The tables themselves were named after whiskies, with the top table being James' favourite, Edradour. Each table name had been printed out by dad and coloured purple by Mum. At the bottom they had a related fact about the whisky or the distillery. The theme of facts was carried on in the place-cards where each one had a calligraphied fact inside, some specific to the person receiving them but mostly pot luck. James came up with the factoids and a lot were focused on our areas of knowledge or interest. The outside of the place-cards had the person's name calligraphied by mum and purple mosaic corners, a theme which was also an element of the handmade invites, the table names and the menus. The children's placecards had felt animals in the corner - about the only concession we made for their ages! Mum was also responsible for the covers of the orders of service which were handed out at the church.
The table plan was a post in itself. The ribbon roses, which I had made of evenings over many months, were mounted in oasis around the border and Mum calligraphied the names once the seating plan had been decided upon. In hindsight I have to commend myself for the seating plan as the tables all seemed to gel remarkably well. The overall effect was one I was very happy with and incredibly proud of. I think it is set to be mounted in a frame and will invariably adorn one of our walls in the not too distant future. It will also remind us of all the fabulous people who were able to share the day with us. A further reminder is our very individual take on a guest book. Every place setting was laid with a postcard of scottish scenes and we asked everyone to write us a note and post it in a box. We read them the night we got back from honeymoon and they were great - a very eclectic mixture of characters and I personally feel that it allowed everybody to express their own individuality rather than feeling the need to conform to a standard guestbook message.
Ribbons were a theme that was also carried on through the whole wedding. The main element was of course the ribbon roses in various hues of pink, purple and cream. However there were also ribbon pew ends which I was able to knock out fairly quickly. My second dress - aka the dancing dress - was also customised with a thick band of purple ribbon. The house is still overflowing with ribbons and there's an outside possibility that I might think about taking on a few small commissions or even trying the break into the wedding industry with handcrafted ribbon products in the future.
I have also been asked to mention a bit more about the wedding dance. We had been having dance lessons for many months prior to our engagement but we started to focus on the wedding dance fairly early on into our engagement and I very much think that we needed all of that time. The dance may not have had any lifts - although some of the dances in the ceilidh did! - but it had plenty of dips, kicks and flicks. There is video evidence of the dance and I can remember quite a few 'oohs' and 'aaahs' as we were performing it. Music is one of the very few things about which James and I tend to disagree and the choice for first dance had the potential to become quite a sticking point. In the event I submitted to James' suggestion fairly quickly. While I would probably have opted for a more obvious choice such as Angels by Robbie Williams, a song James loathes, he naturally preferred a Bond theme tune. He suggested three options, of which I felt All Time High was the most meaningful and it seemed to work very well for us as a dance routine.
It would be wrong of me not to mention one of the most important guests of the day... Sam! The only reason we hired our venue exclusively was so that we could have the little cockapoo there. In hindsight it was a great decision anyway but for us both Sam was a VIP - that's very important pooch. Although he missed out on the role of ring-bearer - with us opting to allow the best man this traditional privilege - he instead came up the aisle with my bridal party, joined us at the front of the church for signing the register and was in all the group photos. He sat good as gold under the top table and looked very dapper in his newly acquired purple tartan lead and collar. By the end of the day you could see that he was absolutely exhausted and the main reason that Mum and Dad called it a night was because it was so clear that Sam was all partied out. He was an absolute credit to himself on the day and seemed to be a huge hit with all the guests, and certainly us!
Even now, almost four weeks after the event, the wedding is still the main topic of conversation amongst family and friends and there are still so many treats to come. A particular highlight for me will be seeing the professional photographs on Friday. As I've already mentioned many times James and I adored working with our photographer and I can't wait to see the shots she got of the day - I just hope some of them are of us as every time I looked at her she had eyes only for Sam!
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