Home Patchwork Couples An autumnal Dorset wedding and Scottish minmoon

An autumnal Dorset wedding and Scottish minmoon

by Rosie Hurwitz
A bride (a white woman with blonde hair) descends a grand curved wooden staircase with dark green walls, she carries a bouquet of flowers and wears a long white dress and veil both of which flow on the stairs behind her

Keon and Nadia met pre-tinder, back in the days when people mostly met IRL, so needless to say it was a little while ago. They met during that great summer of the 2012 London Olympics, at a London-tube-stop-themed house party.

Keon has been London/Surrey based all his life and Nadia grew up in Dorset but has ventured overseas a few times to live. They got their dog, Piglet, around 6 years ago, and Nadia says “we love spending time with him and exploring the countryside and all that London has to offer.” They have just completed a house renovation so have had a very busy first year of married life! Today on our blog they share with us their absolutely stunning wedding at St. Giles House in Dorset. A meticulously planned celebration that radiated love and warmth and involved their family, and of course their dog Piglet! Nadia and Keon invited their guests to help them enjoy a minimoon to Scotland rather than traditional gifts and said they loved setting up their minimoon registry together. Sit down with a cup of tea and soak up these gorgeous Autumn vibes.

Black and white image - Ariel view of bride Nadia descending a grand staircase as her wedding dress and veil trail behind her. A man walks next to her wearing a dark suit and holding her hand.
An adult bridesmaid, a white woman with fair hair, and a little girl with bobbed brown hair, enter the ceremony room. The little girl wears a navy jumper and silver grey tutu, the adult bridesmaid wears a navy dress and carries red and orange flowers. Guests line the sides of the room and one of them holds the bride and grooms dog, Piglet on a lead. The room is elegant and chandeliers and classical painted murals can be seen through the open doorway.

How did you get engaged?

Nadia: Keon surprised me with dinner in our first home together. I thought I was coming home to go out to a restaurant but was so surprised to find Keon getting down on one knee shortly after serving Tiramisu (also delicious!) in the kitchen.

We had a trip planned to Southwold the same weekend for our 7 year first date anniversary so we had a wonderful time enjoying the moment and celebrating.

An ornately decorated wedding ceremony room decorated with an abundance of richly coloured autumn flowers and classical painting in gold frames around the walls. A Persian carpet is in the centre of the room with gold chairs on either side.
Close up photo of the wedding breakfast table decorated in stunning, rich, warm, autumn colours. A long table covered with a dark green cloth, gold cutlery, orange, red and rusty coloured foliage and berries and tall rust coloured candles.

What kind of wedding did you plan?

We’ve always loved Autumn and so it was an obvious choice to get married in such a beautiful season. As I’m from Dorset it made sense to start looking for venues in that area, and we fell in love with St. Giles House as soon as we saw it.

It’s such a unique venue that’s been lovingly restored and still has a beautiful rawness to it that creates a really magical atmosphere. It also works well for a cosier, smaller wedding which is what we wanted to create.

Keon and I did a lot of the planning. We hired What Peggy Did Next in the final 6 months but altogether we were planning for 2 years! The day was full of colour, love, food, wonderful music and dancing! Our dog Piglet also featured heavily!

A very cute cream coloured shaggy dog - maybe a cockerpoo - on the wedding day of his owners at St Giles House. He sits on some stone steps and has a flower corsage on his collar.
Bride Nadia, a white woman with blonde hair, and groom Keon, a white man with short dark brown hair and glasses on their wedding day at St Giles House. They walk down three stone steps after their wedding ceremony and guests line either side of the pathway outside, throwing confetti as they both laugh happily. Nadia wears a Halfpenny London long ivory dress and Keon a dark suit.
Bride Nadia, a white woman with blonde hair, and groom Keon, a white man with short dark brown hair and glasses on their wedding day at St Giles House. They walk together outside the venue, along a gravel path, in the sunshine. Nadia wears a Halfpenny London long ivory dress and Keon a dark suit.

Did you have a first dance?

Yes we did. There is a jazz band called Kansas Smittys who we discovered early on in our relationship and so we decided to get them to do a few sets of music at the wedding. They also did the first dance song for us which is one of the band members’ songs – Couldn’t Stop Lovin’ You by Pete Horsfall.

Bride Nadia, a white woman with blonde hair, and groom Keon, a white man with short dark brown hair and glasses on their wedding day at St Giles House. They stand in an elegant ceremony room decorated with autumnal flowers. Nadia wears a Halfpenny London long ivory dress and Keon a dark suit. A little boy stands next to Nadia and looks up at her, and in the background are other wedding guests
Bride Nadia, a white woman with blonde hair, and groom Keon, a white man with short dark brown hair and glasses on their wedding day at St Giles House. They stand in an elegant ceremony room decorated with richly coloured autumnal flowers. Nadia wears a Halfpenny London long ivory dress and Keon a dark suit. Nadia and Keon embrace in the centre of the room and their guests form a circle around them.

What was your favourite part of the day?

It’s really hard to choose but we loved the way our ceremony was set up in a circular format with us at the centre. We truly felt surrounded by love, our family and friends. The flowers were out of this world and the room we chose for our ceremony elevated it to a whole new level.

We chose some of our favorite songs too and decided to have a string trio play them for us. Our family and friends gave readings and their children joined in as flower girls and ring bearers which made it even more meaningful.

The design details were beautiful too and this was always an important aspect of our day.

A Scottish Highlands Patchwork honeymoon fund in an ipad

What made Patchwork the best wedding registry choice for you?

We thought it was a super fun and easy way for people to buy gifts without having to bring anything on the day. It also gave us the opportunity to showcase what we planned to do and bring some personality to the gifting process. We really enjoyed setting it up together too!

A white woman with blonde hair and a white man with short dark hair and glasses on honeymoon in Scotland. Both wear warm jackets and bobble hats and are looking in to the camera as they take a selfie. Behind them is a dry stone wall, a grey cloudy sky and mountains in the distance.

What did you invite guests to contribute towards?

Mainly towards our minimoon in Scotland and the different elements of the trip such as train tickets, hotel costs, walking boots, drinks, food, travel guides and many other bits!

A traditional grey stone house in the Scottish Highlands, next to a fast flowing river with mountains in the background

What was the best part about using Patchwork?

The fact that our guests felt part of our adventure. It was a wonderful feeling to know that someone had contributed to a particular moment and memory, at a special time for us just after getting married. We also loved that we could make it our own by choosing images and making a Patchwork – it appealed to our creative sides 🙂

A white woman with blonde hair stands on a hiking path in the Scottish highlands. She wears a bobble hat, puffer jacket, jeans and walking boots. On either side of the path are small fir trees and mountains in the distance.

What did your friends and family think?

We had so many lovely comments about our Patchwork and everyone found it really straightforward to use.

A wood cabin on the side of a small loch, with a footbridge crossing it. Behind rhe cabin are trees and mountains in the distance

Where did you go on your honeymoon and what were the highlights?

We traveled by The Caledonian Express (an overnight train) to Scotland for our minimoon in the Scottish Highlands. We stayed at an amazing place called the Fife Arms in Braemar which had the most incredible scenery and walks. We would hike for hours, and then come back to delicious food and spend our evenings by a cosy fire with a few drinks (great interiors and loads of art too). We also spent a couple of nights in Edinburgh on our way back down, and had a great time exploring the different neighbourhoods.


Wow, what a beautiful celebration and a perfect-sounding minimooon! Definitely giving us all the Autumn feels 🙂 Thank you so much Nadia & Keon (and Piglet!) for sharing these words and photos with us, and we wish you many happy years ahead together!

If you’ve been inspired to set up your own Scottish honeymoon fund, we have a beautiful Highlands fling template that you can easily personalise, or check out our hundreds of other honeymoon destination templates.

And finally, here are some of the incredible suppliers that made Keon and Nadia’s day extra special:

Venue: St Giles House, Dorset

Florist: Jenni Bloom Flowers

Stationary: Creative Feel Designs

Wedding Styling: Nadia and What Peggy Did Next.

Caterers: Red Herring

Music: Kansas Smitty’s and Halo Strings

Dress and Bridesmaid dresses: Halfpenny London

Groom and Groomsmens suits: Suit Supply

Photographer – Steve Bridgwood

Videographer – Baxter and Ted

Hair – Victoria Ralph Hair

Make-up – Amalie Russell

p.s. You can listen to Keon and Nadia’s first dance song on our Spotify playlist, made up of lots of our Patchwork Couples’ first dances.

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