Merry Christmas! Hope you’re having a wonderful time with your loved ones. Here at Confetti we have one last gift for you, and what a gift it is… this week’s Real Wedding! Hanna and Billy, along with their closest friends and family travelled to Scotland for a picturesque humanist beach wedding. Julie Kim is the photographer we have to thank for giving us image after image of pure happiness. You can almost feel the cool breeze from the beach as you read through and the bond our couple have for each other and their guests is just heart warming. We really hope you enjoy Hanna and Billy’s wedding as much as we did.
Bride and Groom… Hanna and Billy
Wedding date… Saturday 3th September 2011
We met… While testing out the Carsten Höller slide exhibition at Tate Modern in 2007
The proposal… Billy proposed on the edge of Niagara Falls at sunset, during an epic 10,000 km road trip across Canada.
We knew it was ‘the one’… 10,000km together in a Car was a pretty good sign!
Length of engagement… 18 months
How did Confetti.co.uk help in your big day? It is always useful to have a website specifically devoted to finding good and trustworthy suppliers. Confetti is a good place that draws everything together for finding the right resources.
My dress was… A Caroline Castigliano dress. I chose it because I wanted something dramatic yet simple and understated. There was not a lot of fuss with the dress, just a simple but beautiful lace bodice and free flowing skirt. I felt that just because I got married on a rugged Scottish beach didn’t mean I had to wear a short and practical gown! I only went to 2 bridal shops with my mum and sister and tried on a total of about 10 dresses. I was pretty sure I wanted one of Caroline’s designs as her ‘made to measure service’ is second to none. The experience I had in the store, just confirmed to me that I was in good hands and the staff did everything they could over the course of that year to make sure I got the look I set out to achieve.
Our wedding ceremony was… held at Crear, Argyll, Scotland. We had a small humanist ceremony on a beach on the very western coast of Scotland. We wrote every single word of our ceremony and our vows were a surprise to each other on the day. 50 of our closest friends and family made the journey to Scotland to be there and even braved walking through a field of cows to get down to the ceremony site. One of our closest friends (a film composer) specially arranged and sang Damien Rice’s Eskimo as I walked down a very makeshift aisle. We held a ring warming and read poetry before sharing our vows and exchanging rings.
Our wedding photographer was… Julie Kim. Not only is she an incredible photographer, but she is a wonderfully kind person who was a constant and subtle support on the day. She has a real way with people and families and did everything in her power to make us all feel very comfortable. Our wedding photographs are one of our most valued processions.
Our favourite part of the wedding was… Having my Dad play the bagpipes for us as the sun was setting, that moment will go down in history as one of the more emotional things I have experienced.
Suppliers
Wedding Dress: Caroline Castigliano | Wedding Shoes: Vivienne Westwood (Bride) and Grensons (Groom) | Wedding Suits: Liberty London and Oliver Spenser | Bridesmaid Dresses: Anthropolgie, Traffic People and Vivienne Westwood | Wedding Flowers: Crear Flowers | Wedding Photographer: Julie Kim| Wedding Cake: Pumpkin and Pecan pies, made by Alan Boslem| Wedding Catering: Alan Boslem for Crear
Our wedding reception was… at Crear, Argyll, Scotland. First and foremost, we wanted to get married in Scotland to allow us to have a legal humanist wedding outdoors. We were determined that our own words would be the thing that married us and Crear offers such a wild and beautiful setting for allowing us to do this. Secondly, as theatre makers, the appeal of an artist’s retreat and a fully customisable venue was appealing. Crear allows you to pretty much transform the space how you want it. Having the space for three days allowed us to properly enjoy spending time with guests who had travelled so far to be there. We cooked together, decorated, rigged lights in the rain and got married as part of one long three day party.
Our wedding style was… Roughly guided by the natural beauty of the location, using lots of wood, rugged furniture and vintage props to help set the scene.
Our bridesmaids and groomsmen were… made up from a mixture of family, school and university friends. We had four bridesmaids and five groomsmen in total.
Suppliers
Wedding Dress: Caroline Castigliano | Wedding Shoes: Vivienne Westwood (Bride) and Grensons (Groom) | Wedding Suits: Liberty London and Oliver Spenser | Bridesmaid Dresses: Anthropolgie, Traffic People and Vivienne Westwood | Wedding Flowers: Crear Flowers | Wedding Photographer: Julie Kim| Wedding Cake: Pumpkin and Pecan pies, made by Alan Boslem| Wedding Catering: Alan Boslem for Crear
Did anything funny or unusual happen at your wedding? We were very honoured to have White Rabbit (a storytelling theatre company) come in and perform to us. They and other guests wrote stories about Billy and me and together we shared them in Crear’s big living room in front of an open fire. It was a quiet and moving part of our wedding reception. Another theatre company, Stan’s Café also set up a performance installation for us, based on their Rice Show ‘Of all the people in All the World’, using rice to show different wedding themed statistics; we are very blessed to have such kind and talented friends and colleagues.
Our first dance was… Samson by Regina Spektor
Our wedding unique and special because… having a three day wedding in the middle of wild Scottish countryside was a bit unusual!
What is your advice for other brides? To make sure that you do everything possible to get married the way you want to. Neither of us live in Scotland but we, our closest friends and family travelled over 900 miles just so we could get married on that beach with the vows we wrote. Nothing was more important to us than that.
Our honeymoon was… backpacking for three weeks around Mexico. Would I recommend three weeks of eating tacos and drinking Corona on private beaches with your new husband? Well now there’s a silly question!
Suppliers
Wedding Dress: Caroline Castigliano | Wedding Shoes: Vivienne Westwood (Bride) and Grensons (Groom) | Wedding Suits: Liberty London and Oliver Spenser | Bridesmaid Dresses: Anthropolgie, Traffic People and Vivienne Westwood | Wedding Flowers: Crear Flowers | Wedding Photographer: Julie Kim| Wedding Cake: Pumpkin and Pecan pies, made by Alan Boslem| Wedding Catering: Alan Boslem for Crear
Create the look
Want your own nature inspired wedding? Then check out our latest range from new 2014 Confetti magazine! Check out the mini mood board below for a sneak peak.
Above, clockwise from top left: Personalised Wood Veneer Pennants | Vintage Inspired Wood Case with Hinged Lid | Burlap Chic Thank You Personalised Rubber Stamp | Miniature Natural Birch Wood Circle Slices
