Real Wedding – Derek & Gillian McWilliams – 1st September 2024
Derek and Gillian tied the knot with us in September 2024, and what an incredible celebration it turned out to be! With a delicious spread of burgers, pizzas, and hot dogs for their main meal, and the byre transformed into a floral wonderland by Amy Annand, it was a day to remember. They’ve kindly shared some special moments from their big day, from finding their suppliers to how they discovered Kinkell. Read all about it below…
Firstly a little bit about you..
How did you two meet?
We met when Gillian was offered some shifts at our family pub in 2011. There was a bit of a mix-up, with it coming across that it was a supervisory role. She spent the evening keeping me in line, even telling me when I could take my break. Unbeknownst to her, I was one of the owners! I just went along with it, and here we are now, 13 years later!
Where did you get engaged?
We got engaged in our living room!
I had always thought about proposing to Gillian in our favourite restaurant but decided against it. Instead, I proposed on Christmas Eve at our house as we opened presents at midnight with our son Lewis. He was as gobsmacked as Gillian!
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?
We had viewed a few places before going to Kinkell for an open day. We loved it as soon as we walked in, and seeing the place set up for a wedding was stunning! Gillian had a few tears in her eyes after a couple of minutes. When we got home, we pretty much knew that was the place for us.
When it’s all set up and the lights are on, it’s just a really beautiful place with different areas for the day and plenty of space for guests to mingle and chill out, which suited us perfectly.
Tell us a little bit about planning your wedding. Where did you start?
We already knew who our celebrant and photographer were going to be so that was easy.
Then the actual planning started with the venue, onto the flowers, then the cake.
The catering and the band took the most amount of time to find, but once we’d done that and got all the important stuff booked, it just left all the other bits and pieces like decorations, favours etc.
How did you decide on a colour theme or style?
We had our house renovated the year before, and the colour scheme for our new kitchen was navy blue and rose gold. We thought that would go really well with the rustic setting of Kinkell, and it did!
Where did you find your suppliers?
Through a mixture of recommendations, trawling the internet/social media, and wedding fairs.
Preferred suppliers for the bar were Event Bars St Andrews and Stevie from i-Light for the lighting, sound and technical co-ordination on the day. Really nice, genuine people that we were more than happy to work with.
We already knew our photographer and humanist, so they were easily confirmed.
Amy Annand is one of Kinkell’s recommended florists; she stays not far from us, and when we first met up over coffee, we really liked her, so again, that was an easy decision for us to go with her and her flowers were beautiful.
Gillian took charge of finding the caterer. We wanted a relaxed feel on the day with food trucks, and she eventually found Wee Green Events. We were not disappointed that we hired them. The food was phenomenal!
We had smash burgers, fresh pizzas, loaded fries, hot dogs.. It was just brilliant and everyone loved it.
I was in charge of finding the music, and after looking at goodness knows how many bands, I found Borrowed Blues! After seeing their videos I knew they were the ones. Massive sigh of relief when Gillian said that she really wanted them as well! They were stunning!
We selected Sweet Little Things for our cake. We met at a wedding fair, and her samples were brilliant. Our cake was stunning!
We found Nicole Parrack through social media to do some content creation. She was lovely and captured so much of our day.
Is there anything you wish someone had told you about before about planning a barn wedding?
Not really. Claire from Kinkell had explained a lot to us, and she was so helpful.
A barn wedding is brilliant because you can pretty much do what you like and get everything the way you want. Either have tons of decorations etc or go a bit more minimal. We decided not to overdo things and kept it minimal as the venue itself is stunning.
Was there anything that was really important to you both to have?
For both of us, it was just important to have the people there that we wanted to be there and make sure they all had a good day.
Gillian knew it was really important to me to have Gillian Stewart as our celebrant. She had overseen my brothers funeral and is just lovely. It was really special and touching to have her there.
The Big Day!
Tell us about your wedding day, what are your highlights and favourite memories?
Our wedding was a same-day setup, so it was busy! Plenty of hands to help out, though. A big thank you to Claire for her help and for convincing Gillian that there was no point in coming along at 8 am!
The highlight for me was the actual ceremony; I was absolutely buzzing and couldn’t wait! Although I was slightly late to greet our guests after setting up, which I felt terrible about!
For Gillian, as her family live so far away it was really nice to have them stay at our house and be there for her..
Just seeing everyone there on the day along with our families was great.
Have you any advice for other couples that are planning their wedding?
Listen to the experts, they know what they’re talking about! The folks at Kinkell are just full of inspiration and advice, they know exactly what works and what doesn’t and will keep you right.
We found it really easy to deal with all our suppliers, they were all fantastic and so helpful and accommodating. We wouldn’t have changed any of them!
How is married life treating you?
Married life is treating us well!
We didn’t have time for a honeymoon as Gillian’s family were staying with us; they went home to Malta on the Tuesday, I was back at work the following week, and Gillian was back at university. We’re planning our honeymoon for August this year once Gillian has graduated, so we’ll make it a honeymoon/graduation celebration!
Supplier shout outs –
Photographer – Helen Jones
Catering – Wee Green Events
Band – Borrowed Blues
Flowers – Amy Annand Flowers
Humanist – Gillian Stewart
Cake – Sweet Little Things
Content creation – Nicole Parrack Creative
Lighting – Stevie @ i-Light
Bar – Event Bars St Andrews
Accommodation – Morton of Pitmilly
Make-Up – Carla Duffy
Hair – Amy Spratley
Dress – Amy King Bridal
