Real Wedding – Deborah & Chris Kay – 15th September 2022

We celebrated this fabulous & hilarious couple back in September 2022! They are one of the many couples whose original wedding date was affected by covid, so they finally got the day they deserved.

They spent the whole set up day decorating the byre with all their own bits, including the centre pieces and the stunning ceremony arch idea. They have spoke a bit about how they met and how the wedding process was for them!

Firstly a little bit about you..

How did you two meet?
A friend’s house warming party. Chris was brought along as a single male looking for a companion ! I happened to be there and instantly fell in love (or so he would like to tell people!)

Where did you get engaged?

In Portugal, on the rooftop terrace of my mum and dad’s house, at sunset. Chris did very well, I knew nothing about it and it was perfect! He had roped in my dad and brother in law in his plans!

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?

Genuinely not even sure where to begin with Kinkell itself. I hadn’t heard of the venue before getting engaged, I saw it on a Scottish Wedding Venues website. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard of it as it was just beautiful when we looked at the website. We then visited on an open day, and we knew straight away it was the right place for us. Everything about it is stunning. The location, the place and the people. It was the only venue we went and looked at and it was the only one we needed to see. We love St Andrews and just fell in love with Kinkell.

Tell us a little bit about planning your wedding. Where did you start?

Our original year was actually 2021, but with everything going on, we decided to wait a year in the hope that everything was back to normal! We are glad we did, we actually welcomed our son in that year so he was able to be there as well!

We started with booking the venue, then at the open day at Kinkell we also booked the band! Hearing them in the venue, we knew they were going to be amazing (and they were!)

How did you decide on a colour theme or style?

Neither Chris or I have a good eye for this sort of thing, so I got my sister involved and she was incredible! She basically did everything for me! Made our invites, table plan, menus, order of service, the lot! I gave her a little guidance on colours and she went from there!

Where did you find your suppliers?

I met a few at the open days at Kinkell, I got a few recommendations from friends and then I knew a few of them from Aberdeen! I was grateful that they were willing to travel down for our big day! Chris actually knew Calum our photographer from school so it was so amazing to have him part of it!

Is there anything you wish someone had told you about before about planning a barn wedding?

In short no, we knew it was going to be a lot of work, but that ended up being a great part of it all. I got stuck in to a little DIY for the wedding and it was great fun! I actually think I became a little obsessed with trying to find and make things for the day!

Was there anything that was really important to you both to have?

FUN! We were both quite relaxed about the whole thing and we just really wanted to enjoy the day and everyone at Kinkell helped make that possible!

The Big Day!

Tell us about your wedding day, what are your highlights and favourite memories?

I think this is the hardest question to answer! I think we can honestly say we enjoyed every single minute, it just went by too quickly! I used to think it was such a cliché when people said “oh I could just do it all again”, now I fully understand what they mean. To be surrounded by your nearest and dearest and just to feel all that love was an incredible feeling. We were made to feel so special and so loved and there is no greater feeling.

Have you any advice for other couples that are planning their wedding?

Just enjoy it, don’t stress about the little things because in the end they probably won’t be important. Try not to worry too much about what other people would think, at the end of the day, it’s your special day and the most important thing is for you to enjoy. So many people told us to try and take a minute and soak it all in but you don’t have the time really. Just make the most of it!

How is married life treating you?

No different!! Hahaha! We were basically straight back to mum and dad, but now mummy has the same last name as the rest of the gang! Still waiting and hoping to get away on a honeymoon so we will have that to look forward to. And of course all the memories to constantly go back and look at!

Supplier shout outs 

Photographer – Calum Riddell
Catering- Scotts Catering Services 
Bar- Event Bars St Andrews
Lighting- I-Light
Videographer – Blue Juice Media
Flowers – Flower Vogue by Kirsty Thompson
Band – Corra
Humanist – Beverley Bryant
Make up – Klaudii Beauty
Hair – Hair by Becky @ Chris Marks Hairdresser