by Coleen McKay, a luxury destination wedding planner.
A luxury Scottish destination wedding. A truly magical and fairytale wedding in one of Scotland’s most stylish and exquisite castle’s planned and designed by luxury destination wedding planner, and Scotland Wedding Planner Coleen McKay.
In July 2021 Callie Robbins and Joey Scariano made the best decision to get married in Scotland. Located in the US and in the middle of a pandemic, Callie and Joey were not going to let covid get in the way of planning their dream Scottish wedding.
Our planning journey was full of fun, excitement and I’m truly honoured to say I’ve made friends for life.
The Couple
Callie Robbins, a dental nurse from Arkansas and Joey Scariano, a solar expert from Louisiana fell in love with Scotland and immediately decided they wanted to bring their families to Edinburgh for a romantic, stylish and super intimate wedding celebration. Little did they know, they were in for the trip of a lifetime.
The Engagement
The Venue
Callie and Joey took little time to chose their wedding venue and instantly knew after an online viewing Carlowrie Castle was the one. With covid looming over us and Scotland fully locked down, it was a huge and brave decision to push ahead with the wedding plans and lock in the wedding venue. John Robbins (father of the bride) was unsure whether to go ahead and book, and rightly so. With the expert guidance of the wedding venue, both Callie and Joey felt at ease knowing their wedding bookings would be honoured should covid cause any travel disruption ahead of the wedding weekend.
Carlowrie Castle was perfect in every way for Callie, Joey and their families. Located only minutes from Edinburgh Airport, approximately 20 minutes from Edinburgh city, and with availability on our preferred dates in July. Carlowrie Castle very much seemed too good to be true.
The Wedding Weekend
After almost 12 months of planning, the time had finally arrived for Callie, Joey and their families to leave Arkansas and board their flight to Scotland. The Robbins and Scariano’s arrived into Edinburgh on July 9th, enjoying a couple of days in the city ahead of the wedding celebrations. After checking into The Kimpton Charlotte Square, Callie and Joey took in the sights of The Royal Mile, Princess Street and the trendy bars of George Street.
As Callie & Joey’s luxury destination wedding planner my role extended to assisting with hotel reservations in Edinburgh, as well as recommending only the best lunch and dinner spots Edinburgh has to offer. Callie and I worked on cute little gift bags for all of the guests including personalised bottled water, cupcakes and local Scottish shortbread.
The Rehearsal
The Rehearsal evening was relaxed and informal with a tasty buffet of smoked salmon, chicken, salad and delicious hand held deserts provided by the talented chefs at Carlowrie Castle. Callie and Joey’s 33 guests truly enjoyed a wonderful evening relaxing in the grounds of the castle. And the weather was on form giving us a gorgeous Scottish summer evening.
The Ceremony
Callie and Joey dreamed of an outdoor wedding ceremony, and we were all set for a stunning outdoor setting with the castle acting as our backdrop. Some would say, luck and the dreich Scottish weather was not on our side. After our florist spent the entire morning creating the most dreamy outdoor setting, we had to move all the chairs and flowers indoors and quickly create a magical ceremony space in the Piano Room. Stress? What stress? The team at Carlowrie Castle were outstanding, and with only 30 minutes to get all the guests seated, we managed to turn it around with time to spare. Phew!!
As luck would have it the rain only lasted the duration of our ceremony, and afterwards Callie and Joey were able to get back outdoors for their stunning wedding photographs captured beautifully by Stuart Wood, of Stuart Wood Photography.
The Bride & Groom
Dream couple Callie and Joey are couple goals.
Wedding Reception
Destination Wedding Planner and Wedding Designer, I designed and styled the tablescape alongside my florist Elaine from Blooms, with utter passion and dedication to create a timeless, elegant and classic look. We combined Callie’s love of nudes, creams and greenery to create the tablescape complete with gold rimmed charger plates, clear chiavari chairs and gold statement cutlery.
It really was a stylish and modern affair with an abundance of class and elegance.
With Thanks
Venue: Carlowrie Castle
Destination Wedding Planner: Coleen McKay
Photographer: Stuart Wood Photography
Videographer: Julian Voigt Wedding Films
Florist: Blooms, by Elaine Minto
Cake: Liggys Cakes
Decoration Cake: Cake Days A Week
Linens: 88 Events
Charger Plates & Cutlery: Whitehouse Crockery
Pianist: John Rankin
Piper: Piping Services
DJ & Sax: Tartan Entertainment
MUA: MHM Styling
Chairs: Supernova Wedding Design
Additional Gallery
