It’s always a pleasure to lead a ceremony close to home. Kim and Chris chose to celebrate their Marriage with an intimate gathering of their close family and friends at the village hall near their countryside home in East Saltoun, East Lothian (less than five miles from where I live).

They had both said before their wedding day that they were a wee bit nervous at the prospect of being the centre of attention. They needn’t have worried; their ceremony was relaxed, fun and incredibly personal.

We started with some beautiful words that Chris and Kim’s further afield friends had shared with me in secret when planning the ceremony. This helped put them both at ease as we all laughed and shed happy tears at their funny, insightful thoughts. Not least, how it was clear that Chris was a keeper, after two close friends of Kim’s had seen his ability over the festive season to handle single malt and oversized Christmas trees!

We heard the funny-sweet story of how Chris and Kim met at a friends wedding and how, within eight months of meeting, they decided it was “for real”. Chris then persuaded Kim to leave her Manchester home to join him in East Lothian with the promise that there were no spiders in Scotland … something Kim soon found to be a clear misrepresentation!

During their ceremony, Kim and Chris exchanged personal joint vows and rings before making their Marriage Vows to one another. Kim’s mother gave a heartfelt reading: James Dillet Freeman’s Blessings for a Marriage.

May your marriage bring you all the exquisite excitements a marriage should bring, and may life grant you also patience, tolerance, and understanding.

May you always need one another – not so much to fill your emptiness as to help you to know your fullness.

A mountain needs a valley to be complete; the valley does not make the mountain less, but more; and the valley is more a valley because it has a mountain towering over it.

So let it be with you and you.

Extract of James Dillet Freeman’s Blessings for a Marriage

Kim and Chris made their first toast together as a married couple with a shared drink from the Quaich … single malt whisky, of course … before walking down the aisle and into their future together to the ebullient cheers of their family and friends.

Huge congratulations to you both, Chris and Kim. It was a great pleasure and honour to lead your ceremony for you. Thank you for sharing these lovely details of your day.

Thank you also to Sarah Campbell for the gorgeous photos.