Real Wedding – Rae & Kyle Stewart 8th August 2020 – Micro Wedding

It brings us so much joy to be sharing Rae & Kyle’s wedding blog. Like many couples, COVID 19 restrictions shattered Rae & Kyle’s wedding plans but they were determined to make the most of what they could do on their original date and decided to have their wedding at Kinkell Byre on their original date anyway! On Saturday 8th August they had a small ceremony in the Kinkell Byre Orchard with close family and it was breathtakingly beautiful.

They were kind enough to share their day with you and be a part of our Real Wedding Blog

What first attracted you to Kinkell Byre? And what made you decide that it would be perfect for your special day?

The major selling point for us was how many different options we had in one venue; the spectacular view over the water, the amazing ceremony room with it’s beautiful lights, the charming orchard in the back (with bonus wildlife!)… truly a blank canvas with character.

Tell us a little bit about planning your wedding? What inspired you to pick all the things that you did and what was most important to you both?

Well, with the lockdown disrupting our plans we really ended up planning two weddings. Originally we were going to decorate the whole venue and have our ceremony in the ceremony room, then have a street food buffet and a DJ. Once it became clear that none of that was going to be possible we considered what was really important to us – actually getting married where and when we wanted. So we pressed ahead and amended our plans as restrictions changed over the summer. Fortunately, despite Kinkell’s size it was more than possible to plan a spectacular and intimate wedding.

Tell us about your day?

We set up to have the ceremony in front of the wall in the garden area but due to Rae’s phobia of bees we quickly moved to a spot between two apple trees (the lighting was much better for photographs too!). We had our bridesmaids and groomsmen record themselves reading poems and quotes from our favourite comic books and TV shows; we edited the clips together and had them displayed on a TV at different parts of the ceremony (shout out to Steve from iLight for handling all the music and video cues), it was a great way to involve more people in our special day given the restrictions on guest numbers. After we were declared husband and wife we signed our marriage license on one the famous Kinkell barrels; after that we walked alone through the long bar area to the other side of the building, taking in the views over the water and just soaking in the moment.

What made it so special?

Many things. The fact that it happened on schedule amidst a pandemic made it feel almost like a miracle. The weather was spectacular, genuinely could not have asked for a better day. While we were observing social distancing rules it still felt like our wedding was happening inside a little bubble, away from all the stresses of COVID. Also, being able to film everything with our GoPro allowed us to share our day on YouTube with everyone that wasn’t able to attend (after some video editing tutorials).

What advice do you have for other couples planning their wedding?

Make an Excel spreadsheet! It’s a massive help with budgeting. Speaking of budgets we suggest that you choose what type of couple you are early on; you are either the type that sets a budget and sticks to it, or the type that have no self-control and just keep letting it get more and more expensive. We were definitely the latter and once we let go of the idea of staying on budget we became much more relaxed (and poor); in our eyes it was our big day and we won’t regret doing whatever we want, so why fight it?

How is married life treating you?

We still haven’t got over the novelty of referring to each other as ‘husband’ and ‘wife’. We’re currently waiting for our first house to be built, so in February we will be a married couple in our 30’s with a mortgage – maybe we’ll finally feel like grown ups then, because at this point we are still just as silly and childish as we were before we got married, we just love each other even more.

“We had to change our wedding plans due to COVID-19, but we decided to ahead with a more intimate ceremony in the orchard on our original date, 08/08/2020, and move our reception to a later date. The team at Kinkell and Steve from i-light were all so supportive in facilitating our changing plans and were so accommodating in helping us hold our smaller ceremony, and were always on hand throughout the day to help direct us, which meant so much!

Supplier shout out:

Photographer: Victoria Photography 

Humanist Celebrant – Gary Smith

Cake – Pippa’s Kitchen

Flowers – Blue Poppy

Audio/Visual  – Steve at iLight

Kilts – 8 Yards

Dress – Ivory Pinks

Hair – Terri Hunt at Derek Smith Hairdressing