Joseph proposed on a glorious day at a beautiful spot at Loch Lee, Glen Esk, after seven years together with a ring that was a complete surprise – and a perfect fit. We wanted a fairly long engagement to make sure we could afford everything we wanted, and to secure our must-have suppliers. Plus, with most of our family travelling up from England, it was important to give them enough notice so that we could share our day with those who meant the most to us.

Our priority was finding a date in the school holidays because Joseph is also a violin/viola teacher, and we knew that we wanted an exclusive use weekend venue. In the end, Logie Country House was the only venue we viewed as we instantly fell in love with it. It was perfect for us as everything could be done on location without the need to move around on the day, and we loved the homely country house feel with the warm smell of log fires. The ballroom was naturally beautiful, and it was the ideal space for ceilidh dancing. We did most of the planning ourselves but leaned on Gillian at Logie who kept us on track with superb advice and support.

We incorporated a castle theme, which we carried through into our table names by visiting local castles in the lead-up to the wedding and taking a selfie to use as part of our centrepieces. Vicky at Paperoo accompanied this with beautiful line illustrations of the castles for our table plan.

From here, we adopted autumnal vibes with our colours and added DIY details to create a rustic wood effect that complemented the country feel of Logie.

After meeting Emma from Midnight Elegance at a wedding fair, I headed to their boutique with an open mind. I had no intentions of buying a dress at the first appointment; but I did, and it was the first one I tried on! Finding the right jewellery took longer and eventually I found Claire at RedRocks. After thinking bespoke jewellery would be unaffordable, I was delighted to find out that wasn’t the case at all, and she created my earrings, necklace and hairpin. My daytime shoes were from Charlotte Mills and I customised a pair of white Converse for dancing the night away.

The night before the wedding we stayed separately at Logie and invited those staying locally to join us for ‘Fajita Friday’, courtesy of Hudsons Catering. This was really helpful as we spoke to lots of our guests before the wedding, so relieved the pressure of speak to everyone on the day itself. Hudsons took care of breakfast too and it was a lovely chilled morning, getting ready with bubbles in hand.

We knew a Humanist ceremony was for us and afterwards we had lots of compliments; our guests thought it was a beautiful way to share the story that led to that day. After saying ‘I do’ we enjoyed a calm five minutes, just the two of us. Then we had a confetti shot on the driveway before the drinks reception, which included our own bespoke beer from Stewart Brewing.

Our wedding breakfast was absolutely divine and we loved personalising our menu so that it was exactly what we wanted. We had deep fried mozzarella as a starter option (this was part of our meal on our first date) and the featherblade of beef with all the trimmings, which was just to die for. The speeches were a hoot with plenty of sentiment and laughter – and a few tears thrown in for good measure.

For the first dance, we chose Take My Hand by Skerryvore. It provided a slow and intimate start that finished with everyone getting up; ready to party. Foot Stompin’ Ceilidh Band took over (we always wanted a ceilidh as Joseph and the band rarely get to join in) and it was a good laugh watching our English families giving it a go!

It really was the most perfect weekend from start to finish and we felt so loved. What a wonderful feeling to have all of our special people in one place! But we really weren’t prepared for how emotional we would feel leaving on the Monday morning when it was all over.

Thankfully, after we returned home it was time to pack for our honeymoon in the Dominican Republic. We relaxed in the sun most days but did include one excursion to go ziplining through the jungle and feed some monkeys

Isla's Little White Book

Band: Foot Stompin’ Ceilidh Band
Bride’s outfit: Midnight Elegance
Bridal accessories: RedRocks, Charlotte Mills, The Little Keepsake Company Bridesmaids’ outfits: That Special Day Bridal
Cake: Cakes By Kirsty
Celebrant: Douglas Milne from Humanist Society Scotland
Décor: 3 Tiers Creative
Flowers: Isla Duncan Florist
Food/drink suppliers: Hudsons Catering, Stewart Brewing
Groom’s outfit: MacGregor and MacDuff
Hair: Shanna Neave of Collective Studios
Harpist: Philippa Smith Harpist
Make-up and tan: RR MakeUp
Photographer: Clarke Joss Photography
Piper: Garry Brindley
Rings: Finnies the Jeweller
Stationery: Paperoo
Transport: RS Coaches
Venue: Logie Country House
Videographer: King Wedding Media