Gayle & Matt

Lucky inLOVE

It seems bride Gayle and her groom, Matthew, are truly lucky - not just in love but life too! At Your Wedding Exhibition, this leading lady immediately fell in love with Ballogie and entered a competition to win a wedding at the idyllic venue, not expecting to take home the big prize, of course…! Now, telling the story of their dream day, this couple has us wishing upon a shooting star!

“After meeting in a nightclub, Matthew and I got engaged during a romantic trip to Aviemore. Straying from our usual campsite there, he’d booked a resort instead… I should have known it was something special! After he got down on one knee by Loch Morlich (one of our favourite places and now the name of our precious pup) I went to Your Wedding Exhibition in Aberdeen. I fell for Ballogie and the idea of saying "I do" on a summer’s day in Deeside… I was literally brought to tears by the thought! Not expecting my luck to come through, I put my name into a draw to win a wedding there. Watching the result live online, I couldn’t believe it when they called my name! Poor Matthew was sleeping but once the shock of my happy screaming eased off, he was equally excited. It really was the perfect venue for

us, especially as we wanted several days of celebrating with family that had far to come. While the pandemic forced us to postpone our wedding and reduce our guestlist, we saw the champagne flute as half full. We got a new date, secured our dream celebrant and found out the music duo we’d always wanted was available. We also realised that if we had fewer guests, we could speak to all of them during our day! It’s all about perspective… Seeing all our wonderful suppliers’ hard at work the day before the wedding was surreal. Family and friends popped in, too, and we shared a BBQ with some of them later in the sun. Relaxing with some food and fizz at beautiful Ballogie was amazing and the perfect prep for the coming day! After getting ready with my bridesmaids (and some serious tear-dabbing while seeing my parents!) it was ceremony time. Here, we had our fave songs and lots of other personal touches. Making sure to let our guests play after sitting still, we had garden games prepared for the drinks reception. After dinner, it was time for our first dance and it had to be memorable as this was the only one allowed due to restrictions. So, we had a routine choreographed and cut some intense shapes on the floor! Imagining our day any other way is impossible! Having our gorgeous puppy Morlich with us and, of course, the venue we dreamed of, made the stress of planning a wedding during a pandemic worth it – and showed how lucky we truly are. Perhaps it’s time to buy a lotto ticket!” ♥

Gayles's Little White Book

Alterations: Sally’s Sewing Bride and bridesmaids: Blush Bridal Caterers: Country Flavours of Alford Flowers and decor: Trina’s Art and Flowers Groomswear: Gibbs- Gentlemen’s Outfitter Hair: Gemma Taylor Hair Humanist celebrant: Halde Pottinger Makeup: Kim Stars MUA Music: Paul T Mobile Disco, Ginny & The Tonic Nails: GelUs Nails Photographer: Deeside Photographics Piper: Laura Duncan of Kintore Pipe Band Venue: Ballogie House Videographer: Conor Ross Media