THE LINKS PAGES

I thought it may be handy for anyone in Scotland to know which services I used when  planning our wedding. All names in bold have links to their web sites.
 

VENUE

I chose BALBIRNIE HOUSE for our venue; a place I had already ear-marked for our wedding before I had even met Graham!!!!  My cousin Lorna had married Ronnie at Balbirnie several years ago, where I was their Bridesmaid and I loved the place then,; I always knew I would want to get married there myself!  Balbirnie House is a Georgian manor house hotel, well renowned for holding lovely weddings.  Their specialities are the wonderful golf course and amazing meals!  A new annexe was being built in 1999 to give a new restaurant and ballroom.  When we booked the venue in May 1998, I had asked if it would be built in time for our August 1999 wedding; I was told it probably would be.  Turns out there was no intention of it being built any time before the proprietor's daughters wedding in November 1999!  Apparently the new part is lovely, though on the day, we were a bit miffed at having a building site around the house where we were getting married!  Fortunately our videographers and photographers were brilliant in avoiding getting the building works in the video and photos.  We were disappointed by the management and the planning of our wedding and I hope that it improves for future brides-to-be getting married at Balbirnie.  Our main complaint on the day was that the room we had booked for the Signing of the Register, the Garden Room was full of furniture on the day and we were put in another room with loads of furniture in it!  I didn't know this until after the ceremony when we were about to sign the register! Our faces on the photos of the Signing show how displeased we are!  Granted the venue is lovely; the Long Gallery is a classy place to be married in, the Gardens are just gorgeous and we all had fun with the Croquet set, and the meals are JUST OUT OF THIS WORLD!!  We are returning to Balbirnie for our first anniversary and we hope we shall have a good day and another brilliant meal!  Contact Mr. Nicholas Russell at Balbirnie House for details.
 

PHOTOGRAPHERS

We used the Scottish Wedding Directory to find a good photographer, keen on doing both formal and casual shots.  After interviewing several photographers, we were happy with our choice in MATE GIBB PHOTOGRAPHERS .  As you can see from the previous pages, our wonderful photographs are much treasured memories of a fantastic day.  their prices are very reasonable, considering the end results and are a very pleasant couple to work with. Contact Mrs Alison Gibb for details, on (0131 477 1477)
 

VIDEOGRAPHERS

A & N VIDEOGRAPHY were already known to the Bride as they had videoed her brother's wedding a few years earlier.  Avril started at Balbirnie House, videoing the guests arriving as well the Groom and his family.  Neil came down to the Bride's House and videoed the last few moments of getting ready and of the Bridal Party leaving for Balbirnie House.   They then together caught all the atmosphere of the day; the Ceremony, the Photos, the Receiving Line. the Cake cutting, the Bridal Party being seated for the meal, the Speeches and the First Dances.  If we had wanted, we could have got them to video the whole reception; I wish we had done this now!  It would have been a laugh to have looked back on everyone enjoying themselves at the party!  A & N are VERY reasonably priced; we never looked into any other video people but we believe that most are much more expensive that A & N and who's to say the quality is any better!  The video starts with photos of Graham and I growing up, with photos through the ages; we were also able to pick the music for this part of the video. Contact Neil and Avril McMahon for details, on (01592 652339)
 

BAND

We again went with Scott and Bobbie's choice from their wedding and booked AFTER DARK for the live entertainment at the Reception. The band is a 4 piece band, who do a wide array of music for every type of party.  All we asked for was that our first dance would be Foriegner's "I Wanna Know What Love is"; they hadn't done this before but did a good enough job on the night.  They even surprised us by then played Bette Midler's "Wings Beneath my Wings" next, which is one of my favourite songs and my dad's favourite! Contact Joe Stirling on (01592) 200580.

CAKE

Again, Bobbie's recommendation for this. MARY COCKBURN made our cake; the top and bottom tier was fruitcake and the middle was sponge, catering for all tastes.  Unfortunately Graham and I never got time to take a bite of our cake and it was obviously enjoyed by all, as it was all finished by the guests!  We have kept the top tier for our first child's christening so we may get to enjoy it then!  Contact Mary on (01337) 831325.

DRESS AND ACCESSORIES

I knew I didn't want to spend weeks looking for the ideal dress so bought loads of wedding magazines to find my perfect dress.  When I saw it, I was at college in Dumfries at the time, so on my day off, I travelled to a shop in Carlisle which stocked the dress.  I tried it on and loved it!  A nod from Mum and the dress was bought!  I bought it from the shop local to my parent's house, BERKERTEX BRIDAL AT WILKIES in Kirkcaldy.  They recommended MARILYN MACDONALD for dress alterations who did a great job in taking up the long hem!  Contact her on (01592 591707).  I went back to Wilkies to buy my tiara which was the same one as the model wore in the advert for this dress, also I bought my veil from there.  We had originally planned to buy Emma the Bridesmaid a dress from BHS but by the time we took her shopping for it, they were sold out!  So again we went to Wilkies and they came up trumps with a gorgeous gold dress which was even better than the original BHS dress I wanted her in! Contact Sharon at Wilkies on (01592) 204143.
 

HAIRDRESSING

Again always go with who you know!  For my own and Christine's hairdressing on the day, I went to my own salon in Kirkcaldy, DOM MIGELE.  Jodie did a fantastic job on my hair on the day, making my dead straight hair into a mass of curls!  I knew what I wanted done on the day but still made sure it could be done by getting a hair trial done a few months beforehand and I would recommend this for ANY bride!  Contact Jodie on (01592) 201212.
 

INSURANCE

Recommended for EVERY wedding day, incase of any mishaps!  Fortunately we never needed to make a claim; we used EVENT INSURANCE SERVICE LTD.
Contact them on (01425) 470360.
 

FLOWERS
 

We were very kindly offered the services of MAUREEN FERGUSON and her friend MARGARET to do our flowers, Maureen being a long-standing friend of my parents.  Together,  for a very reasonable price, they put together a fantastic and beautiful arrangement of flowers on the day which complimented the dresses wonderfully and lasted for days afterwards.  Contact  Margaret on (01555) 770914.
 

BEAUTY
 

Again on recommendation from my sister-in-law, JULIE HUTCHISON was the brave woman to wax legs, pluck eyebrows, place false nails and splatter makeup in style for my wedding day!  And what a good job she did!  Contact Julie on (01592) 716426.
 

LOCAL ACCOMODATION

The immediate Bridal party and some friends were staying at Balbirnie House with the Bride and Groom but we also offered suitable cheaper accomodation for any other guests requiring it.  LAUREL BANK HOTEL on (01592) 611205 and the HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS on (01592) 745509 were good local B&B's.  We also offered our guests bus transport after the evening reception to these hotels.  We used HAMISH GORDON BUSES on (01592) 620202, who despite being half an hour late to pick everyone up, did safely return every one to their hotels!!
 

STATIONERY
 

We chose ILLUSTRATED STATIONERY in Wales for our stationery, after looking through many catalogues and magazines.   I wanted nice, unusual stationery which featured our names and the wedding day on the front of the invites and Order of Ceremony Programmes.  Not only did they do this, they were also able to watermark Graham's sheet music onto the front of the Programme.  Regular emails kept me informed as to the status of my order; all in all, a very good, highly recommended service.  Contact Christine at Illustrated Stationery.
 

MUSIC

I planned a surprise for Graham; to get the songs he wrote for me played at our wedding.  Again through the Scottish Wedding Directory, I found ROSTRUM PROMOTIONS, an agency which specialised in wedding music.  Fiona Paterson found me a pianist and tenor solo singer, who would be willing to learn Graham's songs.  Unfortunately on the day, we were VERY disappointed by the pianist.  For supposedly being a professional, I was appalled to hear how bad the pianist was; not just in playing Graham's stuff but in things he was supposed to know already.  Fortunately the solo singer PAUL RENDALL was fantastic and did a wonderful job.  I wouldn't recommend Rostrum Promotions at all.  When I wrote a letter of complaint to her after the wedding about the pianist, she didn't even have the decency to reply.  At least Balbirnie had the decency to reply and find out where they had gone wrong and apologise for all their mistakes.  So if you would like a decent pianist, find someone other than Andrew Thomson through Rostrum Promotions.  Contact Paul on (0141) 204 1249.
 

CARS
 

Again we could not fault the recommendation of Bobbie for chaffeur-driven limosines, through JACKIE RUSSELL CARS.  Jackie did a wonderful job of getting the Groom and his party to Balbirnie before then going to Kirkcaldy to pick up the Mother of the Bride and the Bridesmaid and taking them to Balbirnie.  Contact Jackie on (01592) 713238.
 

MINISTER

Balbirnie recommended us REV.DR.COLIN WICKER who allowed us to write our own personal ceremony.  A very pleasant gentleman, Colin is a Unitarian Minister who conducted a wonderful, meaningful ceremony.  Contact Colin on (01382) 226653.

WEDDING GIFT LIST

Still a new conception; we found it difficult to persuade a lot of guests to use the list, as it was made mainly for their benefit. The mothers were still harrassed by guests wanting to know what to buy the Bride and Groom!!! We used DEBENHAMS, who were very helpful.
 
 
 

I HOPE THIS PAGE IS OF USE TO ANYONE REQUIRING DETAILS FOR THEIR OWN WEDDING.

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