* Leigh, Solicitor & James, Solicitor * Photographer: Lillian & Leonard Weddings, London Wedding Photographers * Soundtrack for reading: “Book of Love” by Magnetic Fields *
One sentence sum up of the wedding vibe: A simple, intimate and (I hope) elegant city wedding with lots of love, good food, plenty booze, and muchos dancing!
London Wedding Photographers / Venue: The Rowantree in Edinburgh’s Cowgate / Flowers: I Heart Flowers / Leigh’s Dress: La Sposa White One / Leigh’s Sash: Sarah Hancock / Leigh’s Brooch: Leigh’s great-gran’s (It was something old and something borrowed!) / James’ Suit: Austen Reed
Other cool stuff we should know about: We wrote the entire ceremony ourselves, including our vows. It was a lot of work but our humanist celebrant guided us through the process and it really was worth it—everyone commented on how personal, honest, and moving the ceremony was. It also meant that our friends and family were able to get really involved: two of our closest friends who were there the night we met read out the story of how we got together what has happened since then. We also spent a lot of time finding readings that really expressed how we feel about each other and our marriage: Michael Donaghy “The Present”, Bertrand Russell “Today I Marry the One I Love”, and Andrew Greig “Button.” James’ friend Jody played me down the aisle to “The South Wind” by John Renbourn on his acoustic guitar and gave a beautiful rendition of Magnetic Fields’ “Book of Love” while we signed the register.
Encouraged by APW, I dared to design and make our invitations, Order of Service, Table Plan, etc. We really wanted to have an intimate but lively wedding and it certainly was that! We had around forty guests to the ceremony and another twenty in the evening, and everyone we love was able to celebrate with us.
Favorite thing about the wedding: The ceremony and, specifically, saying our vows to one another. I thought I would feel really nervous and self-conscious at that stage or that I would get so emotional I wouldn’t be able to get through them without crying but it was honestly just the most amazing, most important moment and it felt so natural and we were both so happy. It’s such a special memory to share. I also still can’t quite believe that we were able to have Cara and Nye as our photographers. They really captured the emotion of the day and every photo is absolutely beautiful—like a work of art.
