How did you find out about Sophia Grace Couture?

I found Sophia Grace Couture online years before we got engaged, I follow the boutique on social media and always dreamt of going for the experience.

How would you describe your experience at Sophia Grace Couture?

I loved my Sophia Grace Couture experience – it was one of my main highlights of our wedding planning, from first going in April 2022 and then collecting my dress in October 2022, I just want to relive both experiences. I love the fact that the appointment means we had the whole boutique to ourselves, this made it more personal and relaxed. Ines was so friendly, helpful and did not rush or push me into any decisions. We browsed the dresses and chose a few to try on initially, then I could say my likes/dislikes and Ines was very attentive and a great person to share this experience with.

Thank you so much to Ines and the full Sophia Grace Couture team who gave me the best experience and helped me with my dream wedding dress and veil!

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

My sister and I saw the first dress on the mannequin as we walked in, she looked at me and said “is that your dress, did they pick it for you”. The first dress we saw, first I tried on, and it was the one! I really wanted the full experience of trying on wedding dresses, so tried on some more but nothing compared. With the other dresses I kept trying to think of how to alter them to make me feel as special as I did in the first one. This surprised me as I thought I would have gone for something more fitted with lace.

My Paloma Blanca dress had off the shoulder sleeves, fitted to the waist and then full ball gown with a large train. I felt like a princess especially when paired with my Sophia Grace Couture cathedral length lace veil – needed to have some lace!

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

Mark and I met in summer of 2015 at a work social when I interned at the company he worked at. It took until 13th December 2021 for Mark to propose, but it was worth the wait. We viewed our new house then we walked down to the beach and he proposed with a ring he chose himself, it was perfect and we were so lucky with a beautiful sunset!

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

We wanted our wedding to be personal and about us as a couple. Our wedding plans were personalised, from; table names being photos of holidays/relationship milestones, memory station, favours by mother of the bride and father of the groom to writing our own vows for our wedding ceremony.

We had pretty purple and blush pink florals and personalised designs. Initially we thought of spring colours for our April wedding but quickly realised this would not suit Scottish pale skin tones! So we went back to my favourite colours.

I designed my Mum’s and bridesmaids dresses to compliment their different figures, choosing the different fabric shades which stood out, and made the bridesmaids more unique. The mother of the bride was in baby pink and the mother of the groom was in baby blue, which was my Mum’s suggestion and suited them both perfectly. Mark wore a navy tweed waistcoat and jacket with his chosen Gunn tartan.

What made you decide upon your chosen venue?

Seamill Hydro was the last of 3 venues we viewed and when they opened the reception reveal doors and rehearsed announcing us as Mr and Mrs Barlow, I got goosebumps and looked at Mark and said “I think this is the one” and he agreed. Mark suggested we get married near water, since we got engaged on a beach so choosing Seamill Hydro couldn’t have been more perfect! It looks out over the beach to the Isle of Arran where we had our mini moon, so we now have a triangle from the beach we got engaged on, the beach we got married at and the mini-moon island.

Tell us about your wedding

Our day was perfect, the sun shone down and the rain stayed away. We got married in the Firth Pavilion overlooking the beach and out to Isle of Arran. Our celebrant Niki Smith was amazing and made our ceremony so personal and special to us. We made it down to the beach for couple photos and our wee puppy joined us. It was great to be just the two of us to take it all in. Our reception was lovely with the reveal doors followed by champagne tower, cake cutting, being piped to our seats and funny, personal speeches. We made it back down to the beach for a quick sunset photo and then danced the rest of the night away with all our friends and family.

What was the most memorable moment?

Our most memorable moment was our ceremony, from start to finish, the harp playing while walking down the aisle with my Dad has always been a moment I dreamed of, then to see Mark smiling like a cheshire cat at the top of the aisle. With all our close friends and family there to support us and celebrate our wedding when the sun was shining in on us.