I’ve been quite quiet lately as I’ve been off on adventures; my family and I trekked up to Scotland for my sister’s wedding; it was a long, but incredible week.

Weddings are stressful, and I think I mastered the art of keeping out of the way, chipping in with the odd joke here and there and most importantly keeping check of the champagne (aka: making sure it tasted good enough for our guests…)

One thing that I find lovely about weddings is how they bring together family and friends. Admittedly I was feeling quite anxious about being around loads of people, when I hadn’t seen some family members for awhile – but I did have a really lovely time. Plus, I decided that as I’d really been struggling with anxiety and low mood before the trip to Scotland that I actually managed to deal with things really really well. And most importantly, my sister had an incredible time.

Scotland

The wedding took place in Scotland – my sister’s new husband is Scottish, so everyone (my dad and uncle included) donned kilts, and plenty of haggis was consumed. I must admit, I ate the tiniest portion of haggis and decided that it wasn’t breakfast food… 

We arrived the day before the wedding – driving up in convoy, with my sisters friends and other family members in tow – everyone decided they’d follow me – I’d only been to Scotland once before (by plane) so I found it quite amusing that they trusted me enough to not get lost… Also, due to anxiety and stress I’d only had roughly six hours sleep in the 48 hours before the big drive, so kudos to me for actually making it up to Scotland (and kudos to me for driving!)

It was a wonderful week full of pipers, rain, champagne, food, family and sheep. The hotel, in Gretna Green, was focused on hosting weddings and wedding parties, so we was certainly in good hands. The history in Gretna Green is pretty sweet – Gretna Green is famous for ‘runaway weddings’ – with couples heading to the village to marry without parental consent (English laws forbid this, so couples ‘eloped’ to the first village of Scotland, where the laws were different.)

We had some time to go sightseeing both on the days before and after the wedding – ironically on the day after the wedding my parents and I spent a good portion of our time sightseeing in England (the border is very close to Gretna Green, and we successfully drove the wrong way). Despite our Scottish sightseeing in England we did have a fantastic day exploring – the Scottish Borders countryside is spectacular – and we found ourselves stuck behind some farmers and sheep on a very narrow country road for around twenty minutes, unable to turn back we decided to wait and explore further and we ended up having a really fun, lovely day in the Scottish countryside.

All in all I had a lovely week, and I’m so proud of my sister and new brother-in-law, the wedding was stunning, and my bridesmaid duties were rewarded with plenty of wedding cake, Harry Potter pyjamas and a wooden duck. My sister’s husband had booked surprise singing waiters, which went down a storm – we had a wonderful, wonderful time.