Kinlochard Village Hall has been on my dream venue list for a long time. I’ve seen lots of my favourite wedding suppliers work there so it was a real treat when E and M booked me for their summer wedding.
Stunning village hall with a lochside setting
Kinlochard Village Hall has the most beautiful setting. Nestled in the heart of the Trossachs, on the shores of Loch Ard and surrounded by rolling hills, forests and Ben Lomond. It’s a fab area. As the village is pretty small most couples and their guests will stay over in Aberfoyle. It’s the perfect place to make a weekend of it, especially if you’re into the outdoors. There are loads of great walks and plenty of paddlesports going on.
The village hall itself has loads of natural light, white walls and wooden floors. The perfect dry hire venue! There’s so much scope for couples to go wild with their decor and really put their own stamp on the place.
E and M are super creative and they came to me with a really strong vision. They had loads of ideas about colours and textures, it was a joy to work alongside them. They put so much work into the look and feel of their day.
As Kinlochard Village Hall is one space, rather than various rooms, there are a few options when it comes to dividing it up into ‘areas’ for your day. There’s space for a pop up marquee outside, or people can use the field across the road. You can get married in the field of course, or just use it for reception drinks. E and M opted to spend the whole day in the village hall. That meant they had to be mindful when planning out their flowers and decor, thinking about how to repurpose things and easily move them around when the space was transformed from ceremony to reception.
Image by Lianne Mackay Photography
Wedding Co-ordinators help your wedding run smoothly
E and M had hired Clementine Weddings to help with the planning and on the day co-ordination. This is such a great move if you’ve got a dry hire space like a village hall. There are lots of different suppliers to liaise with as well as things needing to be moved and set up on the day. Hiring a co-ordinator or planner is the perfect way to delegate that responsibility. They needed a room changeover after the ceremony, which can be tricky to manage. If you’re thinking of more elaborate table displays then I always recommend asking your florist to stay to help with that - and always allow for extra time too as your caterers will be setting up as well. For simpler table displays, eg bud vases, then your planner can take charge here. Alternatively you can ask your caterers if they mind popping them out, or delegate to some trusted wedding party members or guests. Keep in mind, your caterers will have a lot going on so it’s best not to overload them with tasks!
Regardless of whether you get a professional in or not it’s always good to have a designated person (who isn’t one of you two!) who knows the plan, timings and where everything is supposed to be on the day. It doesn’t have to be a paid for service, you could ask a couple of guests to take that responsibility between them. On the wedding day itself you don’t want to be doing anything other than enjoying yourself and getting married! Clementine Weddings are very efficient, super lovely and make everything run so smoothly. I highly recommend them.
Sustainable wedding florist and Scottish grown flowers
The wedding colours were a lovely mixture of soft peaches, soft pinks and sage greens with pops of darker burgundy and plummy raspberry tones. A really lovely combo.
E and M are really environmentally conscious, which fits in well with my whole ethos. Lots of couples choose me because, as well as liking my style of flowers, they appreciate my commitment to sustainability. E and M were keen for as many of their flowers as possible to be locally sourced. They wanted to cut down on the carbon footprint of their wedding. If you use imported flowers then you really do ramp up the airmiles. Most imported flowers have come from at least Holland, but normally from places further afield like Ecuador, or Italy. The flowers are then flown to Holland before travelling onto the UK. Thousands of miles! As they were getting married in July there was a lot of choice of Scottish grown flowers and it was a real delight to put their wedding flowers together.
Seasonal summer buttonhole
Image by Lianne Mackay Photography
M’s buttonhole was made up of thistles with a tiny pop of yarrow, a meadow flower. I included rosemary for remembrance. People often have a sprig of rosemary in their bouquet or buttonhole to symbolise carrying their old life into a new married life. We also had lavender and wee pops of burgundy from Sanguisorba. It was a fab combo of colours, tying the buttonholes in with the bridal bouquet without being too matchy matchy.
To finish I bound the buttonholes with twine, to go with the more rustic feel of the day.
Textural meadowy bridal bouquet
E had a front facing, natural wild bouquet with a lot of texture in there. We went for frothy, delicate flowers rather than bigger blooms like peonies. I wanted it to look as if she had skipped through a wildflower meadow on the way to her wedding, scooping up all these beautiful, textural flowers!
Her bouquet was filled with phlox, ferns, cosmos, buddleia, jasmine, small headed spray roses, delphinium, oregano. All kinds of the most beautiful flowers and lots of them have a beautiful fragrance too. I used some foliage from chinese meadow rue that was starting to lose its green shade, going peachy and golden. Really stunning, almost autumnal tones.
E’s bouquet was front facing, meaning it was a little flatter at the back making it easier to hold. I always think these sit more naturally. Brides often ask me how big their bouquet should be. I’d say that as a rule of thumb, they shouldn’t be any wider than the bride's shoulders. This way they create a natural tapering, highlighting your waist and mirroring the shape of your dress and silhouette.
As a finishing touch we added in a trailing ribbon, just to add an extra bit of luxury and relaxed boho feel. A trailing ribbon is really nice if you’re getting married outside or for your photos. It dances about whenever it catches the breeze which looks fab!
Summer wedding at Kinlochard Village Hall
I created an asymmetrical broken arch for the ceremony space. A broken arch is just two columns of flowers or foliage, rather than a circle or rectangle. We wanted a very organic, natural and wild shape with trailing greenery. E and M had hired and bought a multitude of props including lots of candles, lanterns, a chaise lounge and little tables. They all helped to elevate the space and tie in the colour palettes. They’d created a small area with photos of family members, dotting candles around and draping some beautiful sage green fabric along with their wedding flowers. Draped fabric can really help elevate a simple table or plinth set up.
From Wedding ceremony to reception - re-purposing floral designs
The room was transformed for their wedding meal, with long wooden trestle tables in a banquet style. They hired vintage earthenware vases and bottles which I filled with seasonal summer wildflowers. Again that more delicate, textural look rather than big blooms. I wanted it to feel very meadowy and light, so I used a lot of grasses and cow parsley. We didn’t want any dense or heavy arrangements. We dotted those around during the ceremony and then repurposed them for the tables, lining them along the centre with the candles. Their broken arch became the backdrop for the top table. They’d really thought about how to repurpose their ceremony decor for later in the day, which is something I always encourage.
Incorporating vases and props into your wedding styling
Their vases were a lovely way to tie in other elements of their colour scheme. You can hire these from me, from other prop hire companies or ask family and friends to collect them in the run up to the day. Kinlochard Village Hall has lots of warm, brown neutral tones which matched with the peachy, golden tones in the flowers along with the brown glass bottles and earthenware jars. They all looked great together. Decor can be a great way to bring in a colour that it’s difficult to find in flowers, blue is a prime example. Using vases, fabric, ribbon or napkins can be a way of introducing that colour into the day. It’s always good to think about the micro details. They can really bring everything together, making sure that the colours and different elements harmonise.
A huge thanks to Lianne MacKay Photography for their gorgeous photos.
Here are a few more burgundy and blush weddings for inspiration:
Get in touch if you want to talk all things wedding flowers!