An intimate elopement with floral touches at Eden Leisure Village and Stirling Castle

 

 When Megan and Pete first got engaged they weren’t entirely sure what sort of wedding they fancied, whether it was going to be a weekend away, hotel wedding, elopement or a garden wedding and a trip to the pub.

They eventually settled on a weekend festival-style wedding at Eden Leisure Village but covid restrictions forced them to cut their big celebration down to a beautiful elopement.

Read all about their special day with gorgeous photos from Jenniflower Photography below.

Megan and Pete first met on Plenty of Fish after Pete moved to her native Nottinghamshire.

The couple had discussed getting married for some time but were distracted by moving to Scotland, buying a house and getting a cat.

Then in spring 2019 Megan went backpacking with her sister for three weeks and they realised just how much they missed each other.

“After returning home we had an ‘egalitarian conversation’ and decided to get married,” explains Megan.

With the decision made the question remained just how they wanted to exchange their vows.

“For a long time the wedding was just called the ‘Big Team Party’,” smiles Megan.

They loved the idea of having a festival-style weekend celebration and fell for the casual atmosphere and stunning vistas of Eden Leisure Village.

The wedding was originally planned for May 2020 but when the pandemic struck they changed to an October date.

They held a zoom “not-wedding” celebration on their initial date, still hoping to have their dream festival wedding in October but that was then scaled back to just family and the bridal party.

By mid-October it became clear even that wouldn’t happen so they took the difficult decision to elope, just the two of them.

In the midst of making such choices they designed their own wedding logo and loved the idea of a creating a custom-printed jigsaw puzzle as their guest book.

In the end they posted individual pieces to their would-have-been guests and received all the signed pieces back.

 

Megan knew she wanted to use her great-grandma’s wedding ring as her something old and Pete followed suit with a matching antique ring from Ian Gallacher Jewellers.

The bride was less certain what sort of dress she wanted though and her only requirement was pockets.

“I kept coming back to a Charlotte Balbier floral dress and during a work trip [to London] made an appointment to visit,” she says.

After hours of lusting after it though it just wasn’t the dress for her and instead she preferred a different gown from the same range with patterned organza silk, a huge train and those coveted pockets!

Then fate intervened and just before buying that dress she found the exact gown in her size on eBay.

“Sustainability was important to me, so the chance to save the planet (and money) meant I was extremely happy to wear second-hand dress,” says Megan.

Switching from a May to October date also gave her the excuse to treat herself to a cashmere Pringle jumper; “It felt so luxurious and now I get to wear a bit of my wedding outfit all the time!”

And for her something blue Megan chose comfy blue Snag tights to keep her warm. “My legs looked like a Smurf’s!” she says.

She finished off the look with her mum’s veil as her something borrowed which she removed from a “very 80s” hairband and attached to a simple clip.

After so many changes the couple were just “excited” waking up on the morning of their wedding though they say it was also surreal.

Megan’s hairdresser came to the house while Pete nipped out to get them a McDonald’s breakfast.

They then got ready together before heading to the venue for Megan to get her make-up done.

The couple opted for artificial flowers so they could have a lasting memory and Anne Marie at Bloom Room created a gorgeous bouquet for Megan featuring white roses representing Yorkshire where Pete was born, tiny acorns to represent Nottinghamshire and thistles for Scotland

The couple had always planned to walk into their ceremony together but it was still surreal to enter a nearly empty marquee.

Megan and Pete’s humanist celebrant Kendal Delaney had taken time to get to know them and perfectly crafted a personal ceremony.

“Her patience, guidance and support was invaluable as we navigated all the different restrictions and rules,” they say.

“Our vows were on the humorous side, referencing Pokemon memes, many of our adventures together, and promising to always be there for each other ‘in sickness, health and global pandemics’.”

This bride and groom are big Foo Fighters fans and Pete’s brother and nephew had planned to play Everlong as they signed the register but in the end they recorded it remotely for them.

Following their ceremony they enjoyed a bottle of champagne gifted by Pete’s school friend before exploring their venue site and Stirling Castle for their photos.

“Pete loves castles so we often enjoy visiting for a potter around,” explains Megan.

“We got some stunning photos around the castle and its grounds, and we received lots of lovely congratulations from visitors and staff.”

Pete adds, “It was really cool to run around the castle grounds in our finery and pretend we were medieval royalty.”

After their photo session Megan and Pete were treated to the ultimate wedding breakfast.

Their original caterers Regis Banqueting sent a chef to their home to cook up an indulgent seven-course tasting menu ending in an epic cheeseboard, with wines expertly paired by WoodWinters.

The couple took to Zoom for the speeches where Megan made sure she had her say too.

“I was determined not to start letting a man speak on my behalf!” she says.

Pete’s dad also gave a reading The Day the Saucers Came by Neil Gaiman about the world ending but being so in love you don’t notice.

“We had picked this before covid but a poem about the apocalypse became all the more fitting for a 2020 wedding,” they say.

And so everyone could truly enjoy the cutting of the cake, Megan’s school friend Jo, who runs science-themed food business SciRecipes, had sent everyone a mini fruit cake.

After a long day (and a lot of wine) they were crashed on the sofa by 9.30pm.

Looking back they say, “Our wedding ended up being very different to the one(s) we planned, but from day one we said we didn’t want it to be like any other wedding we’d been to before!”