Lisa + Stuart at Boturich Castle | September 2025
“Sarah!! Honestly we can’t thank you enough, everyone is still raving about the ceremony. It was just the perfect balance of everything that was important to us”
I wish I could physically take you and show you the view we had from Scottish wedding venue Boturich Castle.
I mean, here’s a photo straight away, I won’t tease you.
Hark at THAT
And photographer Simon is unbelievably talented. So you get a sense of how much it blew me away. But I wish you were there. I wish you could feel and smell and sense Loch Lomond RIGHT THERE. It was unreal.
And it really set the scene for an unforgettable wedding.
And, bosh, here’s another one
It’s such a lovely thrill if I find out someone recommended me to a couple getting married, then it’s an even lovelier thrill if I get to meet that person. Arriving at Lisa’s parents’ house, where she was getting ready with her girls, I was thrilled from my tits to my toes because I got to meet the person who’d recommended me: Lisa’s sister Mel. And she was not only a babe, but a twin mum. And I got to meet her adorable twin boys ‘cos they were pageboys in the wedding. Thrilling all round.
We chatted twin-y things and wedding-y things (two of my all-time favourite topics) as some inexplicably blue prosecco was passed around.
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Just very unexpected on the blue thing.
Photos by Simons Studio
I love going to see my couples getting ready and checking everyone is feeling OK; sometimes I love it so much it’s genuinely hard to tear myself away and go prep for the actual ceremony. Lisa’s parents house had all the ingredients of a party I didn’t want to leave: down-to-earth mum and dad, welcoming vibes, picky bits, unending drinks…and lovely Lisa and her hilarious, vivacious friends showing me their bridesmaids dresses hanging on the wardrobe, in all their beautifully mismatched blue hues. So, something else blue too.
I had to be strict on myself not to:
a) outstay my welcome while Lisa was spending the morning of her wedding with her very closest loved ones…and me
b) lose track of time
So I left, but luckily there was something else to look forward to. And not just the ceremony. I had popped to Boturich Castle the night before in the dimming dusk but I could not wait to SEE THAT VIEW in the daylight.
“Daylight” is too vague a term perhaps; we had the full scope of Scottish weather from thundering skies to moments of calm. As the clouds rolled in and out (and in, and out) that insane view looked like a series of oil paintings worthy of The National, whether the expanse of sky over the loch was brooding or blue.
The clouds did part, just in time for the ceremony. So we got to enjoy having the sliding doors of the ceremony room open and let the view, and the loch air, right in among us. Heavenly.
The ceremony had some magical moments, like Lisa coming down the aisle (arm-in-arm with her wonderfully supportive dad) to a version of The Beatles’ In My Life, her godmother Sara and her husband Chris’ first dance, and we were lucky to have not one but two aunties come forward to do a reading. Lisa’s Auntie Lynn read a favourite of mine, by poet Whitney Hanson, and it felt perfect with the water just below.
They say that sometimes love starts with a spark
And that might be true
But if I were to wish you a love,
I wouldn’t wish fire for you.
You see fire is powerful,
It burns bright then it’s gone
It’s beautiful and warm,
But it doesn’t last long.
So instead of wishing you a love that burns,
I wish you love like a river that twists and turns.
It changes and flows,
It is powerful and free,
But it consistently finds its way back to the sea.
And so, like the water,
I hope your love is ever-growing, ever-changing,
I hope your love is powerful and free
And may you always find each other,
Like the river finds the sea.
I enjoyed telling both sweet and silly stories from Lisa and Stuart’s relationship. Especially the parts where Stuart showed up in Lisa’s life as a good egg, doing loving acts-of-service things to make her feel safe and seen and special. As every man should.
Then Lisa had planned something with me to surprise the groom: a certificate signing. But the surprise was that it wasn’t a commemorative marriage certificate, it was a document for Stuart to “officially” become her dog Bonnie’s dad. It was very cute and very funny, and Stuart’s face was a picture.
Ultimately, the view outside was to-die-for, but what was happening inside was even more memorable, and beautiful. Two lovely, funny people promising to love each other forever. Whatever life’s view.
“The ceremony was just gorgeous. Everyone absolutely loved it and said they were so in awe of how meaningful you made it.”