Bella & David, a kirk wedding that lasted a whole week, with a 27-litre bottle of wine
Bella & David · Summer 2026 · The Kirk
Written by Mhairi Preston, Wedding Coordinator
Bella arrived on the Monday and the party didn't stop until the Sunday hog roast: a Winnie-the-Pooh reading in the kirk, a saxophonist who got everyone dancing outside, a 27-litre bottle of wine, and a guest who walked to the top of the glen for a bet.
A wedding that started on the Monday
Bella got to Glen Clova on the Monday before she married. Her mum and dad came next, then the rest of the family filtered in over the week and stayed the week. By the time she and David stood up in the kirk, it had stopped feeling like a venue and started feeling like home base. Bella is full of life and she threw herself at every bit of it, which is how this became one of the most fun weddings we've hosted. People picture a kirk wedding in Scotland as one quiet hour. Bella and David's sat in the middle of a seven-day party.
The rehearsal on the Friday
Plenty of couples skip a rehearsal. Bella and David didn't. On the Friday they ran the whole thing: timings, the order people would walk, who stood where. Saturday felt easier for it, and because the kirk sits about 100 yards from the barn, doing it was no production. If you like knowing how the ceremony will go, it slots easily into the days before.
Piglet, Pooh, and a room full of people smiling at each other
They had a reading from Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet and Pooh on the road together. At one line you're meant to look across the room and smile at somebody. Plain as that, and it got people, the whole kirk going with it. The bridesmaid had already read it once that week, quietly, to Bella in the room at the rehearsal, which is probably why the real one landed harder.
The night before: a leaky tank and a buggy in the dark
Every wedding has a wobble. Bella and David's was the night before, when a tank on the boiler started leaking. Around nine the team took the buggy out and dealt with it, and Saturday ran as planned. That's the unglamorous side of exclusive use: when something goes wrong, the people who fix it are already here.
Frank's 27-litre bottle
David's dad Frank knows his wine, and he arrived with a 27-litre bottle. Getting it open was its own show: cork out about an hour before guests came in, poured slowly through a special cradle and tap, a few spills, then decanted and standing ready. Between welcome drinks and the evening they went through more than 90 bottles of champagne, plus a great deal of wine. Nobody was left dry.
A saxophone in the glen, and a bet won on the hill
The afternoon belonged to the saxophone player, one of the best bits of the day, who had the lot of them up and dancing outside with the glen around them. In the middle of that, someone bet a guest he couldn't walk to the top of the hill above the glen and back. He did. A couple of hours. The party watched him through binoculars between dances. That only happens at a wedding in a glen.
Carbon Copy, sparklers, and a Sunday hog roast
Carbon Copy took the band slot and kept the floor busy all night. Sparklers went off outside in the dark before the last dances, and it still wasn't finished. On the Sunday the gatekeeper was up at 4am lighting the burner for a hog roast, apple sauce and plenty else with it, a free bar that ran all night, and a DJ to close. Because everyone sleeps on the estate, the party didn't stop when the band did. It just shifted to Sunday.
With thanks to
- PhotographyBarry Robb
- Evening bandCarbon Copy
- Afternoon saxophonistSaxophonist
All photography and film from this wedding remains the work of the creators above. See ourfull credits.
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