On the last May the Fourth, the Brit and I finally tied the knot. Actually we signed all the official papers on the third, but we’ll keep the 4th May 2019 in our hearts as the date of our Scottish wedding.
The Friday was hectic to say the least (more on that later), but it ended with a nice family dinner, with both sets of parents and siblings, at our favourite restaurant in St Andrews, Forgan’s. Later, a few friends joined us at our hotel for drinks in the evening.
The next morning, we aimed to take it relaxed. We woke up around 8-9am and headed down to get breakfast. It was delicious! We stayed at Hotel du Vin so the food was excellent of course!
Around 11.30 I headed off to the hairdresser to get a blow dry. I wanted simple but luscious hair so that was simple (and cheap!). Straight afterwards, I picked up some special treats for the dessert table at a local bakery before heading to the venue to do a last check.
Later I had a friend pop in to do my make up and her and T, my maid of honour, helped me do the finishing touches and get in my dress. From there we were off to do our first look in the lobby of the hotel and then photos on the beach.
Despite being a sunny day, it was extremely cold and windy. (As a parenthesis, it is unfortunate that this May has been the worst in all 7 years I’ve been in Scotland. May is usually a good month and that’s why we wanted to get married then, but the weather was reminiscent of the winter. Thankfully we made the most of it and it made for dramatic photos!)
The photos on the beach were fun, although I was freezing! I also had to go barefoot because high heels in the sand are not for the faint of heart. Some lady took a photo of us because she said she wanted to show all her friends my dress. Weird, but kinda funny!
Around 3.30 we walked back to our venue for the ceremony. I was a bit nervous to walk in front of all our friends, but I was glad to walk in with my man. Walking in together meant so much, including an equal entrance into this day of celebration, into our union and into our group of friends and family.
We had a close friend perform the ceremony and he did such a great job! He even brought the Harry Potter book as a special touch. We had our parents come up and do special readings from each of our cultures. One from Chile, Dame la mano from Gabriela Mistral; A Lang Promise by Jackie Kay, the Scottish Makar; and Je n’ai pas cessé de t’aimer by Gilles Vigneault a singer-songwriter from Quebec.
We wrote our own vows and despite having written them, I got very emotional reading them out loud. I had to follow my text to make sure I was saying exactly what I wanted to say. The right words matter so much to me! The Brit was spontaneous as always and even surprised me with bilingual vows, which impressed everyone.
We also invited guests to share some blessings and thoughts. We’d seen that at a friend’s wedding and we thought it was such a nice thing to do. Of course some people are shy and taken aback by the request. That’s why we were happily surprised that some people did get up and talk!
Generally that 20 minutes felt like a blur. I barely recorded a word of what anyone was saying. Probably because it was so emotional! And a bit nerve-wracking as everyone was looking at us! So kissing and then walking away smiling felt like such a relief! Now we can relax and party!
* *All photo credits to George Vekic Photography. * *
