A Graceful Wedding Film Overflowing With Love in the Scottish Highlands
Laura-Jane + Stuart’s Achnagairn Estate Wedding
SHORT FILM
Tell us all about you! What do you do? How do you spend your free time? What's important in life?
We could describe ourselves in one word quite easily: Hobbits. Admittedly we are pretty short (no comment on the hairy feet) but it’s our lifestyle that is so well described by it. We like a simple and quiet life – nothing makes us happier than coming back to our cosy hobbit hole after an autumn walk and settling down in front of a fire with our dog. Unlike hobbits, we famously love to travel. Travel is what we dream about, it’s what we reminisce about, what we look forward to and it’s what we save our pennies for (until we got a dog, now it seems to go towards spoiling him rotten!). We love going to new places and meeting people from all over the world – a fair few of the guests we invited, most of whom can’t come now, we met whilst travelling and have become great friends since. Clearly, we can’t get far without mentioning our dog, Kona. A matter of days after we made the decision to reschedule our wedding because of COVID, one of LJ’s school friends had a litter of black lab puppies and was looking for them to go to the homes of friends and family locally. So whilst we were upset that we wouldn’t be getting married, we wouldn’t have been able to have Kona in our lives if the wedding hadn’t been delayed. Kona is one heck of a slobbery silver lining. He’s become such a huge part of our lives and the lives of our friends, family, neighbours and anyone else who crosses paths with him. He’s the friendliest of dogs and so so optimistic – our dog walker says she makes sure he goes on walks with new or shy dogs because he has a talent for getting dogs out of their shells. He is the perfect match for us. We are so lucky with our jobs, Kona will happily sit at LJs feet as she slaves away in front of a hot computer and he absolutely loves the days he gets to go out to work on the rivers with Stuart in the 4x4. He simply is the goodest, lovingest, silliest, most charming and slobberiest of pups.
Why did you decide to capture your Achnagairn Estate wedding on video?
Our friends who are married and have given us advice all agree that having a video of the day means so much to them. We know the day is going to fly by and there are so many moments we won’t see ourselves, so having a video of the day will mean we can relive the day and see so much more of the day too. LJ also has Aphantasia, which means having a visual record of such an important day is vital. It’s quite upsetting to know that whilst she will remember the fact that her father gave her away at the altar, she won’t be able to actually recall the look on his face. With the video, she’ll be able to have that moment perfectly preserved.
Why did you choose Amber Tree Filmhouse to film your wedding?
We had been doing a lot of research into wedding videos, we had been given a list from Achnagairn with Amber Tree on it. We watched one video, then another and then another – we were hooked! It was love at first sight really. We’ve found that some of the decisions we were most confident about were based primarily on instant gut feelings and choosing you was absolutely one of those. We loved that you told the story of the day, captured beautifully real moments and that all your videos made us emotional without fail. We honestly didn’t even need to discuss it, we just knew.
CINEMATIC trailer
Tell me all about the proposal! Spare no detail, I want to hear it all!
You’ll want to get comfy and maybe a cup of tea, as this may take some time. The tale begins in our hobbit hole in Aberdeenshire where, one lazy Sunday morning, Stuart tells LJ that he has a treasure hunt with the final prize being something she’s going to really really like. The first clue is a quote from a fairly well-known book “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a …” (The final word is, of course, wife. Leading to Pride and Prejudice). Inside the front cover is a small sheet of paper with a picture of a Mediterranean scene with another clue obscuring most of the detail. The clues lead LJ on a treasure hunt with hints like “Where we will sit with our dog and watch the sun go down” (which is a snuggle seat in our house that has the best view of sunset you could hope for). Whilst every card has a picture of something Mediterranean, the reverse gives LJ some more information about what’s going on. After quite a few clues, LJ figures out that were travelling abroad on a surprise holiday and she needs to pack for warm weather, walking, swimming and relaxing, but no clue where it is going to be! The penultimate clue is a plane ticket from Aberdeen to Amsterdam. Weeks and months go by, and LJ and Stuart sit in Schipol airport at silly o’clock in the morning, regretting their decision to have seaweed noodles for breakfast (it was that or McDonalds. We didn’t choose wisely, but we fancied adventure!). Stuart pulled out a small, wrapped gift which LJ excitedly tore open to reveal a guidebook to the Italian Cinque Terre (a place talked about as a dream location, but never acted on). Fast forward to a more sensible time in the early afternoon and they’re in the nicest hotel in Portofino that Stuart can’t afford (despite all the overtime pay he saved up over the past year). Wandering the village, kayak rentals and embarrassing attempts at speaking Italian ensue for the rest of the day. The next day, after some time chilling by the pool, Stuart suggests a walk into town and to check out the castle on the hill across the bay that he’s been weirdly evasive about since arriving. A casual stroll down the hill, around the harbour and back up another hill and Stuart is sweating. But he’s about to start sweating a lot more. Arriving at the entrance to the castle gardens, he gets a phone call. Walking away from LJ, he looks horrified and about to faint. He shuffles back to LJ and suggests they walk further down the headland to the lighthouse (whilst a guy with a backpack runs out the castle gardens and down the hill to the village). After an awkward stroll to the lighthouse and a return to town, with Stuart checking his phone every 5 minutes, Stuart ‘bumps’ into a ‘good friend’ who has another ‘good friend’’ who has a ‘good boat’. He’s got a backpack not subtly brimming with camera equipment. LJ goes along with this shoddy ruse and agrees to go on a boat tour of the coast and harbour. Stuart swears to this day that he doesn’t remember anything of this tour, except for when the boat stopped in the harbour with the sun just dipping below the hill, when they hear the code word “Do you guys like pasta?” (This is obviously the worst code word in history, but it was made on the fly so…). Stuart shakily rises onto one knee (shaky because of boat, not nerves he says) and pulls out a ring and says some nice words that nobody remembers. Laughs, tears and lots of hugs later and they’re engaged! Later in the evening, having finally bagged a brilliant seat on the terrace of the hotel, having just had some very nice cocktails delivered, Stuart encourages LJ to finish her untouched drink so that they can go up to the room to get changed for dinner. Ever the obliging fiancée LJ goes along with it yet again (under some degree of protest). She walks into the room to see that the balcony is ablaze with candlelight and filled with flowers. Stuart had arranged for the room to be ready at a specific time with loads of candles and flowers to celebrate the engagement and to order room service for the first time in their lives. You may have guessed that things didn’t exactly go to plan. The lad at the ticket booth at the castle refused to let the photographer in (claiming he hadn’t been a part of any of the many emails sent back and forth!), so the photographer raced downhill and phoned up a guy he knows who owns a boat to throw together a harbour tour to catch the last of the fading light. It all worked out for the best in the end and, as you may or may not agree, it makes for a pretty amusing story. “The boat was actually Plan C. The castle was Plan B and Plan A was to ask her to marry me a long, long time ago”
Why did you choose Achnagairn Estate as your venue? What made it special to you?
Choosing Achnagairn was another one of those perfect gut decisions. During our search, one of our primary criteria was to have a big enough hall for a ceilidh, which narrowed it down surprisingly. We had seen a few places and whilst they were nice, nothing hit us with the same feeling as Achnagairn. The setting is just wonderful, in a gorgeous part of Scotland and in lovely rural grounds (being rural folk, that was essential for us) and in Autumn it’s just going to be gorgeous. We can’t stress enough how much we love autumn, so we’re praying for some proper colours to come through. Achnagairn is so unique and delightfully quirky too. It’s big but feels cosy, with quite a few nice wee nooks and places for people to gather in peace. Obviously, the place is stunning but what we really loved was that we could accommodate all our guests in (pretty much) the same building and have them together for a full weekend. We’ve got people coming from far-flung and exotic locations (not so much anymore now that COVID has restricted things) and we love the idea of getting to spend a good long time with them all. The day is guaranteed to be rushed, but with the Friday evening and Sunday morning too we can hang on to the lovely atmosphere that little bit longer.
CINEMATIC DOCUMENTARY FILM
SUPPLIERS:
Venue - Achnagairn Estate
Photography - Michael Carver Photography
Hair & Makeup - The Dolls House Inverness
Flowers - Wild Gorse Studio
Band - Foot Stompin Ceilidh Band
Cake - JM Cake Craft
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