Mellerstain

Mellerstain House, Scottish Borders wedding venue

Warm congratulations to newly-weds Hardeep and Ives, who got married at Mellerstain House in the Scottish Borders, in a gorgeous spring wedding. The couple are from Watford, and met at college 11 years ago when they were 18. Hardeep works with children with behavioural difficulties, and Ives is a painter-decorator and fabulous artist. I was so impressed that romantic Ives went to Paris to buy the ring!

Hardeep’s family are from Kenya and Ives’s family from the Congo, and it was lovely to have the chance to work together on a wonderful Sikh-Christian fusion wedding. Get Knotted has built up considerable experience organising Asian weddings, and we were delighted that Hardeep was impressed with our knowledge of Sikh traditions!

The wedding started on the Friday evening with the Choora ceremony, a pre-wedding Sikh bangle ritual where the bride’s maternal aunt and uncle place red and white bangles on her wrist, with ornaments made of silver and gold tied to the bangles.

On the day itself, London and Manchester caterers Payal provided tea and samosas for all the guests before the ceremony, which was followed by the civil ceremony at 1pm.  Hardeep’s mother had made a special ring cushion, which was exquisitely embroidered.

After the ceremony, photos were taken by talented Parminder Matharu in the beautiful grounds.  Family and friends enjoyed  more of Payal’s fabulous Indian canapes and drinks were served on the lawn.

After the drinks reception, the Payal team provided a delicious Asian meal.  It was great to be working with them again – their food is always cooked freshly on site and is outstanding. They set up outside gazebos and cook with clay ovens and burners, and the smell of the curries is just mouth-watering.

There was also a feast for the eyes with everyone’s gorgeous outfits in such a lovely setting. Hardeep’s beautiful coral saree came from Santoshi in Southall, and she changed into a stunning green outfit for the evening. Her colourful bouquet was by Fiona Halliburton, who did all the flowers and supplied the large pedestals.

Speeches were all heartfelt and moving, and a painting of Hardeep’s grandparents was presented by Ives to Hardeep’s mother.

After the meal, there was a break in the proceedings – some guests went for a walk in the glorious gardens, while others went back to the self-catering accommodation in the grounds of Mellerstain. The West Lodge, Clockhouse Cottage and Courtyard Cottage are only moments from the main house, giving plenty of accommodation on-site for immediate family – 14 in the self-catering cottages and four in the fabulous main house suites –  which is important as lots of couples like to have their close family by them.

Festivities continued into the evening with DJ Bobby Singh from GTown Desi, who played a great mixture of Bhangra and British music. GTown Desi are Scotland’s No. 1 club DJs, and pioneers of the Scottish UrbAsian sound. They’re used to travelling to gigs in Cyprus, Italy and Majorca, as well as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle Mela, so it was fantastic to welcome them to a Mellerstain wedding!  Payal continued to please guests with their final gourmet menu and the evening ended with the cake cutting of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes.

Photography was by Parm Matharu, who is based down in the south of England.

Inge of Cupcake & Cookie (edit: currently site not available, June 2012), based near Kelso, provided cupcakes.

Wedding stationery was designed and printed by Rikesh Majithia

Hardeep and Ives spent their honeymoon in Barbados, where they completely switched off for 11 days and enjoyed the beautiful beaches, weather and food – together with a spot of marathon training!

Mellerstain House, Sat May 28 2011

Suppliers:

Photographer: www.parmindermatharu.com
Flowers: www.flowersbyfionahalliburton.co.uk
Catering: www.payal.co.uk
Cupcakes: www.cupcakeandcookie.com
Music: www.gtowndesi.com
Stationery: www.rickydicky.co.uk

Lindsey Hunter of Get Knotted is a wedding planner for Scotland and the north of England. She’s the in-house wedding planner for four lovely Scottish wedding venues: Mellerstain House, Aikwood Tower, Hoscote Estate, and the Buccleuch Arms Hotel. For more wedding inspiration, visit our gallery.

Get Knotted wedding venue Mellerstain House has been singled out for The Telegraph’s list of the 10 Best Stately Homes in Britain – the only stately home in Scotland to make the list! The Telegraph article highlights Mellerstain’s popularity as a wedding venue, its beautiful location and stunning artworks:

‘About eight miles north of Kelso, in the Scottish Borders, Mellerstain was designed by Robert Adam and is adorned with classical plasterwork friezes, paintings, embroidery and a fine collection of china and furniture. A terraced garden lies at the rear, and its picturesque lakeside location makes it a popular wedding venue.‘

Get Knotted is especially delighted that Mellerstain has been included alongside such British jewels as Blenheim Palace near Oxford, Castle Howard in Yorkshire, Longleat House in Wiltshire and Chatsworth House in Derbyshire as the only Scottish representative on the Telegraph’s prestigious list!

Mellerstain has also been the spectacular backdrop for several wedding fashion shoots for leading wedding directories. For more wedding photos from Mellerstain, see our gorgeous gallery!

Photo credits: Sarah Elizabeth, Paul Raeburn, Lloyd Smith, Paul Raeburn.

Lindsey Hunter of Get Knotted is a wedding planner for Scotland and the north of England. She’s the in-house wedding planner for four lovely Scottish wedding venues: Mellerstain House, Aikwood Tower, Hoscote Estate, and the Buccleuch Arms Hotel. For more wedding inspiration, visit our gallery.

It’s been a busy time at Mellerstain recently – I’ve been seeing lots of new couples who are looking at this amazing venue with a view to booking their weddings. Mellerstain has just launched a very special package for up to 80 guests. The package includes exclusive use of the house, catering, drink, flowers, photography and a night’s complimentary accommodation in one of the four-poster wedding suites. This one-stop shop means couples only have one bill to pay – keeping the process nice and simple and a great price too! Visit the Mellerstain website wedding page for further details.

I never tire of showing people around Mellerstain. There’s always something interesting going on and it’s quite incredible to imagine all the people that have passed over the threshold of this fairy-tale Robert Adam house.

At this time of year the snowdrops are spectacular and Mellerstain has just celebrated it’s 5th year as part of Visit Scotland’s Scottish Snowdrop Festival.

Here’s Mellerstain’s resident daschund, Gertie, enjoying the snowdrops in the grounds!