Diary of a Boho Bride – Introducing Sarah and Del

Sarah and Del

Wedding date: 23 May 2015

Location:  Altskeith House

Colour Scheme / Theme: Rustic and travel

Photographer: Christopher Currie

We met in 2005 on holiday in Kavos – we were both on 18-30 holidays with our friends and stayed in the apartments next to each other. After some romancing over the duration of the holiday fuelled by sambucca and hot dogs, it became quite clear that the roots were there for a more serious relationship when we got back home (home being two separate countries – Scotland & England).  On our last night we shared a dinner before saying our goodbyes, but these were short lived as we were flying home on the same day to different parts of the UK! After settling back in to cooler climates, we contacted each other over the phone and made arrangements to meet in Del’s hometown of Glasgow the very next weekend, and from then saw each other on alternate weekends.

We have now been together just short of 9 years – we are the couple that Kavos never conquered (despite what you see on the channel 4 programme)!  We currently live together in Didsbury, Manchester.
As a couple we are almost complete opposites: Sarah always purposeful, Del always laid back; Sarah very academic, Del struggles with English!  However, we do have a lot of shared interests, including football (despite having or own allegiances), Travel, Food and just having general fun!
These pulled us together and despite doing the long-term relationship for a long time (at some points Sarah was living in Madrid and later Colombia), in 2010 Del moved from Glasgow to Manchester so we were closer, and in 2012 we finally moved in together.

The Proposal – June 2013

We were travelling to our friends’ wedding in Colmenar, just north of Madrid.  A group of friends had made arrangements to spend a few days with us in Madrid first, but we went out a day in advance of everyone else as Sarah had lived in the city for a year abroad so wanted to spend more time there.  Upon our arrival, Del frogmarched walked Sarah to El Retiro park in the heart of the city and headed for the rowing boats.  The problem was that it seemed to be the busiest day of the year with the scorching weather, Del could not get the privacy he wanted to pop the question.
After various questions such like, Are you ok?  You don’t seem yourself today?  Can I see what’s in your bag? You seem really nervy, Del resorted to Plan B.  And after a very long walk through the park we managed to settle down on the grass, where Del pulled out a ring and asked the question.  I don’t think that Sarah had a chance to answer as I was so concerned as to whether she liked the ring I had specially designed.

The Wedding

Sarah is about to do a 4-month secondment to Lancaster, so the wedding planning will get a bit complicated for a few months! But so far, we’ve managed to come up with lots of ideas, and ticked three big tasks off the to do list: book the venue, photographer and Sarah has bought her dress.

The wedding will take place at Altskeith House in Scotland, which is in a beautiful location overlooking Loch Ard. We took a long time to find a venue, contacting planners in Greece, Ibiza and Italy, nearly booking a venue in Manchester before finally coming across Altskeith en route to a Tipi Open Day. We ended up booking Altskeith and forgetting about the Tipis as it was so beautiful. We’ve booked the house out for three days over the bank holiday weekend, which is also the same weekend as Sarah’s birthday & will stay there with the wedding party and family. We booked Christopher Currie as our photographer, and he and girlfriend Gillian take beautiful photos in a relaxed way, which is exactly what we want for our day. The wedding will be really laid back, with a travel theme that reflects the many holidays and journeys we’ve been on together over the years. It’s going to be rustic, with sharer plates and lots of cake for everyone (Sarah has a slight obsession with cake!). It’ll be quite a big wedding as we both have huge families, so we’ve had to make some really difficult decisions so far with the guest list. We’ll be getting married outside (weather permitting) and having a Humanist ceremony because it gives us the opportunity to celebrate our relationship as part of the ceremony. We’ll hopefully do lots of DIY projects in the lead up as long as we have time, although time seems to be flying already! Overall, we just want a lovely chilled out feel to the day, and for everyone to be happy.

Love Sarah and Del xx

Photo Source: Photo Gallery (Photo by Alively Photography) / Naked cake (Photo by Lawson Photography)  / Hessium jam jars / Travel wine bottle / Sharing Platter (Photo by  Nicola Thompson) / Bouquet / Travel pin wheels / Table scape (Photo by Sara Gray Photography)