A beautiful Christmas wedding at Drumtochty Castle, Auchenblae
Gemma and Nick
- ThePlus Audio
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Business development manager Gemma met primary school teacher Nick in Berlin in 2015.
“I was at university in Edinburgh, I booked a girls’ weekend to Berlin for my best friend’s 21st birthday.
Nick was on a Contiki tour travelling Europe with friends and our groups met as we were staying at the same hostel,” Gemma explains.
Nick and his friends came to Edinburgh on their travels a couple of weeks later and so they met up again and kept in touch by messaging every day.
The following year, Nick went back to Australia to start studying to become a primary school teacher, while Gemma stayed in Edinburgh to finish her university course.
They kept in touch, did long distance for a while, then when Gemma finished her studies in July 2017 she decided to move to Australia on a working holiday visa to see if she liked it.
“It’s been nearly eight years and now we are married and have built a beautiful home,” Gemma says.
Nick proposed to Gemma on her 25th birthday while they were on a weekend away.
“While we were out for a hike, Nick’s brother and his wife decorated our Airbnb with beautiful candles and roses.
“When we got back, I walked in and got such a surprise.
“Nick went down on one knee and asked me to marry him.
“Meanwhile, Lee and Steph were hiding outside the window capturing the moment on camera!”
Gemma had no idea what kind of dress she wanted, having seen so many beautiful designs online.
“I went in with an open mind, tried so many different styles and ended up surprising myself about what looked best.
In the end, it was the beautiful ‘Jana’ dress by Amy and Eve by Morilee.
“I chose it because it really suited my body shape and matched the vibe I was aiming for.
“It was elegant and simple yet had a detachable bow feature on the shoulder feature that gave it a quirky ‘something’.”
Gemma wore earrings given to her a few months earlier by her late mother-in-law, that she had worn on her wedding day.
“I wore a beautiful silver diamond bracelet which my auntie Tracey had leant me, and my shoes were from Kurt Geiger.”
Gemma had five bridesmaids: her little sister was Maid of Honour, then she had childhood best friend Kristy, two besties from university Kate and Abi, and her Aussie bestie Martine.
With all her ‘maids living in different parts of the world (Arbroath, Glasgow, France and Australia!) there wasn’t an opportunity to go dress shopping together, so instead they relied on online deliveries and a few returns to find the right one.
“I was not fussy about a particular style of dress as everyone has different styles and body shapes so the plan was to pick a colour (either forest green or navy) and then mix and match styles.
“I think this looks great at weddings. However, as it turned out, the girls all liked the same dress so we went for a navy blue dress from Coast.”
Nick wore a Hebridean Storm kilt and had five groomsmen: his childhood best friends Nick (best man) and Liam, his two brothers Lee and Harrison, and Gemma’s little brother Kaden.
“We had a drinks reception at the castle the night before which was a great way for all the guests to mingle.
“The venue provided pizzas. Everyone had an early night though so we were well rested for the big day!” Gemma says.
They chose a humanist ceremony as neither of them are religious and Gemma walked down the aisle to Love You for a Long Time by Maggie Rogers.
“Our celebrant David was wonderful and made a fun and beautiful ceremony that reflected us well, and made lovely tributes to Nick’s mum who had passed away close to the wedding day. It was the perfect balance.”
Afterwards they served canapes and Prosecco to their 80 guests in the castle dining room whilst the venue set up the main hall for dinner.
This was a great chance for everyone to mingle and have a drink.
This was followed by a three-course sit down meal, before speeches and the first dance.
“All of the speeches were amazing. It was a very emotional and raw time for us with Nick’s mum passing so close to the wedding, so everyone made beautiful tributes to her.
“There was also lots of laughter and safe to say, not a dry eye in the room,” Gemma recalls.
More guests joined them for the evening reception and their band, the Revues, had everyone up dancing all night.
“I don’t think the dance floor was empty at any point!
“The band also called a ceilidh and played Tina Turner’s Nutbush City Limits as a wee nod to all of the Aussies. So much fun!”
Gemma adds that it was so special having a whole weekend – and not just one day – with all their families and friends on both sides.
“We absolutely love that everyone got on so well and keep in touch, even planning a reunion in Bali!”
On reflection, Gemma says that planning a wedding in Scotland from overseas was not as tough as she thought it would be.
“Everything is so accessible online, and I could chat to vendors through Instagram or via emails.
“We probably would have tried to do some more DIY extra touches if we had been closer to home during the planning but I wouldn’t have changed anything, looking back.”
When it came to planning, she enjoyed keeping things super-organised.
“I am an excel-geek and love to plan – so I loved having every little thing documented in a spreadsheet! It was just really fun to plan a day that was not only our wedding but the only time that we will have all of our favourite people in the same room. It was really fun to add in a lot of Scottish traditions.”
Joy Story
“Nick and Gemma’s wedding was quite literally a whirlwind – we got caught in a snowstorm up the hill from Drumtochty! I also found out that Aussies have their own version of the slosh to Nutbush City Limits! It was such a wonderful winter wedding!”
Sarah
Here are the amazing suppliers that helped make my day so special
– I’d highly recommend them.
Band | The Revues
Bride’s dress | Amy & Eve by Morilee
Bride’s shoes | Kurt Geiger
Bridesmaid dresses | Coast
Cake | Laura’s Cakes
Celebrant | David Elder Humanist
Flowers | Hollie Berries Flowers
Groom’s outfit | Eight Yards
Hair | Hair by Amy Yeats
Make-up | Annie Voigt Makeup
Rings | Charles Rose Jewellers
Videography | Paperstreet Productions
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