Inside Cluny Castle’s Spring Wedding Showcase

Nestled within 200 acres of pristine Aberdeenshire countryside, this hidden gem, dating back to the 16th century, is a testament to Scottish character and timeless grace. The venue showcase allowed guests to explore achingly beautiful spaces that have been sympathetically restored over the years, each corner brimming with character, charm, and warmth. It’s a quintessential venue for those dreaming of a storybook wedding.

Step inside this captivating showcase day through the lens of a gorgeous styled shoot…

Fiona says…

We have the most incredible team of local wedding suppliers, who are all so talented in their fields, so when they all agreed to be a part of the spring showcase, we knew immediately that what we would all collectively create would be extraordinary.

The photographer was the brilliant Donna Murray, who captured everything so beautifully. We could not have asked for better images from the day; they are incredible.

We also wanted to go one step further and capture everything in the film, so we were delighted when the super-talented videographer Dean Johnstone agreed to be involved. We knew he would create a beautiful film for us, and he did not disappoint. He worked tirelessly on the day, and when he captured the most incredible vocals by Florence Jack at the end, he knew immediately that this would be his voiceover and primary focus for his creative film.

We hadn’t hosted an open day/showcase event since just before the first lockdown in 2020, so we wanted to make this one super special. We wanted to create something different to anything we had seen before, so we decided on a ‘when Spring meets Autumn’ theme. Using beautiful, rich, warm tones of terracotta, rust and blush, which complement the castle so much, alongside airy elements, created a fresh, spring-like and delicate feel to the day. It was the perfect combination of Autumn warmth and Spring freshness, bringing everything together beautifully with all the warm, cosy, romantic vibes.

Lorna from Sakura Flowers did the most fantastic job of bringing my vision to life and nailed the brief. Autumnal warmth lifted with beautiful light and fresh greenery to give it that Spring feel; it was March, after all, so I wanted to emphasise that. It was a challenging task for her, given the limitations on sourcing fresh, sustainable, local flowers at this time of year (something at the heart of Lorna’s ethos and business principles). Still, she managed to pull it off in epic style.

Lorna from Sakura Flowers says, “After meeting with Fiona at Cluny Castle, who gave me a brief, I put together a mood board to give an idea of colours and flowers we could use. Fiona was keen to incorporate rust and blush into the florals, so I started from there. The castle chapel itself is very decorative, so we decided to keep things classy and elegant here: giant urns at the altar with flowing tendrils of foliage and big blooms, and a combination of high soft pew ends and low mini flower meadows to line the aisle. The variation of height created the most beautiful effect.

Down in the Tenants Hall, I worked alongside Tracey at Without a Hitch to create an overall light and airy feel, with lots of candles and multi-level floral centrepieces and used runners of terracotta to pull the colour scheme together. The cake area was designed to fully show off the beautiful cake made by Cakes by Kirsty. I used many florals at different heights to fill the space and make it a fundamental room feature. Cake cutting is a trend coming back this year, so we wanted to show how far you could go with this part of your wedding day. Although this was a predominantly autumnal colour scheme, I used lots of greenery and seasonal flowers to give a soft spring feel. All arrangements were made using sustainable friendly methods with no floral foam.”

We had the absolute dream team of Michelle Reid and Steph Milne taking care of hair and makeup on the day. With all the soft romantic vibes for the hair and perfect ‘bridal glam’ makeup, they created the dreamiest looks for Lauren.

The stunning dress was a Sassi Holford from the wonderful girls at Ivory Grace. Ethereal beauty was at the top of my list for this shoot, and this exquisite gown with a beautifully embroidered floral tulle skirt, ruched bodice and v-back designed to sculpt and flatter was heavenly. Our model, Lauren, felt like a princess on the day.

Local kilt supplier Mitchell Scott kindly supplied the kilt for the shoot. We opted for the Hebridean Glisk tartan partnered with the Brown Crail jacket, which looked great on our model Ross.

The tables, chairs and bar were all supplied by Alfie from Rustic Look Aberdeen. We absolutely love the rustic look of his furniture, which perfectly complements the Tenants Hall.

The soft, subtle and beautiful stationery was all designed and supplied by Vicky from Paperoo.

Gareth Thomson entertained everyone throughout the day with his incredible music, mixing it up by playing the saxophone, acoustic guitar, and beautiful singing. Florence Jack, well, what can we say, THAT VOICE! She created the most romantic vibe in the Chapel, showcasing her unbelievable vocals; her talent and voice are off the scale. Our piper, James Cooper, welcomed everyone on arrival and entertained our guests with his excellent piping skills throughout the day.