Recipe for a wedding – Fiona and Callum’s story

Why did you choose Mar Lodge?

My family have been visiting Mar Lodge with friends since I was a teenager and I always said that it was the place I would love to get married. It is the most beautiful, secluded venue and I just love Braemar and all the countryside that surrounds it. I have stayed in both the Bynack apartment and Claybokie over the years and it has always been such a special place.

This was made even more special by the fact that Callum and I had our first holiday as a couple to Braemar back in 2013, Callum seeing Mar Lodge for the first time when we cycled there from the village. He then joined us multiple times after that when we stayed on the estate and grew to love Mar Lodge too.

Two days after Callum proposed I emailed Mar Lodge to enquire about weddings and dates. They got back to me so quickly and straight away I was so excited to see that they would be able host the weekend wedding we were dreaming of. The fact that Mar Lodge Estate is able to accommodate so many guests within the apartments, cottages and bunkhouse made this venue perfect as we knew we wanted to be able to host our nearest and dearest for the whole weekend.

What type of ceremony did you choose and why?

We chose a Civil Marriage ceremony with Aberdeenshire council and this was perfect for us as it could happen within the lodge, and could be easily tailored and personalised to our requirements. We met with our registrar Elaine Jaffrey over video call about a month before the wedding to discuss our ceremony wishes. From there Callum and I wrote our own vows, Elaine wrote a wonderful introduction and ceremony, and we were able to include some lovely personal readings from friends and family including the reading ‘A lovely love story’ by Edward Monkton, which we changed some of the words in to reflect us as a couple.

How many people attended the wedding?

90 for the full day.

Did you have an idea of what you wanted your wedding day to be like before you started planning? If so, did that change?

We had lots of ideas which I think we pretty much stuck with. On our visits to Mar Lodge in the summers of 2021 and 2022 to meet with the co-ordinators we were able to walk and talk through ideas, which really helped as we could then tweak things to make sure everything flowed together.

What did you decide on as the main inspiration behind the look/atmosphere of your wedding?

The main colours I wanted to include were navy, burgundy, pinks and greens, and I found lots of inspiration on Pinterest. I also really wanted to craft and make a lot of the decorations myself.

I am a home economics teacher and enjoy sewing and so really enjoyed sewing bunting, felt flower centre pieces and felt decorations for favours. I also set family and friends the challenge of saving wine and fizz corks to create a variety of decorations such as display boards and place holders which was a fun and well participated in challenge.

How did you personalise your big day? What was important to you?

During the planning stage I managed to improve my calligraphy and watercolour painting skills, and so I enjoyed tying everything together from invites and a wedding map to the seating plan, centre pieces and signs which gave a personal touch I think, right from the guests receiving their handmade invites.

It was important to us that our day was fun and relaxed, and this included having a great drinks selection for guests. We got wine and sparking wine that we had chosen delivered to the estate the week before the wedding from Majestic, which we then stored easily in the fridges of the ballroom and catering kitchen. We also managed to get beer kegs delivered from Braemar’s very own brewery and Dave the owner was super helpful in organising this for us. Finally, I loved incorporating the popping of our first bottle of champagne as a married couple after the confetti toss in front of the lodge using my uncle’s sword.

Were any wedding traditions important to you to include, and any you were keen to ditch? Did you inherit any wedding traditions from your families?

We didn’t include that many traditions. One thing we were able to do was the night before the wedding Callum stayed with his groomsmen at Claybokie Cottage and I with my parents in the Dalvorar apartment. This meant that we could get ready without spying each other and we both really enjoyed our mornings.

Favourite wedding detail?

We booked two apartments from the Monday before the wedding for us and our parents to stay at the lodge so we had loads of time to get ready.

These few days before the wedding were so special, giving us time to really enjoy the estate on runs and walks and loads of time to get ready for the wedding. I would really recommend anyone getting married at Mar Lodge to do this as it meant we were there for deliveries and could really spend lots of time decorating.

Everyone put in such an effort to decorate the Stag Ballroom, the drawing room and other reception rooms. It was also fantastic that along with all the decorations we had brought with us, Mar Lodge has a selection of decorations from other weddings which we used a lot of. I think it is such a good idea to have this on offer for weddings, making decorating more sustainable and I love the idea that weddings in the future may use decorations I have made.

I also loved that I was able to make our wedding cakes the week before the wedding too using the catering kitchen. This meant I didn’t need to stress about transporting cakes up from Edinburgh, the cakes could be fresh and I was also able to add my personal touch here too.

I made the bride and groom cake toppers for the fruit cake, which I made a few weeks before the wedding and just decorating with simple white icing and ribbon.

Finally, we had the cheese wheel cake which was so fab! The cheeses were from The Cheesery which is a cheese shop in Dundee. They were really great at advising what cheeses to purchase and how to stack.

What music did you walk down the aisle to?

Let’s Get Married by the Proclaimers.

What music was your first dance to?

Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves.

What were the highlights of the day for you?

The whole weekend was just perfect as we had guests staying from Friday until Monday morning.

Friday night we had a welcome buffet dinner and drinks which my bridesmaids helped organise. It was so great to greet our guests the night before the wedding and let them get settled into accommodation. The team at Mar Lodge were fantastic and had all the rooms ready for us in great time on the Friday.

Saturday morning was so lovely. Callum got up early and had a run around the estate. I had my hair and make-up team arrive and we had the best time getting ready. Mar Lodge has the most perfect bridal suite which had loads of space for me, my eight bridesmaids and mums to get ready. The suite was also perfect for the photographer to get photos of my dresses and accessories and I love the photos she captured.

Marrying Callum was perfect; the drawing room where we had our ceremony was big and light and the sun shone through the windows amazingly. However, it also felt so intimate with our guests so close which was lovely. My uncle videoed the whole ceremony and our photographer moved around with ease capturing all the special moments.

After photos we then had a super drinks reception and were piped to the Stag Ballroom by our lovely local piper Callan. It was so exciting that we still had the big reveal of the Stag Ballroom for guests and everyone loved the drama of the hundreds of stag antlers mounted to the roof.

We chose to eat our wedding breakfast in a family style, sharing a variety of roasted meats, potatoes and veg – our local caterer Deesidedly Tasty did a great job making sure everyone was fed! We then had wedding cake for our pudding which was perfect and meant that loads of cake was eaten with minimal wastage.

Onto dancing, we had a DJ (Scotland’s Party DJ) for the whole night, starting with a ceilidh then moving onto disco. The Stag Ballroom was a fab setting for the most amazing party evening!

The night ended for some around midnight, however one of the great things about Mar Lodge was that we could continue the party back in the main lodge in the billiards room. Guests had a fab time playing snooker and continuing the dancing into the small hours, and it was great that they only had a short journey to bed as most were staying within the Lodge itself.

On Sunday, a great part of the weekend was being able to see all our guests for a debrief and catch-up the next day! Callum and I had a great time seeing all our guests and we had a few planned activities including a buffet lunch where guests could make their own cheese toasties using left over cheese from our ‘cheese wedding cake’. We then played rounders and football on the lawn beside the lodge, and some people had a nice walk which was a great way to blow away the cobwebs. Finally in the evening guests made their way up to Claybokie Cottage for a pub quiz which was a super way to finish the weekend celebrating with all our favourite people.

What is your favourite shot from the wedding photographs and why?

After the ceremony, Karen our photographer managed to capture a whole group photo where she looked down on us from one of the upstairs apartments. She was great at getting all of the guests’ attention quickly.

We really didn’t want to spend too much time away from our guests and Karen was great as she had scoped out a few spots prior to the day. She swiftly took us off in her van, firstly to the Victoria Bridge which is at the entrance to the estate. We were so lucky with the sun shining and got some great shots. We then got some lovely photos amongst the beautiful autumnal trees (Mar Lodge looks amazing in October!) and also I think some of my favourites are of us in front of the main lodge which provides the most fantastic backdrop!

What or who was your ‘star supplier’?

Our florist was amazing and so lovely. Lorna from Sakura Florist was great at communicating from the start and we even popped into her studio the summer before the wedding to talk all things florals.

She arrived early morning, delivered the boys’ buttonholes and then started setting up the column decorations at the front of the lodge. Both my own and my bridesmaids’ bouquets and hair accessories were amazing, and the ceremony table florals brought everything together. Lorna also decorated the wedding cake with fresh flowers which were beautiful. Over the course of the morning she was so lovely to chat to and worked in such a professional manner.

What advice would you give to brides/grooms-to-be that are about to start planning their day? Anything you wish you’d known before you started planning?

Give yourself time and be confident in your own crafting abilities. I started making decorations after a few months of being engaged and this really helped as at no point was I really stressed about wedding planning or organising, and I often thanked my past self for being organised.

What problems did you encounter along the way, and how did you solve them?

Due to Mar Lodge being a remote venue there is limited phone signal and Wi-Fi. Therefore, sometimes we were chasing each other around the venue looking for each other. In hindsight walkie-talkies might have been useful.

What did your guests say they enjoyed most about the wedding?

Guests loved the personal touches, relaxed atmosphere and the fact that they could stay on site and enjoy the full weekend of celebrations.

Looking back, is there anything you’d change about your wedding?

I don’t think that there is much I would change, this wedding was the most fun to plan and Callum and I, and our families, look back on it so fondly with lovely memories.

Many thanks to Karen Thorburn Photography for the images in this story.