Eco Friendly Rustic Lodge Reception
There are so many things that speak to me about this wedding. Thirty people attended this remote wedding. To me that is a perfect wedding. I love the thought of thirty of my closest friends and family stealing away to a remote hunting lodge that is accessible only by jeep or land rover. How cozy and romantic!
I also love this couple’s sense of place. They clearly love mountains and sought to honor the local traditions and food ways of the area. The couple also honored the mountains by serving locally available foods on Eco-friendly dishes and recycling. I also love finding family plaid in the guests attire. This is the real deal my friends! From the groom’s kilt, to the mother of the groom’s shall, to the baby’s nappy, to the ribbon on the bridesmaids’ dresses. Even the cake is trimmed in plaid.
Vicky from Acoustic Wave Entertainment shares more details about this lovely wedding:
Catering Details:-
We used local suppliers wherever possible. Our daytime banquet was served on hired crockery, cutlery and glassware. For the evening supper, we used palm leaf plates, corn starch cutlery, Eco-friendly paper cups and we used recycling bins.
For the daytime bothy banquet, we used east coast Scottish smoked salmon, followed by locally sourced chicken and oatmeal/skirlie potato cakes, then Scottish Tayside raspberries and Scottish heather honey were used in the dessert, alongside Isle of Rona whisky. The dessert was the chef’s take on a Scottish classic – Crannachan.
For the evening supper, we used wild venison from the estate – hunted by the Groom’s father – for our wild venison & red wine gravy pies and we used Scottish cheese for our Mull Cheddar & Macaroni pies, along with a selection of Scottish cheeses and home made smoked salmon pate and local Walkers oatcakes.
Stationery details:-
The original invites/save the date for the wedding were a simple card, created by Acoustic Wave featuring a photo of the location. Inside, the invite card featured a line from the song Wild Mountain Thyme –
“oh the summer time is coming, when the trees are sweetly blooming and the wild mountain thyme grows around the blooming heather”.
The stationery for the wedding day was created with organic and natural in mind and was printed on recycled card, with mountains providing a theme for the designer. The reverse of the name tags on favours featured another line from the song “I will build my love a bower, by yon clear & crystal fountain and all around the bower, I’ll pile flowers from the mountain” – a nod to Joseph’s job as a builder and the couple’s love of their mountains.
We used circular logs with a slit in the middle to hold menus and other information – nothing new but a great idea that worked in our rustic setting!
See a couple of attached samples of wedding stationery.
{Note} These two images were taken by an amatuer photographer
More details:-
The ceremony was conducted by a humanist who was able to travel to Rona and Joseph’s chosen location with her own wedding license, to create a ceremony which reflected the couple’s love of the mountains. Rona & Joseph opted for a very informal celebration – no formal speeches, no first dance – just a wonderful relaxed time socializing with family and friends
- We created a camping area for overnighters.
- Joseph & Rona used local materials to create pretty sign posts to the wedding
- The location was just a few miles from most family & friends homes.
- We created bunting using off-cuts of old kilts and we created hanging lanterns using old jam jars.
- We used personal items to decorate the venues too – storm lanterns, an old framed 1950s magazine article was placed next to the guest book, featuring the article ‘Quzzing You on How To Build A Happy Marriage’.
- An big wooden crate & a weaved basket were used to hold the evening crockery. The evening cutlery sets were each wrapped in napkins and held together with a twine bow.
We hope this gives you a sense of the unique, remote and special vibe of the occasion.
Bridal Car: Our family friend Allen provided and drove the Bridal Car – a beautiful land rover!
Bridal Wear – Wedding Daze in nearby Nairn. They also collaborated with In Stitches who created Mother of the Groom outfit and provided seamstress for adjustments.
Bridal bouquets: Speyside Heather Centre (these used faux elements so that they can be preserved forever)
Wedding Cake – Cakes 2 Inspire
Photography: Our family friend Dougie provided the photography – Single Handed Images
Bar: Our family friend Beth who works for the local Cairngorm Brewery and brought a mobile bar and on-tap local ales
Music: Our family friend Alan Oates from Alternative Acoustic Weddings, provided one-man-band style live music
Chef: James (my partner) from bespoke hospitality service The Elemental Kitchen created the daytime banquet and evening supper
Waitress Service: Our family friends Amy and Kate provided waitress service for the occasion
Wedding Design & Coordinator – Acoustic Wave – boutique media & entertainment studio – Events page
Stationary Design: Alana McConnachie, the groom’s cousin, created the wedding day stationery, based on the mountain scenery around the location.
Location/Venue: Dorback Estate – The Fae Bothy, near Aviemore.
The estate owners provided their hunting bothy and grounds as a complimentary location, as a wedding present to Joseph who grew up on the estate and works there occasionally, along with his father – a gamekeeper. Our family friend Brian, the estate’s head gamekeeper painted the ‘hunter’s lunch hut’ on the hill to make it prettier so that Joseph and Rona could have their ceremony there if necessary – it was windy so it was necessary!! Our local farmer friend ‘Big Hamish’ cleared the grounds of sheep to make way for the occasion.
Marquee & Cater Equipment Hire – North of Scotland Marquees