Jackie & Barry’s Vintage Wedding at Dundas Castle

When our good friends at Planet Flowers introduced us to Jackie Crewe-Brown, it was clear that this was a woman with extremely strong ideas on the design of her wedding due to take place a few months later near Edinburgh.

Design Brief

Jackie lives in South Africa so when we met her at our Glasgow design studio, it was important that we quickly got a grip of what Jackie wanted to achieve for her wedding. Fortunately for us, Jackie had a very clear picture in her head. This always makes our role so much easier as all we need to do is interpret the bride’s vision and make it come to life!

Jackie and her fiance Barry were due to be married at the stunning Dundas Castle in South Queensferry on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Jackie was set on a full-on Vintage theme for her wedding.

Her main colour scheme was ivory with blush tones to complement her beautiful wedding gown and flowers. Jackie also wanted to use lace as a key concept for her styling to help pick up the  detail from her bespoke wedding dress.

 Venue Styling

With Jackie’s flowers being created by the great team at Planet, we set to work on creating the vintage look that Jackie wanted.

We re-carpeted the heavily patterned carpet in the venue with a white carpet. This had the effect of totally transforming the room. Jackie wanted a cosy and intimate feel to the wedding so we needed to find a way to make the marquee appear smaller and better suit the smaller amount of guests than the venue normally provides for.

We used a trellis room divider that was draped with muslin and beautiful dressed with flowers.  The concept for this was a romantic fairytale rose garden. There were further ornate floral displays for around the room with antique chest of drawers acting as a base for beautiful arrangements of soft pretty flowers.

We created a brand new bespoke bar for the wedding, which was a cream fretwork with marble top – perfect for a vintage theme. A white hi-gloss dance floor was used to fit in with the colour scheme and the venue’s curtain were redressed with muslin fabric to give a fresh neutral look to the space.

A beautiful floral archway was created for the doorway and wrought iron furniture was used to create relaxed seating for the bar area. The furniture was in a distressed finished so as to fit in with the vintage flower garden theme.

 Table Styling

We sourced Vintage china to fit with the bride’s theme -  a lovely mix of eclectic styles and colours, the table was set with a side plate and a cup and saucer. We further layered these with a lace trimmed napkin. Our own Cut Crystal Glasses worked perfectly with the vintage theme

Personalised menus tied with cream satin ribbon looked stunning and  acted as place setting for each guest. These were further enhanced by tented table names  featuring the name of wine estates in South Africa.

The centrepieces were arrangements of soft blooms in vintage colours arranged in an eclectic mix of crystal containers. These were placed upon our Ivory Faux Silk linen which was used for tablecloths and napkins then finished with a bespoke Ivory Vintage Lace Overcloth.

Finally, we made bespoke ivory faux silk seat pad covers to ensure that the limewash chiavari chair complemented the theme.

Additional Features From This Beautiful Wedding:

• Jackie was very particular about food presentation so we used the  vintage cup and saucer for dessert (see last photo in gallery)
• We used our Gold Rim Fine Bone China as an elegant way of serving the meal
• We created a beautiful table plan incorporating the corks from the wine bottles
• Jackie and Barry limited the speeches and instead incorporated more toasts as this is the more traditional South African way which is always very relaxed
• We used a great band called Whisly Kiss whose gorgeous Scottish dancers  encouraged the guests to participate in Scottish dancing
• A beautiful vintage bus was used to take the guests from their hotels to the castle
• The wedding cake was a mixture of three flavours of sponge: lemon, chocolate and Victorian sponge, decorated with soft royal icing and miniature fruits crafted from marzipan were placed on every table
• Fab hair and make up company Rosy Brown did the impossible and made Jackie look even more stunning than normal!
• It was an absolute pleasure to work with Franz and the team at Dundas Castle
• Styling photography by Ditte at First Light Weddings
• Also check out Planet Flowers’ blog for their take on this wedding and Blue Sky Photography’s blog who captured all the personal details for Jackie and Barry

Jackie’s Verdict:

“Absolutely beautiful Sheila!

Sheila, we would like to thank you and your team for the most amazing wedding! The fairy tale was transformed into a reality and the entire wedding from beginning to end surpassed even our greatest expectations. All our guests were blown away by the beautiful setting in the Pavilion. I think this may go down in their books as one of their most unforgettable experiences! Keep well and I shall pop you an email from my “secret” destination! Jackie x”

Would you like to create your own Vintage themed wedding? Contact us on 0800 050 2288, leave a comment below or make a web enquiry