If you follow me here or on Instagram, you’ll know I coined the hashtag #yourceremonyyourwords.

Well today, the hashtag is #myblogyourwords because what follows are the words that Allison sent me – along with these gorgeous photos by Sarah Jean –

just a few days after her wedding to Patrick at the fabulous Thirlestane Castle earlier this summer.

Settle back and enjoy!

What I love about humanist weddings is that they get down to the true roots of what marriage means – not to just society, but to you and your partner.

Yes, there’s a whole legal side to marriage, and you can incorporate a religious side to it, but at the end of the day, it’s the unity, the partnership, and the promises made to your partner you are doing during your ceremony.

I truly cannot thank Tim enough for the guidance and support to creating and writing our ceremony ourselves (not just the vows).

It meant so much more knowing that the words coming from Tim were the words that came from the heart of who Patrick and I are, and what our marriage meant most to us.

I highly recommend you do the LoveWork project!

My fiancé – husband now – dragged his feet over that because he’s not always the best at expressing his feelings.

But when we finally had that extremely sentimental moment of reading our LoveWork to each other, it brought new heights to our relationship, and more depth to our connection.

It made the ceremony so much more meaningful not only to us, but also to our guests! 

Tim was fantastic.

We truly appreciate his patience with us as we waited till the very last minute to finish creating the ceremony.

It’s the most important part of the wedding, but it’s so easy to get caught up in all of the planning, especially if you’re doing a destination one, that sometimes the most important things get pushed off.

But he worked with us, he was patient, and he did a fantastic job.

All of our guest truly enjoyed the important role he played, and sat at the edge of their seats (with a tissue for the happy tears) as they listened to every word he said.

Not just because of his perfect Scottish accent, but for the way he presented his own words with as much meaning and power as the ones Patrick and I wrote.

So once again, thank you Tim for being the perfect addition to our wedding at Thirlestane Castle.

And thank you one more time not just for being a part of our special day, but for helping us to make it so much more meaningful. 

What can I say apart from thank you so much, Allison? Actually, one or two things, and the first of them is that you give yourself far too little credit!

In addition to the honesty and truth with which you both spoke, I loved all the thoughtful, imaginative little touches you brought to the ceremony, not least finding ways to involve your moms in the exchange of rings and the handfasting.

I also loved that you brought your very own family piper all the way from Chicago in the form of Uncle David, who told me that he’d been in Scotland before, playing in a Grade One band back in the day at the International Piping Festival, no less!

I must also take a moment to say a big thank you to Sarah Jean who came up from the North-East of England to capture these dreamy shots – she really caught the mood didn’t she?