There’s no greater compliment than to be asked to conduct the wedding of a wedding professional.

Photographers, videographers and musicians witness more weddings than almost anyone – and the only people who see more are the unsung heroes – or more often heroines – of the wedding industry; Wedding Planners!

Laura was the wedding co-ordinator at Orocco Pier when I first met her, more years ago than I suspect either of us can remember, so I was very touched when she reached out to me to seal the deal when she and Nicky got married last autumn at The Radstone.

What’s the first clue in that last paragraph? Yes – autumn. Wedding Planners know to go for ‘the shoulder days’, so if you need to be canny with your budget, go off-season and above all, avoid Saturdays. Your venue will be grateful, and when you look at what you can save, so will you!

Laura and Nicky met the traditional way these days; online, and I laughed out loud when I saw this card.

The first time I married a couple who’d done that, the groom’s line in the ceremony was, “I found her on eBay”, but times have changed and now although some people still choose not to talk about how they met, as this article in Psychology Today says, greater openness encourages greater acceptance, and the better people understand online dating, the more likely they will be to embrace it as a legitimate way of finding love. 

A great wedding ceremony starts by making everyone feel a part of it, and Laura and Nicky began by introducing their parents, as well as their bridal and groom’s parties.

The next thing they did was have a ring-warming ceremony, which is a lovely idea, because it allows everyone present to hold the rings for a time, think about them, or pray over them before passing them on to the person next to them.

Something else they did, which I thought was a nice variation on the Candle Ceremony was this.

Sometimes less is more, and I think that really worked for Laura and Nicky.

Of course the last person I name checked was the real star of the show; one of their three flower girls and Laura and Nicky’s pride and joy – their daughter, Lottie.  

Two rather special family members couldn’t make it on the day – their SSPCA rescue dogs, Lola and Mack, and it was with their help – and the help of Lottie – that Nicky proposed to Laura while on their favourite walk in a quiet spot down at Cramond beach. 

When they talked about the reasons they love each other, Nicky said, “lastly, I love how Laura makes me feel since we’ve been together. We laugh every day, and we never take it for granted.”

After his sister Dawn read us The Art of Marriage, by Wilfred Arlan Peterson, Nicky and Laura exchanged rings and made the all-important Legal Declaration.

Louise and Martin joined us to witness the signing of the Marriage Schedule, and then I invited the guests to join me in speaking a blessing to the happy couple before they went on their way.

I was very touched to read Laura & Nicky’s words on the Celebrate People page on Your Scottish Wedding a few weeks later.

“We had Tim conduct our wedding ceremony, and he was fantastic! So glad we chose him. He was very thorough with the homework, which in turn allowed us to create a wonderful, personal wedding ceremony that guests have raved about since. Very professional and relaxed which was what we were looking for! Thank you again.”

Of course I wasn’t the only one to feel special that day – Emma Gray was another of ‘The Chosen Few’. A multi-award winning photographer, she’s one of the hardest-working and most professional in the business, and as you can see from her great shots, she played a blinder! The cheeky snapshot above is just “one I made earlier”…

So what can you take away from Laura & Nicky’s wedding? Go off-season. Involve your family and friends, choose people you can trust, and above all, speak from the heart.

Laura and Nicky, all that’s left for me to say is, “thanks once again for choosing to work with me. It was a great compliment, and one I’ll never take for granted!”