“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
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
Two years ago we had been to see the seals with my brother and other friends. Our Australian friend took a break from work to come to Edinburgh, so we decided to take her to see the seals. I had just arrived in Edinburgh from Helsinki the day before and rested that afternoon, so I couldn't wait to get outdoors and experience the awesomeness of God's creation!!
The path to an adventure!!
Setting out on our adventure in the cliffs off the South East of Scotland in the Borders - Graeme, Camden and I
The amazing sky scape
We had to gently scramble down the cliff to see the seals better - can you see the seals on the sand?
Action shot
All the seals on the beach
This was an amazing experience!! Not to mention an amazing exercise!!
Artistic shot
Sitting to see how the seals would respond to us coming closer - they didn't do anything different. One of the seals who was a mother with her baby kept looking at us checking us out, and she even moved closer to us, but did nothing to warn the others.
My expression at how amazing an experience it was!!
It was so amazing seeing the waves crashing on the rocks!! How do the seals survive in such treacherous waters?
I tried to do a panorama shot ;)
We were just getting up to leave the seals be, but when we got up the seals started dashing to the sea!! We felt so bad for disturbing them!!
Coming back up the cliff was so much quicker than going down!!
We made it to the top of the cliff!! Now to get back to the car.
Coming back from our adventure
When we got back to the car we drove to get a Fish'n'Chips to give ourselves heaps of energy to warm up.
The second day of our adventure of the Island of Jura was full of highs and lows. But all-in-all it was the best time I have had in ages, and I am so grateful for both Graeme and Camden's company :D Especially when I was at my wit's end and Graeme came to take my backpacks to relieve pressure <3
We then made porridge for breakfast. I went out to get some water from the stream for tea, and when I came back Camden made a joke about Graeme putting Swiss stock (which has vegetables in it) into the porridge. And upon tasting it I realised that in fact it was not a joke ;) So I had some interesting porridge for breakfast ;)
Outside when I went to the stream to wash the bowls from breakfast
View from our bothy to the sea. After we had finished breakfast I noticed a yacht in the sea, which was unusual because we hadn't seen any other human being on the island. A few minutes later a large tourist group came along to see the bothy, and so we chatted with them for a while, and after that group of tourists left for a quick exploration of our side of the island, a guy (we don't remember his name, so for the purpose of the blog we will call him Tom) who had been hiking for a while. He was going to be staying in the bothy in another room then for a few days. So we gave him some of our left-over porridge.
After tidying up we set off for a shorter hike than yesterday. Probably half of the reasoning was because we were so tired from the hike the day before and ended up having a longer morning, and half because this was supposed to be a somewhat relaxing trip ;) We had thought about going swimming, but it happened to be a rather 'dreich' day (Scottish word for a gloomy, wet and grey day), and it was predicted to start raining in a few hours. So we decided to go and explore some caves nearby.
The first cave we came across. We had to climb up a rocky bit to get there, but it was pretty cool to see a little cave at the top
Not to mention we got a great view of the little inlet of sea!!
We then walked along this beach area to see some caves on the other side. The area was a treasure haven for people who like bits and bobs. We named it "The beach of boys (buoys), where girls can visit." Graeme wanted to name the beach "Bob". It is a name that he names practically everything that he doesn't remember the name of, and I guess it was somewhat logical because there were bits and 'Bobs' littered all over the shore ;)
Finding lovely flowers on the beach. Graeme informed me that they are called "Sea Pinks"
Walking up to a cave, where we found the remains of a dead deer :(
Looking down into a cave ;) We thought it was probably best not to go down into the rainforesty-looking, slippery and dark cave, which I decided I was extremely happy about :D
Amazing stone structures on the beach that we were trekking over
One of the few trees on the island of Jura. Practically a celebrity ;)
It then started to rain so we decided to head back to the bothy. We were also getting quite hungry for lunch ;)
Graeme leading the way through the high grass
A ruined house next to the bothy. We stopped to see what was inside, but there was just some rubbish and lots of weeds.
When we got back we started making lunch using all the things we had left-over, so for starters we had a vegan fry-up using all the vegetables left. This was because both Camden and the new guy Tom were vegans. Afterwards Graeme and I fried up a steak to get our protein. We were sooo full by the end of all that food ;)
We then packed everything up, said goodbye to Tom after telling him about all the quirks of the bothy and the fire place, and mustered up the energy to set out in the 'dreich' weather towards the beach to be picked up by the dinghy to take us to the warmth of the yacht. To be honest, I felt exhausted already at this point.
I remember walking through the high grass in my sneakers, because my other shoes were already wet. After the high grass we came to a stream. I decided to take my shoes off so that they wouldn't get all soaked in the water. But when I took my shoes off I discovered that it was even harder to walk over the slippery stones on the stream bed, not to mention that it was freezing. It was also very windy, and I could really feel the wind blowing my off-balance because of the two big backpacks that I was wearing, one on the front, and one huge one on the back. So I was really trying to muster up the energy, while feeling like crying. Graeme came along, my knight in shining armour, to take both my backpacks so that at least I had nothing making me fell off-balance. I prayed a quick "God I need you" prayer crying out for a burst of energy, and walked without feeling my feet for the last few metres to the shore. That was definitely the walk of courage. Pushing yourself to the limit shows you how strong you really can be!!
Once at the shore line we just had to wait for the dinghy to come and pick us up. First Camden and I got on board, and then Graeme came with all the luggage. When we were all on the yacht we discovered that we were soaked through, low on energy and totally ready for the comforts of civilisation!! But ... the adventure did not stop there!!
The yacht we were on, finally :D
I told you about the third largest whirlpool, right? Well, we sailed right over it. It was VERY choppy seas, and I started feeling slightly seasick :o But it was pretty amazing!! Our seasickness left us when we discovered that we were on the path of a pod of dolphins!!
It was so magical seeing one dolphin after another jumping out of the water in pure joy. One of the guys there said that anyone who was depressed could not see the dolphins and still be depressed. I guess it is such a spectacular sight that you can't help but be overjoyed at the sight of such beautiful creatures.
When we finally got off the boat, and said our farewells to the amazing yacht owner, we set off for the car. Yay :D Warmth!!!
Driving in a nice warm car was such bliss after our adventures.
And we were soon to realise that our adventure was not over yet! Nope. We got a flat tyre from a really treacherous road that the Sat Nav (called Zoe) took us on. So Graeme bravely went out in the rainy weather to change the tyre, leaving Camden and I in the warmth to chat about Australia. It was lovely, but I was feeling bad for Graeme out there in the cold.
After we arrived at the Drovers Inn, which is where Camden works and stays (where we first met her), we all had a lovely dinner. I got a nice hot chocolate as well to give me lots of sugar to stop shaking from the cold :D We were all so tired, and so we talked mostly about the photos we took from our adventure and how appreciative we all were for our amazing company. And perhaps we might have thought about where we would like to go next, but I can't quite remember. Who knows, we might go somewhere even more wild than Jura?
