Blyth and Jeff chose Blair Castle in Scotland at their wedding venue. With the groom loving all things Scotland and the bride actually being Scottish, it was the perfect place for them. “Jeff and I met online”, Blyth told me. “We contacted each other at the exact same time and agreed to meet a few weeks later. On our first date we discovered we shared a birthday, as well as some real chemistry. One year later, he popped the question on a deserted beach in Antigua, complete with sunset and horses swimming in the ocean. We decided on a castle venue and searched high and low to find the right one. When I viewed St Brides Kirk, the roofless ruined chapel on the grounds of Blair Castle, I fell for it immediately and knew we had to be married there.”
“Our theme was a Scottish highland romance mixed with chillies!” She laughed. “Our table theme was different species of chilli plants (we are both crazy about spicy foods) and our florist was given the brief to make table arrangements, buttonholes, and my hair circlet with chillies in them. Also heavily featured in the flowers were wild Scottish raspberries and cream thistles.”
The couple wanted to put their own stamp on a lot of the wedding details, which started with the groom designing all the stationery. “From the save the date to the invitations to the table plan and thank you cards, we put our own mark on the overall feel of the wedding. My good friend is a chocolatier so she did the wedding favours for us and tailored them to feature stag heads, mountains and Laphroaig whisky. They were so delicious!”
“My favourite part of the wedding was seeing all my friends. Some of them had travelled from the other side of the world, so having them all in one place was really special. Our Humanist Ceremony was also very personal to us. We both wanted a joyous, happy ceremony instead of anything serious or stuffy. Jeff said he loved the string quartet playing Stand By Me as he waited for me to walk down the aisle.”
The bride wore an amazing wedding gown from non-bridal designer Simon Ekrelius. “My dress was definitely the biggest splash of cash”, she explained. “It had over 2000 Swarovski crystals painstakingly hand sewn onto the bodice, and the rest was French lace and Italian silk. My designer used only the best materials and his tailoring is beautiful, Scandinavian and exact.”
