Your Wedding in Your Words | Weddings

Your Wedding in Your Words | Samantha & Jay

WOW! We were blown away when we received the photos from Samantha and Jay's stunning wedding here at Restoration Yard.

It was such a joy to be part of this beautiful couple’s special day. Their wedding was filled with laughter and fun, and their personalities shone through in every little detail from the pink Blossom Trees to their Dohl drummers and piper mash up.

We caught up with our happy couple post-wedding to debrief and relive all our favourite moments. Here’s what they had to say… (scroll down for the full photo album!).

When and where did you get engaged?

For my 28^th Birthday, Jay had arranged a trip away to Paris, it was also a few months before we were moving into the house we bought together and as Jay liked to splash out at Birthdays, I didn’t get suspicious that this Birthday was any different from any other and did not expect this trip would be the trip that he proposed.

Anyways to cut a long story short, we were in Paris, up the Eiffel Tower, when the coast was clear, Jay got down on one near and asked to Marry me!

How did you go about choosing a venue for your big day?

We love Dalkeith Country Park….. Samantha has been on many occasions to The Kitchen, walks with friends, going to the park with her nephews and attending any special events that the park holds at Christmas etc. However, it was Jay who suggested viewing Restoration Yard as he saw it online. We planned our wedding in less than 6 months, after being engaged over 2 years and loosing Jays father in January 2021 of this year, we thought why wait any longer as life is too short.

What did you think when you first saw the venue?

The grounds are stunning and well maintained, the restaurant has lovely food as we have been on a few occasions and the place is always clean and tidy. The staff are so friendly and welcoming which was another tick on the list. The Orangerie wasn’t what sold it for us even though it is such a beautiful and magical area to get married, it was actually the Wellbeing Lab as we loved the white walls which gave a modern feel to the room and also the wooden beams that fitted in with a bo-ho feel that we liked.

Take us through your wedding planning process with the team here at Restoration Yard…

The planning started with discussing ideas on what we could do with the place and advice on the best way to utilise the space based on what we wanted….. throwing ideas back and forward with the team in the beginning gave us so much food for thought. Also we were given many lists of companies they would recommend to help in our planning.

As it was a short period of time we planned the wedding, we had a few meetings in between to go over plans and discuss how the night would flow with the wedding and events team which really helped guide us into making wise choices or areas to consider that we had not thought about.

The lead up to the wedding, we had in-depth meetings with Thea, discussing the food, the run through and actually we changed the Saturday evening to The Kitchen 6 weeks before the wedding as it made a lot more sense with the amount of people, the space, convenience and this was advice from your staff and it made total sense and we are so glad that we did.

I feel I built up a great relationship and trust with the team in the short space of time we had planned the wedding.

What was your stand out moment from the big day?

The standout moment on Friday was arriving with my father in the car and seeing my family when I arrived. On the Saturday was when we made our entrance…. The excitement and smiles on our family and friends face was priceless, bringing the Dohl drummers and piper together was fantastic and the party was amazing.

What made Restoration Yard the right choice for you?

The venue was the perfect choice. The planning and preparation was effortless to the flow of both days. It was always clean and tidy, the staff made everything run like clockwork and everyone was extremely warm and welcoming to all our guests.

I know most brides and grooms must big their own wedding but all our guests ranging from ages had all said it was the best wedding they have been to and that was just the reception they are referring to in the evening.