James and Olivia's Wedding  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Dalmunzie Castle
Dalmunzie Castle is hidden at the end of the quiet and secluded Glenshee, “the glen of the fairies”. It was a fantastic place to stay and from the moment we arrived the staff made us feel very welcome, looking after us in a very attentive but relaxed way.
The day we arrived we had driven through some heavy snow showers but that’s about as bad as the weather got during our stay. Some of James’ old school friends and Richard decided to make a snowbride and snowgroom which turned out really well. The snowbride’s hair and bouquet were wonderful. It was also hard work as the snow that was still on the ground had probably been there since before Christmas and was really hard, it really has been such a cold winter in that part of Scotland. During the evening we had a murder mystery which was great fun and I will post an album from that evening soon.
The day of the wedding started a bit overcast with a few snow flurries but everyone busied themselves getting ready for the big event which was at 2 p.m. Some of the guests went up the valley to have a go at clay pigeon shooting and I think they all really enjoyed it. Meanwhile the staff were busy getting the room ready for the wedding ceremony, Olivia was being pampered and looked after, and the florist had arrived with boxes full of flowers and candles and she set about decorating everywhere.
 Dalmunzie Castle  Snowgroom and snowbride
The cake arrived too. For those of you who don’t know how James and Olivia came to meet you may wonder what the significance of Harry Potter is. James and Olivia both posted messages on a Harry Potter forum a few years ago when Snape killed Dumbledore and from that moment started to talk to each other. One day James flew off to Switzerland to meet Olivia and the rest, as they say, is history.
The wedding ceremony itself was lovely. Jane the celebrant was from the Humanist Society of Scotland, and James and Olivia had been fully involved with the design of the ceremony, so it was very personal to them. The ceremony started with Olivia entering down the stairs to Richard singing a medley of Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World accompanying himself on ukulele. There were readings, a piece of music that Richard had composed especially for the service, and we all sang All My Loving. I have to admit that I tried to sing but I was so emotional by that time no words would come out of my mouth. James and Olivia wrote their own vows which were just beautiful. By this time I think there weren’t many dry eyes left in the room. The giving and receiving of rings was done as a traditional Celtic handfasting ceremony, but only after the rings had been passed around everyone in the room, including Olivia’s lovely little nephew Maxi whose special job on the day was to give the rings to James and Olivia.
 Piper  Handfasting  Confetti time
All too soon the ceremony was over, the champagne was opened and a piper arrived to help start the celebrations. The photographer fitted in the photographs around the ongoing celebrations, even taking some pictures of everyone outside for a while but as it was a bit cold no one wanted to stay outside too long.
The wedding breakfast was absolutely delicious with wonderful wine. The wedding favours were books individually chosen for each quest by James and Olivia and a wee bottle of special Dalmunzie Castle whisky which I don’t think I will ever be able to open. Soon it was time for the speeches which had us in stitches one minute and reduced to tears once more the next.
After the meal there was the cutting of the cake, then onto dancing, only interrupted by a trip outside to watch fireworks amongst gently falling snow. This was just magical.
 Cutting the cake  Heart of flowers.
At one point during the evening I had to go back to our room to get some spare batteries for the flash unit and I found the hotel staff secretly taking the flowers that had decorated the dining table earlier in the day up to the bridal suite. They told me this was their favourite part of the day, as they decorated the room with romantically lit candles, rose petals on the floor and flowers in the shape of a heart on the bed.
I have tried as best as I can to show you pictures that capture the whole day. The wedding photographer was very good and I was very impressed with his attention to detail in all the pictures that he took. He was also very informative and helped me to set up my camera in a way he said would guarantee I got good pictures. The setting I used I would never normally use, but once I could see they worked I didn’t change them all afternoon while I was taking pictures indoors. I had also been lent a bigger flash unit than I usually use, which I was very grateful for and it allowed me to take so many of the indoor pictures that I did.
I hope that the pictures give a flavour of what was a very special day. A day we will remember for a very long time. For best viewing of the pictures click on the hd slideshow link on the right hand side of the page Hitting f11 will remove the top bar on the screen.
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