Celeste and Scott
26/05/2007 – The Cathedral Church of St Machar, Aberdeen
Marcliffe at Pitfodels, Aberdeen
How and when did you meet?
Scott and I met at work. I was a student doing a summer placement and he was effectively one of the bosses!
How old are you both?
I’m 25 and he’s 36.
Where, when and how did he (or you!) propose?
Scott proposed to me at the top of the Empire State building on Sept 17th 2005. It was about 9am and I was totally taken aback!
Did you have hen and stag celebrations? If so, what did you do?
Yes, I had two hen parties! The first one for my close friends – we rented an apartment in Liverpool for a long weekend and did touristy stuff like an open top bus tour, ferried accross the mersey etc, then had a good night out! Scott’s stag do was in Inverness where they went quad biking, bowling and did other outdoor activities (I think!)
How did your groom help with the wedding planning?
Scott was great. He agreed to all of my suggestions! No seriously, we discussed everything but he was mainly in charge of the cars, ushers / dads outfits and all of the paperwork. Did I mention that he almost forgot to collect the license the day before the wedding?
Did you use confetti to plan your wedding? If so, how did the website help you?
Yes. I am completely addicted to the chat room forums. The girls there have had some brilliant advice and were always there to answer the typical wedding / family politics questions! I also bought a few things from the online shop.
Did you buy any confetti products for your wedding? If so, did you visit a store, buy online or by mail order?
I bought some of the things for my favours using the online shop. Also a readings book and a couple of things for gifts for my bridesmaids.
Tell us about your outfit, and where you bought it
I wore ‘Altea’. A silk, strapless Pronovias gown from the 2006 collection. It had a lace and silk trimmed bolero which I had altered slightly- the sleeves shortened. I bought it in Avorio Bridal, Fochabres – a tiny village in the Highlands.
Did you have bridesmaids? If so, who did you choose and what did they wear?
I had four adult bridesmaids (sister, two best friends and a cousin), a younger bridesmaid (another cousin) and a flower girl (one of the bridesmaid’s daughter). All the bridesmaids wore the same tea length chocolate brown Dessy dress. The flowergirl wore a traditional ivory Jasper Conran dress bought from Debenhams. They were stunning!
Who did your groom choose for his best man and ushers, and what did they wear?
Our family is Scottish so all of the bridal party wore kilts. Scott wore his own kilt but had a blazer type jacket made, and tartan socks to compliment. The ushers, dads and best man all wore the same tartan.
Did you have a civil or religious ceremony?
Religious.
Where did you hold your ceremony?
The Cathedral Church of St Machar, Aberdeen (Church of Scotland)
Where did you hold your reception?
The fabulous Marcliffe at Pitfodels, Aberdeen. Just superb!
Did you have any special wedding transport?
The bridal car was a classic Bentley – aparently it was a retiral present for the owner of the company! The bridesmaids travelled in a stretched Mercedes. We hired coaches to transport our guests.
How many guests did you invite to your wedding, and did you have a separate evening guest list?
There were 100 guests during the day, with approximately another 30 in the evening.
Did your reception have a particular theme in terms of colour or style?
We carried the NYC theme through our wedding and kept the colours to neutral and brown.
How did you incorporate this in to your table settings?
We used ivory table settings with tall vases of ivory and brown flowers. The favour wrappings carried on the brown colour scheme.
Did you give your guests favours?
The ladies had martini glasses with small brown organza bags filled with Jelly Belly sweets. These were parcelled individually in brown paper bags and ties with brown and cream ribbon. The men got mini bottles of vodka, Jack Daniels or Southern Comfort wrapped in the brown organza bags used for the ladies’ sweets.
Describe your flowers (bouquets and table decorations). Who was your florist?
I and the bridesmaids carried over arm cream calla lily bouquets. They were entwined with contorted willow (brown), aspadistra leaf and accented with brown pearls up the stems. The flower girl carried a tiny mesh basket filled with cream rose petals with a cream corsage on the front. The table centres were provided by the hotel and were tall glass vases with cream lilies and brown and green. In the church we used gorgeous wicker pedestals and used a range of contemporary cream and brown flowers, including calla lilies. Our superb florist was Eden Creative Florist, Aberdeen.
What did you choose to have on your menu? Did you have an outside caterer or did your venue handle the catering?
The Marcliffe uses only the best local produce so we decided to have a traditionally Scottish meal – crofters soup, melon and berries, chicken stuffed with haggis and for those who had room, sticky toffee pudding with local ice cream. Delicious!
What did you choose for your wedding cake, and who made it?
Our wedding cake was a model of the Empire State Building. It was more than three feet tall and looked spectacular! Hand crafted with love and care by Mandi and David at Rainbow Sugar Craft in the Scottish Borders. (and transported 150 miles to Aberdeen!)
Did you have any entertainment during the day or evening?
In the evening we had a live band who played a combination of Scottish ceilidh music and covers of pop songs from the 60’s onwards – including some Scissor Sisters! Talented bunch! The band were called Referendum.
Did you have a gift list? If so, who did you have your list with?
Yes, with John Lewis and Anderson, a local furniture store. My guests seemed to appreciate being able to give us vouchers and having a choice of stores.
Where did you spend your first night and honeymoon? Who did you book your honeymoon with?
Our first night was spent in the reception venue. We honeymooned straight after in San Diego, Huntington Beach, Beverly Hills and Las Vegas! We booked it all ourselves using Expedia or direct with the hotels.
What was your most memorable moment of the day?
Walking down the aisle with my dad. Definitely! I think he may have been more nervous than me. As we stood at the back of the church and the doors were opened all I could see was a sea of faces that I recognised. I was quite overwhelmed!
Did you experience any ‘nightmare’ moments in the run up to your wedding or on the day?
Well, my grandfather was taken ill, the airline two of my guests were traveling on went on strike (they were coming from Sweden the day before the wedding), half of the bridal party got lost on the way to the rehearsal and we almost forgot to pick up the schedule…but apart from that everything was perfect!
Is there anything you would do differently, or any advice you would give to other brides?
I had a perfect day. Only advice I could give would be expect the day before your wedding to be the most stressful day of your life so let people help as much as you can. Write lists and give them out with things like who needs to have cars where and at what times, names and phone numbers of everyone you could possibly need to talk to. And, try not to stress too much about the weather – it is the one thing that even Confetti can’t help you control!
