Real Wedding – Ailsa & Jonathan Kelly Ferguson – 25th January 2025

We’re so delighted to share this beautiful real wedding blog from one of our wonderful Kinkell Byre couples, who celebrated their winter wedding with us last January, as we approach their first anniversary! From twinkling lights and crisp winter air to meaningful personal touches inspired by Burns Night, their wedding perfectly captured everything we love about celebrations here at the Byre.

Ailsa & Jonathan have kindly shared their experience of the day

How did you two meet?
We met at Dundee University in Sept 2014. We met in first year when we were put in the same small group, must have been fate!

Where did you get engaged?
We got engaged in November 2023 at a lodge called ‘the hideaway experience’ just outside Dundee. Jonny made a lovely meal and we played an escape puzzle with the clue at the end stating ‘ I have a very important question to ask you’. At this point Jonny took out his guitar, sang me a song he had written about us and then got down on one knee to ask me to marry him. I replied with a resounding ‘Yes, Please!’

Finding your venue and planning the wedding

What was it that first attracted you to Kinkell? Was there
something that stood out when you knew it would be the perfect
place for your special day?
I had previously been to a wedding at Kinkell and LOVED it! The setting was beautiful and the freedom to make it your own really appealed to us. The large space and position of the bar really lends itself to a big party which is exactly what we wanted. We had both really wanted a winter wedding, we love those crisp bright winter days and the gorgeous twinkly lights of Kinkell just oozed winter magic!

Tell us a little bit about planning your wedding. Where did you
start?
We started with a budget (boring but true!) and then got a venue and a date! Once we had booked Kinkell the rest really fell into place pretty quickly, especially with the help of the recommended supplier list that Kinkell provided.

How did you decide on a colour theme or style?
As we were having a winter wedding we knew we wanted to stick with dark greens and whites. Then added in thistles and tartan as we were getting married on Burns Night! Our stylists GLOAM were incredible, they took our ideas and added such wonderful touches and made it all a reality.

Where did you find your suppliers?
Mostly through the recommended supplier list from Kinkell which was
incredible as it meant they had all worked there before and had a great relationship in place already. Our photographer and make up artist was known to us from one of my bridesmaids weddings but the team at Kinkell made them feel so welcome!

Is there anything you wish someone had told you about before about planning a barn wedding?
I think as we had been to so many weddings before our own we knew a lot about planning barn weddings. The main thing that helped was speaking to Kinkell as they helped to make sure we knew what things we needed to organise and really kept us right!

Was there anything that was really important to you both to have?
We really wanted a coffee bar! Which was possible at a barn venue like Kinkell. Having accommodation on site was important to us and was really useful for our family staying. Also just the size of the venue, we knew we would be inviting 170+ guests to the wedding so we wanted somewhere that could comfortably fit everyone, which it definitely did!

The Big Day!
Tell us about your wedding day, what are your highlights and
favourite memories?
The highlight of the day for us was definitely having all our family and friends together and the amount of effort everyone had made to be there and make the wedding a success. The day before our wedding was Storm Eowyn which definitely put a spanner in the works (our accommodation had no power or running water) and added a little bit of stress. Every single supplier bent over backwards to ensure that
on the day our wedding went off without a hitch. Lazy Sunday made sure we had the cod we had planned by driving down extra early to personally pick up the order, everyone arrived extra early and navigated the roads and weather to be there, EH9 made extra food as their order didn’t arrive. And most of all Claire from Kinkell stayed ALL day and coordinated the whole day perfectly! Our favourite memory of the day was taking a minute to ourselves after the
ceremony to go into the orchard and read each other some private vows. It was a beautiful setting and it was nice to have some time to soak it all in as husband and wife.

Have you any advice for other couples that are planning their
wedding?
Before you start write down what you both want from the day, what is most important to you and what your non-negotiables are. Don’t get too hung up on what other people want you to do! And most of all, don’t be afraid to ask for help, it can be quite stressful planning such a big day but there are always people who can help and give you helpful tips, so use them!

How is married life treating you?
Married life is pretty great!! No complaints here! We have been pretty busy renovating our house and now we have moved back in we have big pictures of our wedding on the walls and get to regularly reminisce about our special day at Kinkell!

Suppliers:

Caterers: Lazy Sunday

Photographer: Donna Murray

Videographer: I Do Videos

Accommodation: Hawkswood Country Estate

Celebrant: Kathryn Hanson

Stylist/Stationary/Florist: GLOAM

Linen: 88 Events

Cake: Ian Gray

Ice cream: Jannettas

Coffee: EH9

Games: GO2 Eventhire