Following our wedding ceremony, we were holding a reception at the heart of the University of St Andrews.
It was nice to mingle a little and chat with some friends. We then took some photos in the quad while the guests enjoyed some canapés as well as bubbly and Pimm’s.
The weather was up and down, with sunshine, some light rain and strong winds. A true Scottish day!
The portraits were done in terrible cold! My dad had to pass his jacket to my maid of honour as she waited and then to me as we walked to the nearby lawn to take photos with the confetti.
It was then time for dinner so we gladly sat down with everyone. With only 52 guests we created two long tables to create the ambience of communal dining. It was nicely decorated with flowers made by my mother-in-law.
I ended up having some anxiety – which often pokes its nose out when I’m eating, making it impossible for me to enjoy food at those times. So I didn’t manage to eat anything except the side bread. I was told the food was lovely, thankfully!
We did a few speeches. I started, because I wanted to break the sexist tradition that women don’t talk at their own wedding. Then it was the Brit’s turn, followed by his brother, his dad, my maid of honour, my parents and brother.
Funniest speech goes to the Brit’s dad who made a funny joke comparing Canadians to Americans, probably not realising we had so many in attendance. I was touched by all my family’s speeches, but my brother’s and maid of honour’s touched me the most.
After dinner, our band started playing upstairs. But we quickly popped out to take a few evening portraits. The sun dipped down so quickly, but our photographer did manage to get some amazing shots!
Upon our return we had our first dance, an instrumental version of “Let Her Go” by Passenger performed by the band, before getting our ceilidh on. I really struggled to ceilidh in my wedding dress, but it was great fun!
Even though I thought I would dance a lot, I mostly spent the rest of the evening chatting with guests. A few had come from very far away so it was great to sit down and catch up.
The day passed in a blur, but what an amazing day. We went to bed that night buzzing and I slept so well, the best night’s sleep I’d had in a while. I’m so thankful of everyone who came and everyone who helped to make this day possible.
I felt a lot of love, from my Brit of course, but also from all our friends and family. I was overcome with emotions a few times realising we’d brought together a few different facets of our lives in Scotland, from living in St Andrews, Edinburgh and Stirling (and Dundee for the Brit). And introducing my family to some of my favourite people.
What a beautiful day that we’ll cherish forever!
** All photos by George Vekic Photography **
