Mon 31st Oct, 2011
A tipi wedding and a Phillipa Lepley bride
Grace and Patrick's beautiful wedding was held at St Thomas' Church in Aboyne, followed by their tipi reception in the grounds of Kincardine Castle,
"Paddy and I met in 2004 when we both worked for Mark Warner in Meribel in France during a ski season. After the season ended we both lived and worked in London and have been together ever since.
We got engaged on 5th November 2010, we were actually going on holiday the next day for 2 weeks to Brazil. My last day at work had been chaotic and very busy and so I had not had any time to think about Paddy's casual request to meet him in St Paul's after work. When I arrived at the tube station, Paddy called me and as he had cycled down asked me to meet him half way to where he had parked his bike. We met outside St Paul's Cathedral, a place that we both think is very beautiful and special. Paddy proposed on the steps. After I said yes, he then confessed that we were not going on holiday the next day! I had a reaction of shock, as this holiday was long overdue for us both, but he soon reassured me, that we were still going on holiday but not until Sunday. He had secretly arranged with my father for us to go and meet up in a restaurant with my mum, dad, sister and brother-in-law that evening, so that we could tell them in person and celebrate. The next day, Paddy had arranged for us to meet up with his family to tell them. It was such a magical way to do it, so we could tell everyone immediately. We then had a wonderful 2 week holiday."
Huge thanks to Grace and Patrick for sharing their wedding story and also to the lovely Blue Sky Photography for their fabulous imagery.
The Ebury Collection wedding blog. Wedding photography copyright 2011 Blue Sky Photography
"When I found my dress it was three sizes too big and needed a bit of love, as it had been a sample dress. However, after 5 dress fittings and the magic touch of the Philippa Lepley team it was transformed into MY dress. With the addition of three truly beautiful handmade silk roses attached to the back of the dress."
"We planned our wedding over 8 months and had a lot of fun with it. Our main mantra was to not deliberate to much over decisions as there were so many to make. Despite organizing this wedding from a distance as we live in Islington in London we were very lucky to have existing excellent contacts from my sister, who got married in the area a couple of years ago.
We made a couple of trips up to Scotland but it snowed all three trips we made and so we had only seen the venue under a foot of snow?! However, we met up with our fantastic suppliers who were so supportive and pretty much said yes to anything we asked for and so we knew we were in very safe hands."
"After the amazing success of my sisters wedding there was only one person that we wanted for our wedding catering and flowers, Val Morrison. She added all the style and wow factor we had dreamed about for our wedding. One of guests has worked in catering for many years and said that the starter was one of the best he had ever tasted. Val is an absolute legend she is both extremely calm under pressure and a style guru."
We were so so so lucky and honored to be able to have our wedding at Kincardine Castle, not only is it a stunning venue but Andy and Nicola Bradford allowed us so much flexibility to have exactly what we wanted. They were so helpful and nothing was too much bother.
"We held our reception in the castle and then at 5pm, after the cutting of the cake, a piper lead everyone from the castle down through the beautiful walled garden to reveal the tipis! This big reveal worked perfectly as the tipis were hidden from the guests until they came out of the gardens. I hear there were a few gasps and wows when they saw it.
The tipis were supplied by Harvey and Gemma at Highland Tipis, another couples who were so accommodating and worked so hard to set it all up. The tipis were fantastic with open fires inside that added atmosphere and intimacy but still were able all our 130 guests."
"We were so keen to keep our guests entertained at all points during the wedding, as there can sometimes be a bit of standing around. So we added some extra bits which also gave some wow factor. We put photos of us with everyone of guests in the tipis, we also got some local dancers and violinist to perform some Scottish dancing outside the tipis while the tables were cleared from the dance floor. Finally we brought out a massive bag of fancy dress during the dancing which everyone went mad for and have resulted in some brilliant photos."
"I wanted to have children at the wedding but knew how bored they get during the long dinner and speeches and so we put on a team of nannies from Think Evans Childcare to look after the children during this time. All the parents were so thankful for having a break and the children loved having a special kids tea and their own entertainment. The kids came back and joined us on the dance floor."
Suplier info (UK)
Dress: Phillipa Lepley
Flowers: Val Morrison Floristry and Food
Photographer: Blue Sky Photography
Caterers: Val Morrison Floristry and Food
Bridesmaids dresses: Dessy Group, Alfred Sung
Groom’s suit: tailored morning suit, Waistcoat: FavourBrooks
Transport: My Uncle Andrew's wonderful Jag
Cake: Marks and Spencer, decorated by Val Morrison
Hair and Make-up: Julie Sangster, Riah Hair Design
Music: Soul Inferno
Stationery: The Letter Press of Cirencester. We also did quite a bit ourselves. My dad did all the art work, table plan, wedding map, etc.
Marquee: Highland Tipis
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