How did you find out about Sophia Grace Couture?

A few of my friends had found their own wedding dresses at Sophia Grace, so it had come highly recommended to me. Everyone I spoke to was so positive about their experience. After a browse online, I booked my appointment with very little idea of what I was looking for.

How would you describe your experience at Sophia Grace Couture?

I honestly couldn’t have loved my experience at Sophia Grace more. The whole appointment was so lovely and luxurious. I loved having a private space to try the dresses on with my mum and bridesmaids, it made the process feel so personal. Charlotte was also a great help in narrowing down the elements of dresses I was liking and those I wasn’t. I absolutely understood the hype, it was everything I hoped my dress shopping experience would feel like.

Tell us about your dress and why you choose your particular gown

My mum saw the dress on display when we arrived and we all agreed to add it to the selection I’d try on. My first thought was, despite the dress looking stunning on the model, it was not the style I’d expected to pick. It had a very low neckline and slim straps - two things I said I definitely didn’t want. I definitely tried it on with a view to being open-minded, and thank goodness I did. As soon as I put it on, I remember saying “I love it” repeatedly, with my bridal party outside the curtain getting restless to see it. We all shed a wee tear because it was just so beautiful on and I felt amazing. There was just no way I could leave without it!

How did you meet? Are you happy to tell us about the proposal?

Colin and I met a month after I moved to university at a club night out. Classically, I’d arrived and lost my friends so was dancing alone, next thing I know I met Colin and that was it. Within days (we now both agree) we knew that we were going to be in each other’s lives for the long haul. I never want to claim love at first sight because it seems so cliche, but at 18 and 21 years old and having known each other for a couple of months, we were both certain we were going to marry each other one day - and here we are!

After twelve years of being together, and not going on any holidays abroad during COVID, Colin and I took a dream trip to Mauritius. It was just the most gorgeous holiday from start to finish, topped off by a stunning proposal when we arrived back to our room one afternoon. Colin had arranged for rose petals to be scattered throughout the entire room (which had me thinking I’d opened the wrong door when we arrived) and a champagne toast. After he popped the question, and many happy tears were shed, we facetimed our family and friends on the balcony and watched a gorgeous sunset. It’ll be a core memory of mine forever.

What was your inspiration for your wedding? Did you follow a specific theme or colour palette?

We didn’t go too heavy on a theme - we just wanted to embrace summer vibes for our July wedding (knowing full well the chance of rain in Scotland was high). We want to reflect our personalities and love of summer time. We went for a bright and colourful palette, with hot pink being the stand-out colour across everything.

We are also both massive Swifties, and getting married mere weeks after seeing the Eras Tour we had to include small nods to Taylor throughout our day. There were so many references: from our aisle medley, our seating plan, signage, lyrics behind our seats at dinner, to lyrics on my bouquet ribbon. Our place names were also 75+ handmade friendship bracelets with our guests' names on them - that might’ve been a task I grew to regret - but they all looked so good!

What made you decide upon your chosen venue?

We wanted an exclusive use venue where we could invite our family and friends to stay over a couple of nights to extend our celebrations. We had viewed a few options before going to Broxmouth, with the previous venues failing to hit every mark. As soon as we saw the ceremony room in Broxmouth, we were hooked - it was just stunning! The venue was still a work in progress when we booked it, but we loved the vision and just knew it was going to be our venue. We booked it so quickly after viewing and are so glad we did. Everything about the venue on the day was amazing - with the food and staff needing sensationally high praise, they were unreal!

Tell us about your wedding

It was so incredibly happy from start to finish. I remember having a sore face from smiling so much. It was torrential rain most of the day, but we were so lost in our little moment that we didn’t care. Seeing all of your hard work come to fruition, and the visions we’d held for the day in real life was just so joyous. It went by in the most emotional, beautiful blur. We were so grateful to have all of our favourite people in the one place celebrating with us, and we genuinely couldn’t have asked for more from our day.

What was the most memorable moment?

This is truly such a tough question because the day was filled with a million little moments of joy. One of my favourites is having my dad come to see me once I’d finished getting ready. My mum and I waited patiently for him to arrive, no idea how he would react as a man who likes to keep his emotions close to his chest. But it was just so beautiful, he was clearly touched by the moment and the three of us had a little group hug.

My other top moment was just after our ceremony. Colin and I walked back down the aisle and into the adjoining bar, our guests had all filed outside to get ready for the confetti shot and the two of us had a little ‘pinch me’ moment. We absolutely cried our eyes out for a couple of minutes, just so over the moon that we were married. I was so convinced we were in the room alone, but our photographer captured a sneaky little shot of the moment and I love being taken back to it when I look at the picture.

Do you have any advice for future brides visiting Sophia Grace Couture?

My advice is to just enjoy the process, it’s such a special time looking for your wedding dress. Don’t be afraid to try on something outside of your comfort zone, and be open to advice from the girls at Sophia Grace - they are so helpful!

Vendors:

Photographer:  @joplusliam

Content Creator: @socialbridesclub

Videographer: @prettylittlefilms

Ceremony venue: @broxmouthcourtyard

Florist: @pixieroseflowers

Cake: @liggyscakes

Make-up artist: @lynmckenziemakeupartist