Achnagairn Wedding – Julie & Tommy

Another wedding at one of my favourite locations in the Highlands, Achnagairn House, Kirkhill, Inverness. Julie Mackenzie and Tommy Wilson were married at Inverness Cathedral on the 5th July, with the reception at Achnagairn. It was my first ever Monday wedding, and felt a bit strange as it seemed like a Saturday all day.  After 4 weddings in 6 days though it was hard to know what day of the week it was.

The day began with getting ready shots at Achnagairn where Julie and her bridesmaids were getting organised, along with the family. We then drove to Inverness Cathedral, which is a beautiful church although it is very restricting to get decent images of the ceremony due to wooden posts all along the fron, right in front of where the couple stands. We managed to get around it though. We then went to visit Julie’s grandad who was unwell, and unable to attend, and that made his day I think! Then back to Achnagairn for the photography and partying. Great fun and again, I didn’t want to leave at 10pm!

Caterers : Red Poppy
Florist : Stephen Seedhouse
Ceremony Venue: Inverness Cathedral
Reception venue: Achnagairn House
Dress:Avorio Bridal
Shoes: Avorio Bridal
Cake: Harry Gow
Rings:Johnson Jewellers
Hair: Chrissy Meeks/Cara Belli
Make Up: Peppermint beauty salon Dingwall
Cars: Timeless Classics
Videographer: Struie Media
Band : Ezra
Entertainment : Traditional band from Feis Rois and a piper organised by one of our bridesmaids, Ashleigh!!

What was your favourite moment of the day? Probably arriving at the Church with my Dad, I was so delighted to see so many people I knew and children I had taught standing outside, it made all my nerves disappear!

What advice would you give to other brides planning their wedding? Just to enjoy every minute of it and not to get stressed. We had originally planned to get married in December but after the weather last Winter we changed our minds. Having our friends and family at our wedding was the most important things to us so we didn’t want to risk people not being able to make it due to being snowed in. So, in January we re-arranged everything and booked a summer wedding. We only had six months to organise everything so it was a tight turn around, luckily I have the best Mum in the world who took on role as chief wedding planner!!She was absolutely amazing and thought of everything and I will never be able to thank her enough for making my day so perfect.

Was there anything you’d have done differently? The only thing I wish I could change about our big day was for my Grandad to have been able to be there. He had been unwell in the lead up to the wedding and my bridesmaid Sharon had come up with a plan – If he couldn’t be at the wedding then we would take the wedding to him – and we did! After the ceremony the bridal party stopped of at My Grandads house. I was so happy he got to see us all and he was really touched too.

Any other comments
People who know Tommy and I will know that stress is not our thing and we chose John because of his relaxed, easy going manner and he certainly didn’t disappoint. Tommy and I had a fairytale wedding and it was made even more special by the fact John set up a slideshow at night of all the photographs he had taken during the day. It was a lovely touch to the wedding and our guests have been desperate to the see the photographs ever since! Also special thanks to Angus who was John’s glamorous assistant that day – you were Fab!