FOR Charlotte Paterson and Craig Drysdale, getting married on their farms – both were involved – meant a lot to both families.

As Charlotte explains: “So many happy memories were made.

“Every time we look at that field, we remember the day we had.”

After getting engaged in November 2022, the couple decided they wanted a May wedding to fit in around calving, lambing, silage and harvest schedules. “We weren’t in a rush to have the wedding so we picked a Friday in May this year,” says Charlotte.

“Planning started by asking for quotes and we booked the band straight away as Steven Carcary and his Scottish Dance Band get booked up very fast.

“Due to Steven teaching myself and my brother accordion when we were young and also being the band for many family parties over the years, it had to be him.”

The ‘serious planning’ started a year before the big day. “It felt ‘real’ by then,” recalls Charlotte, who points out that the wedding was always going to be at home. “We both knew we wanted the day to be stress-free and for everyone to be happy – so a farm wedding was a must.

“Having the wedding split between the two farms made it more special as it meant something to a lot of people. I feel most comfortable at home because I could have as many back-up plans as I needed because we had complete control, and Craig was the same. We considered using the sheds but we much preferred the marquee vibe – but the sheds were there if the weather wasn’t looking great.”

Charlotte and Craig used a Crieff-based firm, Gourlay Events, for the reception marquee at Brickhall, the bride’s family farm at Bridge of Earn. “They were fantastic from start to finish,” says Charlotte. “I had a vision, and they took it and made it better. Gourlay set up the marquee a week before the wedding allowing us to decorate with plenty time for me to move the tables several times.

“They could answer any questions and had suppliers to assist with any last-minute requests. The marquee for the ceremony was donated by the local community in Kinnesswood, where Craig’s farm is, in exchange for a field to host the Kinnesswood gala.”

Charlotte and Craig organised everything themselves – although they admit they enlisted ‘a lot of willing helpers’. She explains: “I wanted to grow my own flowers for table decorations and make a lot of other decorations, so my grandparents’ garage was used for the flower storage and mum was making bunting for a year in the spare bedroom.

“Aunties were tasked with collecting any type of glass jar for table décor and hole punch confetti. My dad was to go to every farm sale and buy milk churns for marquee decorations. The entire farm had wedding bits all over it.”

Craig, meanwhile, had the job of turning pallets into signs. “Doing all the DIY made the wedding feel like it was special and unique, and even though it took a lot of time and work, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.”

Of course, as every wedding couple knows all too well, there can be hiccups along the way. “Unfortunately, a few months before the wedding, my grandad passed and that was a hard time for everyone as the farm has been owned by the Patersons for 75 years and this was the first of his grandchildren to get married.

“My grandad was to have played the first dance with his accordion which he hadn’t done for a long time, so it was a big deal for him and myself. He was remembered on the day by my brother playing the first dance using my grandad’s accordion though. That was the only part of the wedding planning that I found hard – knowing how excited he was to have Brickhall being the centre of the wedding and him not being there in person.”

The wedding ceremony at Kinnesswood, conducted by Raymond Lawrie, was quite small, with only about 20 of the day guests. Everyone else rest was at Brickhall watching via livestream. Charlotte laughs: “My guineafowl are great security alarms but were not happy at the strangers in their yard and did yell for part of the ceremony, I was told.

“We had about 100 guests during the day and another 150 at night but I’m honestly not entirely sure because we set a number, and I made the invites by hand and I’m sure we made loads more extra – but had none left at the end.”

Meanwhile, Craig had a cow due to calf the week of the wedding and there was a feeling that she was going to go on the day of the wedding. “Thankfully she went earlier because that could have delayed things if the groom had to calve a cow on his wedding day!”

Supporting the couple on the big day were three bridesmaids – Charlotte’s two closest friends and Craig’s sister – while Craig had his two closest friends and Charlotte’s brother. “Our bridal party was really laid back and helped out with any tasks that we didn’t have time for,” says Charlotte, who says a big thank you to her younger cousins who had ‘the most important job of the day’ – they had to let deal with family dogs and feed the pet lambs.

Not being fans of ‘fancy sit-down meals, Craig and Charlotte approached Strathearn Food Company in Auchterarder about having a ‘chip shop wedding meal’. “They achieved it flawlessly,” says Charlotte. It included soup, a chippy main, a desert van with make-your-own cheesecakes, and canapes. “We had asked for with an option for any guests with a food intolerance and Strathearn ran the catering like clockwork. They were so easy to work with.”

The ‘perfect and special’ wedding cake was made by one of the bridesmaids while the bouquets, buttonholes and corsages were created by Lisa of Blooming Lovely in Bridge of Earn. “I wanted to stick with local vendors and Lisa is right on the doorstep,” says Charlotte. “They were all dried flowers, and the heather was from the farm shrubbery which made it so sentimental.”

Unusually, Charlotte had two wedding dresses because her plan was to get pictures before the ceremony with her Zwartbles. “I knew 100% I would get covered in poo without a doubt and I couldn’t walk down the aisle smelly,” she says. “So, I had a dress for the farm and a dress for the wedding.

“My favourite photographs that our photographer Euan Macdiarmid took were the sheep ones – they look tremendous and after I got all the shots with them. I went back in to change dresses, and I saw the state I had got in so knew we had got a sheep dress for a reason!

“My Zwartbles are very friendly and had jumped all over the back of the dress, so I was a nice shade of ivory and poo green. My main dress was altered by Ayla Fergus and fitted like a glove and my bridesmaids had matching dresses but their own shoes. Craig and the groomsmen all had their own family tartans with matching buttonholes.”

Looking back, Charlotte says: “Our wedding was the best day ever and every aspect of it went to plan – if anything had gone wrong, we certainly weren’t aware of it. It felt like our own mini-Highland show with our fancy fast-food vans, our livestock, and our friends and family. We had tremendous weather too.”

Typical farmers, the couple never like to be away for long but spent a week on Jersey for the honeymoon. “Jersey was like a warmer version of Scotland – we hired a car for a day and toured round looking at cows and potatoes.” Brickhall was bought by Charlotte’s great-grandfather and was a dairy and arable farm when she was young and now is predominately arable with some sheep. Craig, meanwhile, is from a cattle and arable farm which was also bought by his great-grandfather.

READ MORE | Stylish farming folk share their weddings, big and small

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