Our Scottish Highlands Wedding: The Welcome Party

The Welcome Party

After over 2 years of planning and dreaming up ideas, our autumn Scottish Highlands wedding took place from 14th – 16th October 2022 at the Achnagairn Estate in Inverness, kicking off with a welcome party.

One of the things that convinced us The Achnagairn Estate was the perfect place for our wedding was the fact that we would get the exclusive use of the venue across 3 days – starting on the Friday afternoon for a welcome party before the big day on the Saturday and finishing things off with a brunch on the Sunday. 

We decided to use the Friday afternoon as a relaxed welcome party for our guests. Starting at 6pm, we had a bar, pizza truck and evening entertainment of a pub quiz planned. Quite miraculously, the sun was shining and we were able to go outside to enjoy the beautiful (albeit cold) October weather.

The Outfits

For my Welcome Party look, I wanted something quite different from what I was wearing on my wedding day. I have always loved a white bridal suit and was determined to find the right one for me. I tried on a lot of white suits at various price points, but nothing quite fit the bill until I found this set from Max Mara. 

I booked a bridal appointment at their Bond St, London store and had a really great experience. They pulled a few different bridal looks for me, but upon seeing this 2 piece tailored suit and sequin top I was sold. 

I paired the suit with a long ponytail – aided by Beauty Works hair extensions – and an ivory silk bow from Gigi and Olive. On my feet I wore my wedding shoes (why save them just for one day?!) – the Nadira in Champagne Satin from Manolo Blahnik.

Max wore a navy velvet jacket from Reiss paired with a simple white shirt and black suit trousers.

Links: Tartan Blankets from Amazon | Max Mara Suit Trousers | Max Mara Suit Jacket (similar) | Max Mara Sequin Top | Manolo Blahnik Nadira Sandals | Gigi & Olive White Hair Bow | Reiss Navy Velvet Blazer

Food and Drink

We wanted the Welcome Party to be a casual, relaxed evening where everyone could mingle without any sort of assigned seating. So, for our food and drink options we decided to have dedicated stations outside using two fabulous suppliers: Tipple in a Tuk Tuk for drinks and Mangiamo for freshly made pizzas. 

Our guests all raved about the pizzas – they were fresh, delicious and exactly what we wanted for the evening. As for the drinks, our guests almost ran the bar completely dry… so I would say that is an absolute success! 

The Perfect Evening

After enjoying the pizza and drinks, we moved indoors to have a pub quiz with the teams assigned according to the guests’ dinner tables on the wedding day. This meant that people who were seated next to people they didn’t know had the chance to meet and get to know each other before the wedding day. 

Our good friend Grant was MC for the weekend and took the lead on the quiz. He did a fantastic job and everyone really enjoyed it – although as always with quizzes, it can get quite competitive and rowdy! 

After many drinks, laughs and conversations with our guests it was time to get some beauty sleep before the main event the next day. Read part 2 to find out more about our autumn Scottish Highlands wedding!

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