Mr + Mrs Littler
25th August 2020 | Venue: The Bride's parents home | Guests: 20
Instagrams: @kayleybethgabriel @littler88 | Photos: Flawless Photography
Daniel and Kayley wed at their local church in August 2020. Their ceremony was followed by an intimate celebration back at the Bride's family home. The beautiful bride, Kayley, stunned in a lovely short strapless number (however is saving THE dress for their big 2022 wedding!) and the groom wore a traditional green kilt. Though they were wed in 2020, the couple are also planning a larger celebration at Drumtochty Castle for 2022, to celebrate their marriage with all of their nearest and dearest - we can't wait to hear all about it... and see the dress!
What kind of ceremony did you have and did you have any readings?
We had a Church wedding. Our original venue has a church in the grounds however, once we had decided to have a 'micro' wedding, we knew we would get married from my family church and walk from the house. It was my Mums dream to see me get married there so felt extra special being able to do that for her. We had two readings, my two Nephews read a religious passage and my Mother in Law read 'No Matter What' by Debi Ghori.
Something Old: My mum had bought me a penny from the year that her and my Dad got married – this was pinned inside of my dress and is now on my wall.
Something New: My wedding shoes (which lucky arrived the day before we flew home to get married)
Something Borrowed: My dads scooter. We orginally planned to walk to the church but the rain let up for just long enough so my Dad drove me on his gorgeous scotter he had just had lovingly restored.
Something Blue: Me! Living in the Middle East I was absolutely freezing getting married in the rain in the UK.
What was your favourite part of the day?
Every single minute of it. I don't think I could pick one single thing.
What was the most emotional moment of the day?
Strangely enough, I felt nervous for months before however, I didn't feel nervous at all in the lead up to the day. I remember saying to my Dad as we were waiting to leave to go to church that the nerves hadn't kicked in yet. His response was 'That's how you know you're marrying the right man'.
Any advice for future brides…
Relax and don’t stress over things you can't control! We had planned our micro-wedding to be outside in the garden. My dad and husband had spent hours hanging twinkly lights everywhere making it look beautiful just for the English summer to kick in. We had high winds and rain ALL day so we had to bring the wedding inside. We literally had an hour when we were in church and having our pictures taken that the rain stopped.
Song you walked down the aisle to: Bridal march – I'm a sucker for tradition
Ceremony Songs:
We picked songs which we loved and meant something to us:
Your Song by Elton John
All of Me by John Legend
If I Aint Got You by Alicia Keys
Song for walking back up the aisle as a married couple: 'Isn't she lovely' by Stevie Wonder. Every time I hear that song now, I can't help but smile.
Did you make any Wedding DIYs?
My Mum and I made my wedding bouquet and all the button holes. As we got married during covid, not many florists were open. We had already spent a significant of money on flowers for our Castle wedding so my mum and I set about making the button holes and my bouquet ourselves. We bought all of the flowers from supermarkets and then snipped lots of foliage from the gardens and used Pinterest for inspiration. My dad then used a chainsaw to neaten the stems and it was even better than I could have imagined. We used the left over flowers to dress the pews in the church. It felt extra special being able to make it ourselves.
Tell us all about the dress and dress shopping…
I had originally bought a Suzanne Neville dress for our Castle wedding, but this wasn't ready by the time we went ahead with our micro wedding. I managed to find one a few days before. I never would have picked a short dress or a strapless dress but I already had my shoes and I wanted something completely different from my original dress. I can't wait to wear it in 2022, every time I look at a picture I fall back in love with it.
All about your wedding cake...
As it was last minute, we contacted a local lady who was just starting out her business. I explained that I wanted something simple and classy in neutral colours and I left it up to her! As there were only 20 guests, we only had a small cake but it was so beautiful and so delicious.
What food did you have at your wedding?
As we organised our micro wedding last minute in my parents garden, we made the canapés ourselves in the morning and had booked a pizza truck to come later in the afternoon. We were only 20 guests so this was perfect. We picked 5 flavours and they were made to order for each guests. Everyone loved them. My husband is also a huge pizza fan so we couldn't have had anything more perfect!
How did you choose your venue?
My husband is from Aberdeen and I am from Lincolnshire, but we live in Dubai so I wasn't familiar with any venues. We flew home to the UK, met with our parents and visited two of the four venues we had shortlisted together. As we drove up to Drumtochty Castle, I knew that this was our dream venue (before we even went inside) and we all agreed. It also has it's own fairytale church in the grounds. We didn't even bother to view the other venues., we booked it there and then.
For our micro-wedding, we were lucky enough that my parents offered to host the wedding in their garden. It was perfect getting married from my family home.
Favourite wedding supplier:
Best wedding splurge:
Anything you wish you'd done differently?
In an ideal world, we would have had one wedding on our original date in July 2020. This year the world has turned upside down so the fact that we were able to have a micro wedding this year with our families and a big wedding in 2022 we feel incredibly lucky. I wouldn't have changed a thing (other than the weather!)
Any surprises on the day?
Due to Covid my husband's brother was not able to come to the wedding as he lives in Houston. He therefore didn't have his best man so, I asked him to record a short video to surprise my husband on the day. It was a brilliant way to bring him into the wedding and actually made my husband cry. It was better than expected and everyone loved it.
Tell us about your Honeymoon:
We had originally planned a honeymoon to Tanzania for a 6 day safari and then 6 days in Zanizibar in August. As with everything this year, this wasn't able to go ahead. We were however lucky enough to book a last minute mini-moon to the Maldives in December. We will re-book our honeymoon once we have had the big wedding in 2022.
What was your wedding budget – and did you stick to it?
Absolutely not! We both underestimated the cost of our dream wedding and how much everything costs. We kept saying at the time 'It's worth it….we only get married once!' Although, we've already had one micro-wedding we hadn't budgeted for and we are now on to the second wedding in 2022….but I'm sure it's worth it!
Venue: My parents home / Drumtochty Castle Aberdeen for 2022
Photographer: Flawless Photography
Stationery: The Invite Shop
Flowers: Irene Gabriel (my mum and I)
Cake: Minikin Cakes
Hair: Sable Pilgrim Hair
Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Flower girl dresses: Next
Wedding Rings: Monoli, Dubai
Celebrant: Rev David Swannack
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