Gaeleen and Chris

Gaeleen MacPherson and Chris Lafferty

Dunrobin Castle, followed by the Royal Marine Hotel, Brora, Highlands

18th August 2010

A crisp Wednesday in August saw the wedding of Canadian couple Gaeleen MacPherson and Chris Lafferty at the stunning venue that is Dunrobin Castle, Sutherland.

The area of Sutherland was chosen as it had a particular significance to Gaeleen, since visiting to see her grandfather at his home there, when she was only 5 years old.

The wedding day began at the Royal Marine Hotel, Brora, where the girls calmly got ready, sipping champagne whilst the hair and makeup artists did their thing! The boys meanwhile squeezed in a round of golf before they got ready.

The Humanist ceremony commenced at 2pm conducted by Penelope Hamilton, who did her best to make all the overseas guests relax and have a giggle by getting the Bride and Groom to tell their guests the 5 things they love most about each other.

The sun came out and allowed some beautiful, picture-perfect shots of the Bride and Groom to be taken in Dunrobin Castle’s breathtaking gardens. Photos continued at the local Golf Course, capturing the other love in Chris’ life – Golf!

 The wedding reception venue back at the Royal Marine Hotel was transformed by ourselves as well as florist Stephen Seedhouse and provided a beautiful surrounding for the 35 guests who were seated around a long banqueting style table. The theme featured deep purple, white and black colours and a damask print. This filtered through from the table menus, to the table runner, napkins, and the favour boxes. Tall perspex candelabra adorned the long table and neatly tied deep purple sashes emphasized the shape of the tall banqueting chairs. A huge chandelier hung fort from the ceiling, and  lit up the large cake which took pride of place in at the front of the room – a three tier creation of vanilla, chocolate and carrot, made by the cake designer genius that is Andrea Webster. Andrea is so well organised she even provided Lucy and myself with a “repair kit” containing extra icing and fondant, just in case we needed it when transporting and setting up the cake!

Gaeleen also wished to pay tribute to those family members that couldn’t be with her on her special day and did this by having a “memory table” complete with photographs of loved ones – such a nice idea!

The speeches commenced after the delicious 4 course meal and then it was dance time…..with DJ Russell Rehky and his infamous karaoke!

As darkness fell, with a toss of her bouquet Gaeleen disappeared into the night with her handsome prince, Chris….with a wide smile that said it all!