A Summer Wedding in Scotland.
As many of you know, this summer we celebrated the wedding of my youngest son and his beautiful new wife.
In a nod to the heritage of both the bride and groom, the setting for this amazing celebration was in the beautiful Scottish village of Fortinghall.
Fortingall is a unique highland village, designed by James McLaren, architect in the arts and Crafts Style. Thatched cottages, a church, a hotel, an ancient yew tree, and the most beautiful Molteno Village Hall, made this their immediate choice
of wedding venue.
The Molteno Village Hall is stunning and was gifted to the community .
It has scissor oak beams , a Versaille floor, which I can confirm is good for dancing.
It is in used for community events and the occasional wedding.
The Hall is given as a blank canvas, and the decoration and styling is completely left to your imagination.
The Blank Canvas.
The bones of Molteno Hall are truly beautiful and whilst it was a long 13 hour day setting up, it really didn't take much to transform this amazing building.
The seemingly inconspicuous exterior, belies the beautiful bones of the internal hall, and for a mere fraction of the price of most wedding venues, it was ours to transform from 9am Friday morning until Monday afternoon.
The amazing caretaker and the locals are all on hand to give you advice and help to iron out any problems throughout the process.
What Does It Take?
It takes 12 months of virtual planning, the bride and groom reside in Manchester, so no easy feat.
They meticulously planned their vision, on mood boards, Pinterest and Instagram.
They liaised with caterers, mobile bar companies, lighting crews, bands, a hairdresser, a make up artist, a highland dress hire company and of course, with Orchard Candle Company.
By the time we set off for Scotland, 3 days before the wedding, the happy couple had planned every detail, from the Ceilidh dancing, to the hand wash in the rest rooms!
We started the day at 9am the day before the wedding, bacon sandwiches enjoyed, we set to work. the day started with a delivery of the following -
20 trestle tables, 120 wooden chairs, 30 table cloths, 100 cutlery settings, and 100 crockery settings,
The 20 tables were made into 4 long trestle style tables were placed, with the top table at the head of the Hall.
These were then decorated fresh linen white table clothes and napkins, white crockery, silver cutlery, all of these items were supplied by http://www.gordonscaterhire.co.uk/
Table Settings and Flowers
Beautiful menus and stationary designed and produced by the bride and groom, were used to create place settings and wedding favors.
Orchard Mini tins were made into favors, presented in our signature brown Kraft boxes, sealed with a name place label and placed on the plate.
80 recycled GU pots were collected and used as table candles.
200 tealights adorned windowsills and decorative tables.
@orchardcandleco
Buckets and buckets of the most beautiful fresh summer flowers were collected from 'Tomnaha's Market Garden' and I spent the day dressings and creating the flowers into table decorations and arrangements.
We used recycled jars and bottles that we collected over 12 months'
Fairy Lighting
Amazing fairy lights adorned the existing vaulted roof trusses and were supplied and very efficiently installed by http://www.dundeecentral.co.uk
@stevepagelighting
Catering and Cakes
The food for the day was outstanding and was presented in the form of a buffet BBQ of 3 courses and the evening food was woodfired Pizza and the most scrumptious wedding cake for desert by Zara Cakes https://www.zaracakes.com/
@fonabfarm
@zaracakesmanchester
Mobile Bar and Drinks Reception
The mobile bar and drinks package were supplied by http://www.mobilemeasures.co.uk/
They supplied and served a comprehensive range of wines and fizz for both the drinks reception and wedding breakfast, and then ran an extensively stocked cash bar in the evening, including,, beers, spirits, shots and non alcoholic prosecco.
@mobile_measures
Evening Entertainment And Ceilidh Dancing
Evening entertainment was the extremely talented Foot Stompin Ceilidh Band
https://footstompinceilidh.com/
In addition to Ceilidh dancing, the band provided a Disco/DJ service in their standard set at no extra cost. The band also came with a lighting rig which they use during the course of the night. The Ceilidh Dancing was a huge success, even with the English half of the guest lift.
We were definitely not proficient dancers, but we had so much fun. These guys are must for your Scottish wedding.
@footstompinceilidh
Grooms Wear / Highland Dress
The wedding party groom wear was hired and supplied by
Macgregor and Macduff.
The chosen tartan was 'Arran Mist' is exclusive to MacGregor and MacDuff. and is inspired by the famous landscapes of the Isle of Arran. Arran is often referred to as “Scotland in Miniature” due to its rich history and Island scenery. Deep navy blues honour the sea that surrounds the Island, and accents of grey and brown represent the granite peaks and deep glens.
@macgregorandmacduff
Watch Our Video of the Venue Setup
Fortinghall Village Church
The belfry of the old 18th century church is in an enclosure in the churchyard.
The Fortingall Yew, close by the church, is believed to be about 5000 years old. Revd Duncan Macara, minister for 50 years in the 18th century, is buried beneath the tree.
On the inside of the church, the walls are sandstone, with oak panelling. The roof is of hand worked oak timbers in an open barrel vault.
The pews and other furnishings are also of oak, as is the chancel screen
Where we stayed.
The whole wedding party stayed at 2 properties rented by
https://www.unique-cottages.co.uk/cottages/central/perthshire/el4-balnald-farmhouse
There are various other rentals within the village and also a local hotel next door to the church
Aberfeldy, Killin Kenmore Pitlochary Dam