Sophie & Callum’s Humanist Wedding at Archerfield House

You know a wedding’s gone well when the bride sends you a message like this.

Ahhh what an unbelievable weekend! I can’t believe it’s all over. Everything was just perfect (apart from my dress catching on fire!) 

Sophie and Callum’s wedding was an absolute hoot! It had been a long time coming, so they made sure that everyone they loved was packed into the marquee down by Archerfield’s exclusive Marine Villa. When your relationship goes back to primary school, you know you’re going to need a very big tent!

They had a massive wedding party too. Sophie had not one but two Maids of Honour, Katie and Nicki, alongside her four bridesmaids, Becky, Yilin, Amy, Georgia.

Not to be outdone, Callum had six groom’s men, Cody, Zen, Michael, Ryan, Rhys and Ben joining him and his Best Man, Craig, which I think may be the first time ever that the boys outnumbered the girls!

Being one of the many 2022 weddings that had been postponed by the pandemic, there was a lot of catching up to do, and Calum and Sophie wanted to make sure that everyone partied extra hard with them to make up for the delay.

Having Clan an Drumma to kick off the festivities was a brilliant idea!

 

Getting Cody to come up and read a poem was another!

Sophie and Callum had the same group of friends growing up and they were in lots of the same classes together at high school. Things started to ramp up in 3rd year back in the day when BBM messenger and MSN were our social media tools, and after officially becoming Girlfriend and Boyfriend on a walk at Hopetoun beach, the path of true love was set.

Although when Sophie told her Mum and Dad, they weren’t very pleased. As the saying goes, ‘you only get one chance to make a first impression’ so it’s no surprise that after climbing onto the roof of Sophie’s house, jumping onto the trampoline and then flying backwards into Julie’s whirly gig and promptly snapping it in half, Callum had some making up to do… 

It didn’t get any better when Sophie’s dad learned that Callum had signed for the Hearts Football Academy. Given that his brother Gordon had played for Hibs, you can see why he wasn’t too pleased, which is probably why I didn’t say anything about the derby goals that Callum scored against them either… 

Callum’s career as a professional footballer didn’t make life easy for them. Playing for teams all over the UK meant lots of house moves, but looking back, he and Sophie know that just brought them closer and made them love one another all the more.

It’s easy when you’re planning your wedding to forget that there are many ways in which to manage ‘The Exchange of Rings’. Traditionally the Best Man had the one that the groom gave the bride, but the world has moved on and it’s more usual these days for the bride and groom to exchange them.

Our ring bearer Spencer was Callum’s groomsman and cousin Ryan’s wee boy, and he totally stole the show, as you can see!

Callum and Sophie opted for a Q&A version of the vows, where I asked them questions to which they both answered ‘I do!’. Then – before I pronounced them married, I asked the guests to make some promises to them as well. I call that ‘The Guest Vows’ and it’s a great way to make everyone really feel a part of the the couple’s future together, not just the ceremony itself.

We took a moment of quiet contemplation while Sophie and Callum signed their Marriage Schedule, with Katie and Craig as their witnesses,

and then we got the dads, David and Malcolm, to join us for The Quaich Ceremony. I recently wrote an article about that for Your Scottish Wedding Magazine, so if you want to know more about its history, click here.

The quaich is a two handled loving cup, and drinking from it is an old Scots way not only of sealing the bond between two people, but also joining two families in love and trust. 

Something else that Sophie and Callum decided to do was to ask their parents for some advice on how to keep love alive in a long marriage. That was a lovely idea, and I thought the advice they got was very appropriate…

Firstly, never go to bed angry with each other.

Secondly, there will be obstacles along the way, but these will only make you stronger and appreciate the good times, so remember – you’re in this together!

And thirdly, David’s advice to Sophie was to let Callum play golf and go fishing whenever he wants… 

Hmm. I wonder who wrote that bit of the ceremony?

I was very pleased to see that – without telling me – Sophie gave me a lovely review on Your Scottish Wedding.

It really was a spectacular day, as you can tell from these great shots by the multi-award-winning couple, Alie and Niels who run Blue Sky Photography. You can see their own blog about the wedding here.

The talented videographer Adam Lyduch also captured it beautifully in this trailer.

I’ll give the last word to Sophie, who said in that email, “We got so much amazing feedback about the ceremony and about how relaxed, funny and personal it was. Thank you for delivering it so perfectly for us!” 

I couldn’t ask for more – and thank you so much, Sophie and Callum, for sharing your day with me and my readers. I’m sure you will inspire many others to take the hard road as you did, to create their own ceremony in their own words. It was worth it, wasn’t it? X

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