Relaxed Autumn Farm Wedding at The Barn at Charleton

It’s time to share Megan and James’ gorgeous wedding at The Barn at Charleton in Scotland. Describing their day as a blend of relaxed autumnal farm vibes, natural decor and industrial-style barn elegance, the couple crafted a celebration that perfectly reflected their style, personality and love story. And I am here for it!

Dressed in stylish outfits, Megan and James radiated joy throughout the day. The venue was adorned with striking autumn flowers, with the organic bouquet and meadow flower arrangements at the top table adding natural beauty and romance to the rustic barn.

As the evening descended the barn came alive with enchanting lighting and the couple had a fun drink spray which added a playful moment to their celebrations. Whiskey, live music and handmade cakes and stationery all added to the wonderful feel of their day.

Thanks ever so much to Scott Arlow Photography for sharing with us these tremendous images.

The Barn at Charleton Wedding

The Proposal

We were on our first ever holiday, to Greece, James went for a walk to hire a car to the local village. I didn’t know that he was actually going ring shopping.

He knew I didn’t want a traditional ring, but would have loved a sapphire. He had researched jewellers in the local town and found one he knew was right. But just in case he had a traditional Irish claddagh ring he borrowed from my mum to use, but he never needed it.

We had a lovely meal one night and then over two double Oban 14 year old whiskies, he proposed by the pool outside. I had no idea and was totally in shock, couldn’t stop asking if he was serious and after saying yes, didn’t think to ask about the ring for 5 minutes, it was very dark outside by the pool, we only had a few candles!!

The Vision

We wanted very relaxed and comfortable vibes for the day. We’re an informal, silly pair and have a lot of sarcastic humour. We didn’t want it to feel stuffy and wanted a very “unromantic” service. We wanted loads of autumnal flowers, beautiful soft material and natural colours. Music and good food and drinks were the most important and that’s where we focused our time and money.

We have a 1 year old son, Patrick who was front and centre of the day in his tartan troos and white high top Converse, with a dinosaur bow tie to top off his outfit!

The Venue

Charleton fruit farm was the best venue we could have imagined, the owners were so relaxed and understood our priorities. It’s a family run working farm with cafe and food shop attached. It was a perfect autumn day and the barn, with exposed brickwork and industrial finishes, was stunning

The Styling & Decor

The decorations, signs and table plans were all designed by us and written, drawn and made up by a bridesmaid – Louise! Her artistic ability is second to none – and her patience with handwriting all the names, table plans, menus and Megan’s freak outs were heroic!! We used dried flowers and old palettes to hang signs – trying to avoid single-use, bought signs.

Holly, my friend made our delicious cake and it was perfectly understated and super tasty!

Our flowers were some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen and Ange from Fauna was amazing. She created a living wall on the back of our top table and the bouquets were autumnal without being flashy – just what we wanted

The Ceremony & Music

The ceremony was short and sweet! We love whisky and it was one of the things we bonded over when we first started dating. As it was a traditional Scottish wedding, we did a quaich ceremony where we shared a first drink as husband and wife and we poured a very generous dram that took a fair few swigs to finish, was the best dram ever!!

James loves the Beatles so I walked down the aisle to a piano version of Here Comes the Sun, while during the ceremony, Queen, Under Pressure played which got some laughs from the guests! Our first dance song was Oasis, Slide Away -which is our favourite band and one of their best songs!

Your Outfits

Brides dress was from Kudos in Edinburgh. I chose it because it was comfortable, flowed beautifully and made me feel pretty.

My old, borrowed and blue was a beautiful bracelet I used from my mum’s jewellery.

James chose his kilt because he loved the colour scheme and it brought out his natural colouring well.

Your Photographer

Scott Arlow is, hands down, the best photographer we could have asked for. He got our wild sense of humour and stupid jokes, he worked with our family and friends with warmth and generosity that was commented on time and time again. He captured Patrick with his cousins in amazing parts of the day that we would have missed otherwise.

The Honeymoon

Because we have a 1 year old son, we didn’t have the traditional honeymoon holiday. We have just come back from 3 nights away in Balquhidder at a beautiful hotel called Monachyl Mhor where we had beautiful food, amazing cocktails and even did a wild swim in Loch Voil…all while Patrick stayed with grandparents and his aunty, uncle and cousins. It was perfect, but we were happy to come back to Patrick after 3 days away!

Memorable Moments

For James – Megan walking down the aisle. Our photo shoot on a farm plough. James being captured by all bridesmaids in the bathrooms.

For Megan – James mispronouncing my middle name and getting some laughs from our guests. James’ speech was amazing.

Both

Walking into the meal as husband and wife to an amazing reception from our guests
Having photos with Patrick
Dancing to a great band all night, and having many drams
The bus ride home when we finished a bottle of whisky and sung The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen led by Phil, the father of the bride – was a hoot!