Real Wedding – Liane & Matt – 9th September 2023

We celebrated Liane & Matt last September in a gorgeous ceremony celebrated with guests from all over the globe! The couple kindly shared their favourite parts of the day and advice to help you plan your wedding!

Firstly a little bit about you..

How did you two meet?

In London (where we both live), in a pub near Clapham Common. Technically, it began on a little known app called Hinge – but we tend to gloss over that.

Where did you get engaged?

In our very own living room! Matt planned a special scavenger hunt that sent me around our flat looking for clues linked to memorable moments in our relationship. By the time I realised what was happening, he was already on one knee. Our engagement was made all the more special as the diamond in my ring was my grandmother’s, which he knew was important to me.

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?

As an international couple, we were deliberating whether to get married in Canada (where Liane is from) or in the UK (where Matt is from and where we live). Matt had spoken fondly about St Andrews throughout our relationship and often mentioned the events he attended at Kinkell as a student. So, when we settled on getting married in Scotland, Kinkell immediately came to mind. At that point, I admittedly still hadn’t had a chance to visit yet, but from the photos I’d seen and the way Matt spoke about it, I knew it was the place for us. It worked out well that when I finally visited in person, I was so glad we made the decision.

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

To be honest, choosing Kinkell as our wedding location was our first decision! After that, everything sort of fell into place. We came into the process with fairly open minds, which we think helped us to make decisions. Admittedly, our 20-tab Google Sheet helped keep us on track.

How did you decide on a colour theme or style?

Liane’s favourite colour is orange and we decided to get married in the beginning of autumn, so it was an easy decision. Matt managed to find lovely kilts through MacGregor and MacDuff that complimented the burnt orange of the bridesmaids dresses, and other elements of the styling and flowers. We also had some green details which really brought everything together!

Where did you find your suppliers?

Special shoutout to the team at Kinkell here as their Instagram account was a key source of inspiration. It was nice to be able to see how other couples’ weddings were brought to life, and to know exactly which suppliers had a hand in making their dreams a reality. In the end, our suppliers were a mix of longstanding Kinkell partners, recommendations and some we found ourselves.

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

If you choose to include the tractor on your day, make sure to set aside time to take some photos with it – don’t forget like we did!

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

We wanted to include some traditional elements that reflected our respective heritages into our ceremony, as well as the evening entertainment. Liane is of Armenian descent, and in a traditional Armenian wedding, there is what is called a crowning ceremony – where the maid of honour and best man placed red, green, and white crowns we’d woven ourselves on our heads. This is usually followed by the blessing of the wine, however given that we were in Scotland (and Matt is part Scottish), we replaced this with a quaich ceremony led by Matt’s father. We also incorporated both some ceilidh dances, as well as some Armenian group dancing. This really made our day feel special to us, and many of our guests seemed to enjoy the unique flavour of the day.

We also wanted to include our families in as many ways as we could. One of Liane’s brothers ended up not only being an usher, but also our officiant and MC for the evening! Her other brother and her aunt gave readings we chose, and Matt’s brother was the Best Man.

The Big Day!

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

It truly ended up being a beautiful day for so many different reasons. The weather ended up being unseasonably warm, family and friends had travelled in from all over the globe, and everyone seemed to enjoy the food, music and dancing (us included!).

A big highlight for Liane was getting to dance with her loved ones, and experience the adrenaline rush of being flung around during Strip the Willow.

Matt’s personal favourite was seeing the look on Liane’s face when she drank the whisky during our quaich ceremony.

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

It’ll hopefully be one of the best days of your life, but in the end it’s (generally) just one day – so enjoy every moment! I am someone who wants to make sure everyone is enjoying themselves and wants everyone to have the best time, but this is a day to focus on you as a couple and allow others to take care of you. You’ve done all of the work to plan your special day – now just enjoy it!

How is married life treating you?

It’s been nothing but wonderful so far – we just came back from our honeymoon, which was a cruise in the Mediterranean. We’re still getting used to the whole Mr and Mrs thing, but thankfully we have our entire lives to get used to it!

We hope to visit Kinkell again in the future to reminisce about our day (and pay a special visit to the coos).

Suppliers:

Photographer – Duke Studios

Flowers – Amy Annand Flowers

Videography – Stag and Doe

Catering – Delicious Catering

Lighting – I-Light

Bar – Event Bars St Andrews

Cake- Rude Cookies

Styling – Ambience Venue Styling

Band – Deja Vu

Make-Up – Karen Bowen