After meeting while working on a cruise ship, it was fittingly plain sailing to the top of the aisle for John and Henry, whose slowly-but-surely approach to wedding planning rewarded them with a fun-filled, stress-free day that started with a lie in!
John Aitken and Henry Sanders,
now Mr and Mr Aitken
6th May 2024
Venue | Boclair House, Bearsden
Photography | John Clark Photos
"We met in Sydney Airport in January 2018. We were en route to the Gold Coast to begin rehearsals for our roles as cruise ship entertainers: me dancing; Henry singing. We grew close, then began to live together onboard the cruise liner. Henry eventually moved to Scotland in 2019 so we could build a life together here.
We got engaged after I got down on one knee on 13th February 2022 at Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven.
One of our top venue priorities was to find a place that would make our guests say ‘wow’ when they arrived. Boclair House was perfect in that regard. The team there could not have been more welcoming and accommodating during the selection process and the big day itself.
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A considerable number of our 54 guests were travelling from outside Scotland which allowed us to be flexible with the day we chose. We settled on a Monday which meant we saved considerable sums of money by avoiding a weekend.
A 2.5-year engagement meant we had a relatively relaxed and smooth planning journey. We aimed to do one wedding-related task every weekend – from purchasing the flowers to completing vendor contracts – and soon our to-do list slowly but surely dwindled.
We wanted to make sure we incorporated both our Scottish and English roots into our big day.
The Scottish thistle and the English rose were the foundations for the look of the wedding. My mum, Fiona, was pivotal in the design and creation of decor and all the flower arrangements.
Our tables were decorated with pictures of our expansive travels around the globe, while the dark green worn by our four groomsmaids – Emma (my sister), Emma (Henry’s sister), Emma (my oldest friend) and Nina (our cruise ship best friend) – tied it all together.
We wanted a photographer who was experienced covering weddings at Boclair. We discovered John Clark via the venue’s social media and fell in love with his relaxed style and images of same-sex couples, so booked him up pronto.
Our experience of working with him was brilliant and we are thrilled with our photos. Our favourites are of us strolling through the gardens, finally feeling relaxed post-ceremony, and dancing in the bandstand at night.
We shopped separately for our outfits.I decided to hire my kilt outfit from JH Kilt Hire after a fantastic experience with them previously, while Henry took advantage of Slater Menswear’s custom suit service to match my colours accordingly.
Believe it or not, we managed a bit of a lie-in at home in Falkirk on the morning of the wedding while the groomsmaids and mums were getting their hair and makeup done. We packed the cars and headed to Boclair House where close friends and family chipped in to finesse the decor, including putting together our fabulous ceremony backdrop.
We decided to walk down the aisle together to the sound of ‘Amazed’ by Caleb Grimm. Our humanist ceremony was fun, particularly due to our celebrant David Smith’s unique flair.
We laughed at the three things we love about one another and one thing we’d learnt to tolerate which we’d given David prior to the ceremony. We also included a handfasting, but didn’t bother with any readings. We could feel the love exuding from each of our guests all the way through the ceremony.
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We had canapés and drinks outside after the ceremony. After some photos, we had a tasty meal of some of our favourite classic dishes: potato and leek soup, steak pie and sticky toffee pudding.
We decided to do one joint speech prior to the meal that blended each of our personalities and made references to those important to our lives.
Our first dance was to ‘When You Say You Love Me’ by Josh Groban. Boclair provided a brilliant DJ for our reception. He filled the dancefloor with hits from throughout the decades, with a particular focus on the ’90s/’00s hits from our childhoods.
Everyone told us that the day goes by really quickly but that was an understatement to say the least! We were surprised at just how quickly it went. One minute we were walking down the aisle, and in the blink of an eye, it was time for ‘Loch Lomond’ at the end of the night.
Since the wedding, we’ve been inundated with compliments on how personal the whole day was, particularly the ceremony. There’s nothing we’d change about our wedding – it was a truly magical experience that we wished could’ve lasted forever.
Top tip: “Try to make sure all the big tasks are done a couple of weeks prior to the big day as there will be so many little tasks you’ve not even thought of in the days immediately before the wedding,” say the couple.
John and Henry's wedding teaser by Timeless Wedding Films
Venue Boclair House
Photography John Clark Photos
Filmmaker Timeless Wedding Films (see teaser above)
Celebrant David Smith, Humanist Society Scotland
John’s outfit JH Kilt Hire
Henry’s outfit Slater Menswear
Groomsmaid dresses Wed2B
Wedding rings Timothy J. Sharp Jewellers
Flowers DIY by John’s mum with supplies from Country Baskets
Stationery DIY using Canva
Cake Honeybee Bakes and Cakes
Favours DIY jars of fudge
Piper Provided as part of wedding package at Boclair
DJ Craig Kelman (also part of package at Boclair)
