Our first date was at The Tippling House and we soon realised we had some mutual friends. This was a great way to break the ice. Fast-forward five-and-a-half years and Daniel proposed on holiday at Universal Studios in Florida. It was a complete surprise, which made it all the more special. He nailed it with the ring – if I could have picked my own it’d have been extremely similar, and it fitted perfectly too.

We had just shy of two years to plan everything and thought this was a good amount of time to make all the big decisions on location, theme, colour, etc. And we hoped it would give us the best chance of booking our preferred suppliers.

We took care of the planning ourselves – well, Daniel did! He’s very organised and kept track of everything. The majority of decisions were made jointly. We both seemed to be on the same page with the vision, which made everything a lot easier!

Choosing a venue was first and we knew exactly what we wanted – a beautiful Scottish castle. We did our research and fell in love with Drumtochty Castle the moment we viewed. It was stunning, unique and had space for our guests to stay on the wedding night (something that was important to us). So, it was a quick yes!

Similarly, I had an idea of what I wanted to wear on the big day (something fitted with lace) and ended up going with the first dress I tried on… Not a style I thought I’d have picked! I just loved it and felt great in it – and it had pockets! I added a waist belt and a headband, and had some alterations to take the dress in and shorten it. Overall, dress shopping was a very chilled experience and we enjoyed some celebratory prosecco afterwards.

The theme was autumnal, fitting with our October wedding and the colours were red, oranges and greens. My four bridesmaids – who I ‘proposed’ to with little gift boxes – wore sage green gowns from Pretty Lavish.

Daniel’s twin brother very kindly offered to buy his kilt for the wedding and he got exactly what he wanted (a traditional kilt outfit with a tweed jacket that was all totally tailored to him) from Mitchell Scott in Inverurie.
Our niece Ada was our flower girl and our dog, Marley, finished off our bridal party as chief canapé taster! She walked down the aisle with Jenny, our chief bridesmaid, and had a cute sage collar to match the girls.

The night before the wedding we had a pizza truck come to the castle, and all shared some cocktails and beers. The next morning was chilled and prosecco-filled before a relaxed ceremony. We’re not religious so went for a humanist ceremony. Our celebrant was fantastic and we included drinking from the quaich.

Afterwards, there was an acoustic set from Fyra and a magician on hand to keep everyone entertained, as well as a gin piano with all our favourite gins and garnishes. Everyone loved it – although not so much the next day! We also had a phone booth so guests could record personal messages and now we can listen to them any time.

The meal was incredible and I’m sure anyone who has had Drumtochty’s venison can vouch for this! The speeches were incredible and emotional. Everyone did so well.

Our first dance was Forever After All by Luke Combs. We’re big country music fans, we love the song and the title seemed very fitting. Fyra then got to the stage for the rest of the evening and this had to be the best part of the day for us – having all our friends and family in one room. In fact, it’s probably the only time this will ever happen!

It was such an incredible day; everything we pictured and more. And we really wouldn’t change a thing. Our advice for other couples tying the knot would be to enjoy every minute because it goes so quickly – and go for a videographer. Some couples swither on this but we were so glad we booked one. We love our video and know we’ll watch it time and time again.

Juliet's Little White Book

Band: Fyra
Bridal outfit: Midnight Elegance
Bridesmaids’ outfits: Pretty Lavish
Beauty: Brown Sugar by Sam Milne, Teeth Whitening by Christine
Cake: Millie Milne Cakes
Celebrant: Bryan Begg of Ceremonies.Scot
Décor: Thoughts and Crosses
Flowers: Hays Flowers
Groom’s outfit: Mitchell Scott
Hair: Cach-ca Hair by Carrie,The Duchess Hair Studio
Make-up: Natalie Fearnley Makeup Artist
Magician: Grant Mitchell Magician & Mind Reader
Photographer: Deeside Photographics
Piper: James Cooper Bagpiping
Rings: Finnies the Jeweller, Flinn and Steel
Venue: Drumtochty Castle
Videographer: Watt Videography