“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” Joshua 1:9
As the big day got closer, and my exams and assignments were becoming super busy, not to mention my two-day-a-week placement, things were getting a little intense. Graeme and I were both feeling the pressure, and so we made more of an effort to go on adventures. My flatmate, bridesmaid and best friend Iulia was also aware of the pressure I was feeling, and made sure that I was feeling good and gave me lots more tea than usual, made more time for games, watched movies with me and Graeme and we both went to a tap dance class that was starting at uni, while coming to all my dress fittings!!
But first we had the hen-do to go to :D I had my hen-do in Glasgow to try to find dresses for the bridesmaids, go to an Afternoon Tea where I had gone with my parents when we first came to Scotland, and go to glass painting in Paisley. I wrote a full post about my hen-do here: My hen do.
Walking through the streets of Glasgow
Having an Afternoon Tea all together <3
In the train on the way to glass painting
Pamela and Danielle painting wine glasses
On the train back to Glasgow
On the way to the train to Edinburgh
We then had Graeme's stag do, which he invited two of his groomsmen to and all the family. His groomsmen were: Niall, Tony and Harri. So we all went to a go-ape park :D
Me going across a VERY difficult part of the course.
Graeme, Harri and I half-way through the trail:D
Action shot of Harri on the Tarzan swing. I was soo scared to go on this part!! I was actually crying just thinking about it
The day after the stag-do Graeme went with Harri to try on the kilt he will hire for the wedding
It was time to start sending out invitations, and so we finalised our designs. We resized them, got my friend to write the calligraphy, sent them off the printers, put them in envelopes and sent them off.
Choosing the calligraphy we wanted
Finalised invitation
Creating a collage of the different colours of flowers I wanted
Trying to bring out a colour in the bouquets from each dress
The flowers were going to be done by one of Graeme's mums friends, who has a beautiful garden full of flowers, and has experience arranging flowers for another wedding. I remember sitting down with her in her home on a warm sunny day, and explaining to her what flowers I liked (or thought I did) and that I did not want any baby's breath flowers ;)
Another girl I knew was making flower tiaras for me, all the bridesmaids and the flower girls. It then made it easier when I went to meet with her to explain the colours and flowers I had discussed for the bouquets.
Meanwhile, I spent lots of time at Graeme's parent's place, where Graeme started to create a water feature for the wedding. I had said at one point that I wanted to get married with the sound of water in the background, and so Graeme had taken that seriously and started to source different pots and water pumps to create it.
The beginnings of Graeme's water fountain
When I bought my wedding dress I wasn't really aware of how many dress fittings I would need to get the dress fitting well - there were 4 fittings in the end;) And as the first fitting became closer and closer I realised that I needed to have wedding shoes tottery with the dress :o So an hour before the fitting Iulia and I were racing around Edinburgh trying to find the right shoes ;) Luckily we found the perfect ones at John Lewis 10mins before the fitting!!
The first fitting, where the dress was needing hemmed to the shoe height
A week later I could try on the hemmed dress with the shoes.
While I was hiding all the pictures of my dress fittings from Graeme, I had the opportunity to go with Graeme to his kilt fittings to see how much stuff is actually needed in a kilt outfit!! In this picture he was wearing his own kilt attire except the jacket. The jacket came a few days before the wedding :o
Graeme wearing the Campbell tartan with his custom-made sporran.
Finishing a tap dance class with Iulia, where we learnt four different dances over 6 classes.
With most things done, now all that was needed was to wait (really) till I could make the finishing touches like favours, decorations, nails, speeches etc. I had a couple more assignments still to go as well (and luckily had just finished my placement), so I was able to start getting excited!!
In Finland I went to a bookstore and found some lovely wedding books, which I found on Amazon for much cheaper. So I bought these thinking (hoping) it would help me to plan my wedding...
The next step was to find a location for the wedding. Graeme's brother-in-law could get us a discount if we wanted to get married in a castle :o So we went to check out Dollar Castle, which is a beautiful Campbell castle. We had lovely tour around the castle and the grounds, and then I had a meltdown. I was so confused with what I wanted, and I wanted to know what I wanted, and so I kept feeling worse and worse. This was one of the many times Graeme told me to calm down, relax, and tell him everything that was on my mind. And we worked out that I wanted a wedding on a beach ... in Scotland :O We then started brainstorming, and when we were finished we went for a swim in the Dollar Glen. It was magical!!!
For my first trip to find a wedding dress I went with Graeme and his mum. I know, controversial. But I knew that I wouldn't find my dress straight away. It also showed me that Graeme wanted me to wear exactly what I wanted to wear ;)
The dress I like most at my first dress shop
Oh, and backtracking abit, I knew exactly who I wanted my bridesmaids to be. That was the easiest part of planning the wedding!! All my closest friends :D So I asked them all, and they all agreed, and so I organised the first bridesmaids outing to find a dress.
Meeting up with the bridesmaids for lunch and tea before going to the bridal store to try on dresses :D
Inspiration (from Pinterest) for the dress I thought I wanted
My bridesmaids at the bridal store <3 Iulia, Steph, Danielle, Pamela and Morven
One of the many dresses I tried on. I loved the train!!
Nice top half, but the bottom half seemed mismatched
Lovely dress
Beautiful train!!
The final choice!! Apparently the only dress I said that I loved <3 I didn't think I had any pictures of this dress because it hadn't come out yet and this was the sample dress, but my cunning bridesmaids took sneaky photos ;)
Cheering on it!
Found my dress :D I remember feeling sooo exhausted at this point ;)
Colours I was thinking for the bridesmaids dresses
For the bridesmaids dresses I was thinking a range of colours they could choose from, but all long dresses. This was I was hoping that the dresses could be worn again :)
Inspiration for our marriage: "Spend more time planning for your marriage and less planning for your wedding. When it's all said and done, it's a lifetime versus one day."
Quick draft for the Save the Dates
More finalised version of the Save the Dates
We then started researching for more wedding venues!! We have decided against the castle, mainly because it is sooo expensive, and started researching in the area we wanted on Google maps. Graeme wanted the wedding venue for the reception to be a place to accommodate all our close family members, since they are all living so far away from each other it would be a good chance to spend time together (my family in Copenhagen, Finland and Cardiff at the time; and Graeme's family in Scotland).
Here we visited a large house that was an option as a reception venue.
Visiting an option for our venue: Greencraig House in Aberlady
We decided upon this venue above, since it was close to the church, next to the beach and large enough to hold us all in it. So we booked it for 11th of May, just before the golf season when it would become sooo much more expensive.
Guest book ideas
Table ornament ideas
I then started planning the invitations:
First idea: 3D printed card from America.
Second idea of invitation design
Third idea for invitation (half drawn in my Marketing lecture ;))
After these we asked our designer what her thoughts were, and after she drew out a better version, we decided to have a gated card with a dove and then the lupin design on the main page with text. I wanted to also get the text handwritten by a friend who does calligraphy.
It was coming up to Christmas, and so we went with Iulia to the Christmas markets.
Going on the Christmas Wheel with Graeme and Iulia
Graeme was coming with me for a week to Finland to spend time with my parents and Harri!! I was soo excited :D While we were there we finalised the Save the Dates and sent those off as well.
My parents, Graeme and I in-front of the Christmas markets in Helsinki, and my beloved white church <3
Graeme and I went swimming and sauna-ing at the sea pool in Helsinki. I wrote a blog post about that here: Day out in Helsinki with Graeme
Finalising the Save the Dates and emailing those off to everyone
Graeme then left for Scotland, and I stayed in Finland to celebrate Christmas with my family. After Christmas we found and ordered the rings and then my parents found a bolero that would look lovely with the dress.
For Christmas I got a polaroid camera for taking pictures at the wedding.
The rings I decided on :o Both the rings are rose gold, and are designed by Finnish designers
