Peebles Hydro

What made you choose Peebles Hydro for your big day? 1. We wanted somewhere our guests could stay the weekend with us, we didn’t want a one day wedding and it all being over. We wanted to make it a full weekend. 2. The venue location is ideal, not too far for family & friends to travel. And the views and grounds are amazing for photos 3. The team at the Hydro were not sales pitching and made us feel fully flexible and our wedding would be how we wanted it. Photo credit:Chic Photo by Jacqui

I had the most amazing wedding day, the venue, the staff and the grounds were fantastic! The staff were there to deal with our every need and nothing was too much trouble and I mean that! We stayed in the cadmuir and Kailzie suites and they were exceptional! The kids loved the grounds and our travelling guests could not believe the views, the fab weather helped of course! Would recommend Peebles Hydro for a fabulous wedding venue.

We loved our stay at Peebles Hydro. This was mostly down to the friendly, accommodating, helpful staff. The food and drinks were also really, really good. At first when we noticed that there was a large wedding on, we worried that the service elsewhere would be compromised. It certainly wasn't and we still felt like valued guests.. It's a huge hotel and there has been a good attempt at modernising parts. Our rooms were clean, comfortable and stylish with amazing views.. Thank you, we'll definitely be back.

Wedding date: 8th June 2019 How did you meet? We both swiped right on Tinder and had our first date the following day, the rest is history. How did you come to choose us as your venue? We made a list of all the potential venues we liked the look of online then narrowed it down by which venues could accommodate our numbers and have the option for our guests to stay overnight if they wished. We visited 8 venues overall and picked Peebles Hydro as we loved the venue, the big dance floor and the wedding co-ordinator Vikki was so helpful, cheery and bubbly. How did you choose your flowers and colour scheme? Sunflowers are Carrie’s favourite flowers. We then discussed with the our florist what flowers would go best to make sure the sunflowers stood out. We went with a local florist in Innerleithen who knew the venue well, which helped planning our flower arrangements and what we required. Where did you get your dress from, and how did you choose it? Gwenne Wedding Services, Edinburgh. There was a dress advertised on social media from them that was being discontinued and I loved the style. I knew I had to go and try this on to make sure it wasn’t ‘the one’. Dress shopping wasn’t on my to do list at the time as this was October 2017. As soon as I tried the dress on I knew that this dress was my wedding dress. How did you know that they were ‘The One’? Ian - said he knew fairly quickly and thought it was love at first sight. Carrie - he was tall, dark, handsome and a bit of a geek which always made me laugh. We share the same love of good food and holidays and both hold similar values when it comes to family and friends. What was your favourite part of the day? The ceremony as it was very personal to us and it made us officially husband and wife. The first dance also as we got to have that moment of just us and knew we were surrounded by our loved ones. This was also the first time we had heard our wedding band live and the last thing that could’ve been a bad choice on our part. Did you have any pre-wedding jitters, if so what helped you get past them? No, we both were very excited about our big day and everyone guests/suppliers kept asking us why we were so calm and chilled out. Would you ever have trusted the groom to organise the whole thing – ‘Don’t Tell the Bride’ style? No because although he is very organised, he wouldn’t have thought about all the finer/smaller details. What made you choose June to get married? 8th June 2019 was exactly three years from when we got engaged and we also picked summer so we could hopefully have some Scottish sunshine (unfortunately it rained all day but the rain didn’t dampen our day). How did you feel on the wedding morning? Ian - relaxed. If something was going to go wrong then it was too late to worry about then. Carrie - I was very relaxed, enjoyed all the preparations of hair and make-up with my bridal party and having a few glasses of fizz. The bridal suite also allowed me to see the guests arriving which got me really excited. What song did you choose for your first dance? Yellow – Coldplay What was the most romantic thing about the day? Our wedding vows. We both wrote them separately before the wedding and we didn’t know what each of us was saying until we exchanged them on our day. Did anything funny happen/unexpected on the day? No What was the most memorable part of the day? Having a dance off on the dance floor with each other and the guests began to form a circle around us.

How did you come to choose us as your venue? We love Peebles as a town and will often go a drive there at the weekend. We both remember Peebles Hydro from when we were younger but hadn’t visited in a while and when we pulled up at the venue and looked at the scenery we fell in love. How did you choose your flowers and colour scheme? Our flowers and colours scheme were based on having more of a colour palette for our wedding rather than a set colour, we decided on winter pastels. We felt this would work well and allowed us to bring in different shades to the bridal party. Where did you get your dress from, and how did you choose it? I am so lucky that my sister is a bridal designer – Susanne Christyne Bridal. I honestly don’t know what I would have done without her, she designed the dress of my dreams and made my most perfect dress. My dress was everything I wanted and more. What was your favourite part of the day? The actual ceremony, walking down and seeing Scott for the first time was so special and the full ceremony felt very personal and special. Did you have any pre-wedding jitters, if so what helped you get past them? I loved the whole run up to the wedding and the night before we had a lovely night with friends and family which helped relax us. Would you ever have trusted the groom to organise the whole thing – ‘Don’t Tell the Bride’ style? Yes 100%, we planned the wedding together and I know that he could have planned it on his own and everything would have been perfect. What made you choose December to get married? We got engaged in New York the year before and we wanted to get married on the same date the year later, we were just a day out. We love Christmas as well and loved the idea of getting married at this time of year. How did you feel on the wedding morning? I was excited and loved the morning with my mum & sisters, I just couldn’t wait to go and get married. What song did you choose for your first dance? We chose A Million Dreams from the Greatest Showman, we love the words and the sentiment of the song so much and it was perfect on the day. What was the most romantic thing about the day? For me, I loved the moment in the morning when I took a moment to read Scott’s card he had given me and my wonderful wedding gift. Did anything funny happen/unexpected on the day? My Dads speech had a few adlib moments which added to the day and gave us all a laugh. What was the most memorable part of the day? The amount of love we both felt throughout the day is unforgettable.

How did you meet? By pure chance! We were both out with our own groups of friends in Edinburgh one night and happened to visit the same bar at the same time. We were really lucky to meet each other, as that ‘chance-meet’ might never have happened. What made you choose a May date? We both wanted a spring wedding, and when we realised the 6th May was a Saturday, there was no other choice; it had to be that day since it would mark exactly our 4 year anniversary since we started dating. We were really pleased we chose this date, as we were very lucky with the weather on our wedding day, and the beautiful cherry blossom in the Hydro gardens made for some fantastic wedding photos. View in GalleryView in Gallery Why did you pick Peebles Hydro? We live in Edinburgh and were originally looking at venues within the city. However, as Jamie has family in Peebles and Innerleithen, we decided to view the Hydro and instantly loved it! The country setting really sold it for us but we also liked the relaxed atmosphere and the space on offer at the venue. It was the first place we saw where we could actually picture having our wedding day there. The Coordinator was also super friendly and helpful, and we felt confident the Hydro would make the day special for us. Would you ever have trusted the groom to organise the whole thing – ‘Don’t Tell the Bride’ style? No! Not only would I have worried about facing the unknown on our wedding day – I really enjoyed the organising! It was fun picking things like our cake, flowers and menu together. What song did you choose for your first dance? For our first dance we chose “Heaven” by Bryan Adams. We saw Bryan Adams in concert the year before and liked the song. Our band learnt how to play it especially for us, and did a great job. How did you choose your colour scheme? It was all based on Jamie’s kilt! Jamie had his own kilt made from the McGregor Hunting tartan, and then we used the main colour from that, maroon, and added in plum and pink colours to brighten the colour scheme for a spring wedding. View in GalleryView in Gallery Where did you get your dress from, and how did you choose it? I got my dress from Gwenne Edinburgh Bridal Shop. It is a Margarett Eviva dress, and I just fell in love with it right away. My mum and sister helped me choose it, and we found it in the second wedding dress shop we went to and decided we didn’t need to look any further. We also got my bridesmaids dresses from their sister shop, Gwenne Broxburn. How did you feel on the wedding morning? Nervous-excited, but mainly excited. I am told Jamie was pacing the ceremony room with a bottle of Irn Bru before the ceremony started! What was your favourite part of the day? Rachel: I have lots of favourite parts! The ceremony was probably my favourite, as it was beautiful and we had included lots of personal touches: we had involved several friends by asking them to do a reading for us, one of my bridesmaids played the piano while we were signing the register, and we had a handfasting ceremony. Jamie: Our reception was fantastic! Filling that huge Ballroom with all of our family and friends, who had a wonderful evening dancing, and having fun. We were privileged to have my friend’s band (Band of Gold) play our reception, and they played a fantastic set, including the obligatory ceilidh, which had everyone up and dancing. What was the most memorable part of the day? The whole day was amazing. Nothing went wrong, and even the weather couldn’t have been better! We wouldn’t want to change a thing about the day, and cannot thank the Hydro team enough for their help in creating our perfect day.