for my taste and the autumnal theme of our wedding.”

And having a jewellery designer for a sister (who has brand Wolf & Moon), Emily naturally was gifted stunning flower hair pieces and mother of pearl Waterfall drop earrings.

Emily and Andrew enjoyed a really fun and relaxed night before their wedding, getting their two families together.

Then the bride-to-be kicked back watching Friends with her bridesmaids in their cottage.

Emily remembers the morning of the big day as a “happy blur of make-up, hugs, photographs and high-pitched voices!”

If music be the food of love…

Being musicians it was so important to the couple that they had the best soundtrack to their day.

“We are lucky that most of our friends are musicians, and several of them played over the course of the day,” recalls Emily.

A string quartet of some of their closest friends played Romance by Shostakovich, specially arranged by their friend Martin Wray, for Emily walking down the aisle.

“I was lucky to have my dad by my side, and the incredible sound of my friends in the string quartet playing gorgeous music,” she smiles.

“It was a little overwhelming to see so many people from all walks of life, together in one room – but then I saw Andrew and his sweet, slightly nervous smile.

“I remember squeezing each other’s hand as if to let the other know that we felt equally emotional and excited.

“It was a very special moment.”

Emily and Andrew chose to have a humanist ceremony, combining things that were personal to them and acknowledging other spiritual and symbolic meanings.

“Our celebrant Gillian Stewart couldn’t have been better,” says Emily.

Then the bride’s man of honour Alex Parker arranged one of her favourite songs from The Sound of Music, (best film ever!) for the signing of the register.

And they walked out to an arrangement by her brother of Stevie Wonder’s For Once in my Life, played by a brass quintet.

After realising how important music was to their own wedding day, Andrew has set up The Scottish Jazz Collective, organising tailor made jazz music for weddings and events.

But it wasn’t just music that played a starring role in this wedding.

Emily and Andrew didn’t want a formal sit-down dinner and jumped at Scott’s Catering’s suggestion to have a street food market for their wedding breakfast.

“Scott provided several ‘stalls’ with cuisine from four places around the world that meant something to us; (Italy, the Mediterranean, Scotland and Thailand), and had four chefs cooking up a storm in these four different set ups,” says Emily.

“My one regret of the wedding is that I didn’t eat more!”

After dinner ceilidh band The Òr Ceilidh Band had everyone up on their feet.

“It was very funny to see our non-Scottish friends being hurtled around the dance floor!” says the bride.

Then it was the turn of their Danish friends to provide a DJ set full of tunes everyone had requested on the RSVPs.

“It was hilarious, light-hearted and a lot of fun.

“Our guests threw themselves into dancing and it was one gorgeous party!”

Emily and Andrew are one couple who definitely put the work in to add very personal touches to different parts of their day.

“Every aspect was meaningful to us – whether it was the food, music or the actual service,” she says.

“It all felt like it truly represented us as a couple.”