The Details
Saturday
4th November 2023
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3pm - wedding ceremony
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4:30pm - drinks and nibbles, followed by dinner and a ceilidh
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Midnight - carriages
Dress code
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For ladies: colourful dancing dresses, hats, fascinators
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For gentlemen: suits, kilts and jolly ties. There are many hire companies in Edinburgh that can provide a full kilt outfit.
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For everyone: dancing shoes, some tartan and a raincoat just in case!
Children
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Unfortunately we are only able to invite children of immediate family. We can help put people together to co-ordinate childcare in Edinburgh. Please let us know using the "contact us" button on the website.
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Gifts
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Seeing you at our wedding will be the most amazing gift! Cash gifts are welcome but not at all expected; should you wish to, we have a collection open here which we will use for our honeymoon and house renovations. If you would like to use the collection pot, please set the platform fee to zero.
St. John's Church
1a Lothian Road,
Edinburgh
EH1 2AB
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The Signet Library
Parliament Square,
Edinburgh
EH1 1RF
On the day
The wedding reception and breakfast will take place at the Signet Library on the Royal Mile in the oldest part of Edinburgh. The Signet Library was built in 1822 to house the society and library of the Writers to the Signet, a private society of Scottish lawyers dating back to 1594 who were the solicitors entitled to supervise use of the King's Signet. Frances' family have been members for generations.
We are getting married in St. John's Episcopal church, built at the height of Edinburgh's "New Town" expansion in the Georgian period in 1818 and where Frances' family have been christened, confirmed, married (and buried) for three generations. Frances' father has sung in the choir here for over forty years.
The reception
The church
There are two ways to walk from St John's to the Signet Library. Both take less than 20 minutes and pass round Castle Rock with views up to Edinburgh Castle.
The first route takes you along Princes Street, a wide shopping street and the site of Hogmanay celebrations, and then up The Mound with views across the sea (if it isn't raining). The second takes you round the back of the castle and through The Grassmarket, one of Edinburgh's oldest markets, and up the colourful and much-photographed Victoria Street.
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For those who would prefer, we will also be arranging buses to take you from St. John's to the Signet Library.
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Once we are at the Signet Library, there will be drinks and nibbles before heading upstairs for speeches and dinner. After the meal we will cut the cake and have a drink before the ceilidh gets underway. For those who aren't familiar with a ceilidh, please see the dancing section of this website!
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Transport, accommodation and food
Trains to Edinburgh
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Trains to Edinburgh Waverley are recommended as a fast, affordable and environmentally friendly way to get here. The journey from London King's Cross takes 4 hours 20 minutes and delivers you to the centre of town. Edinburgh Waverley is well served from other major cities as well.
Train tickets are now available on LNER. There is the cheaper but much less regular Lumo train to Edinburgh from London (which can be booked via LNER), but these are not yet available. See here for its usual timetable.
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There is a buffet car on the train, and plenty of food options in King's Cross. There is wifi available on the train should you want internet access, although we would highly recommend looking East out of the window, particularly as you get closer to the border with lovely views of the Northumberland coast on onwards. You reserve seats when booking your tickets, so can secure the view!
If two people are travelling at the same time, we highly recommend getting a “Two together” railcard which takes a third off the price of the ticket. It costs £30 in total, so can pay for itself in just one journey.
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Getting around Edinburgh
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The church, venue and train station are all within 20 minutes walk of each other, and please see below for recommended hotels nearby also.
Edinburgh is all very walkable but taxis are also readily available for those that would prefer a car, bookable on 0131 235 2085 or here. Uber is also available.
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Where to stay in Edinburgh
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The map below shows hotels and Airbnbs near the Signet Library. The Radisson Blu is the nearest, but there are plenty of other good options across all price ranges. To be close to the wedding and good restaurants and pubs we recommend finding somewhere in the New or Old Towns.
Where to eat in Edinburgh​
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There is lots of good food to be had in Edinburgh. The map below shows some good restaurants around the city's centre, as well as where to get your post-ceilidh deep fried Mars bar.
Dancing
After dinner we will have a ceilidh. For those less familiar with what that entails, we have included some videos with instructions for the main dances we will be having. There will also be a caller, who will tell us all what to do.
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For those in London, there are plenty of fun ceilidhs throughout the year which cater for all abilities and levels of experience. We will certainly be joining several of these as Freddie needs to learn what to do, so if you would like to join us please let us know!
Basic ceilidh steps
The Gay Gordons
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh
The Duke of Perth
Hamilton House
The Dashing White Sergeant
The Eightsome Reel
The Virginia Reel
The Reel of the 51st
Speed the Plough
Things to do in Edinburgh
Edinburgh is a wonderful place, with much to see and do. If you will be staying for a few days (which we very much recommend!), here are some thoughts on things to see.
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Museums and Galleries​
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The National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street covers Scotland's history from Pangea to the cloning of Dolly the Sheep, with a whole lot in between, and is free to visit if the weather is inclement. If the weather is nice it has a great (free) roof terrace with views across town.
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The National Gallery on The Mound has a huge collection, and the National Portrait Gallery, a short walk away, is a beautiful building housing spectacular portraits of many important Scots. A bus ride away is the Modern Art Gallery.
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Edinburgh History and Culture
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Edinburgh Castle has a great deal of military history, as well as dungeons and Mons Meg, an enormous cannon which blew itself up. If you're there at 1pm you can also see the One O'Clock Gun being fired.
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Holyrood Palace is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland, and has been since the 16th century. The Royal Yacht Britannia is the former royal yacht of the British monarchy, decommissioned in 1997 having sailed over one million nautical miles.
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For those wanting to experience historical living in Edinburgh's, two wonderful National Trust places are Gladstone's Land (where Frances' mother volunteers) next to the castle, a 17th century "Old Town" tenement preserved in all its cramped glory, and The Georgian House, an 18th century "New Town" house oozing refinement and typical of Edinburgh's middle classes.
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Greyfriars Kirkyard is one of the oldest and most haunted in Edinburgh, but more pleasingly has Edinburgh's most famous dog outside, Greyfriars Bobby.
Children and adults will enjoy Dynamic Earth at the base of Arthur's Seat which has history about geology, ice ages and volcanoes.
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Views of Edinburgh
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Calton Hill offers views over many of the well known landmarks in Edinburgh, and indeed has some itself including the National Monument. For those wanting an even wider and higher view, nothing beats a walk up to Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano that offers views of the city skiline and well beyond.
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Walking and shopping
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The Grassmarket, the Royal Mile, George Street, Princes Street and Victoria Street are all great for walking and shopping. Ghost Tours of Edinburgh are also a great way of seeing a different side to Edinburgh, and can be booked from the Royal Mile. This website also has a number of suggested walking tours and maps covering culture, shopping and pub crawls. The maps can either be downloaded through their app or used directly on their website.
Things to do outside Edinburgh
We very much hope that you might choose to spend longer in Scotland to see more of the wonderful country. Over time we will update this section with ideas of what you could do, should you need inspiration.
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Rossyln Chapel, made famous most recently by the Da Vinci Code but with much more mysterious and enigmatic history before, is a bus ride out of town. It's in a pretty (and muddy) valley for a nice walk, has beautiful carvings, and a very ancient beehive.
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Take the 35 minute train to North Berwick along Edinbrugh's east coast. You will pass through lovely countryside and fishing villages and can count the ruined castles and country houses along the way. North Berwick is a pretty town with plenty of lunch options, as well as the Scottish Seabird Centre where you can see the world's largest gannet colony on the Bass Rock. There are nice coastal walks as well as climbing Berwick Law, an (extinct) volcanic plug connected to Edinburgh's Castle Rock. There is also Tantallon Castle to explore, a large medieval castle that was besieged by Cromwell.
To embrace the Scottish coast, take the bus to South Queensferry, beneath the Forth Bridge, and have some local crab or fish and take a walk along the coastline, admiring the fishing cottages as you go. Boat tours are available to the nearby islands if the weather's good.
St Andrew's is just under two hours away, either by train and bus from Waverley station, or by bus from St Andrew's Square, and has golf, castles, coastline. Bring your hat and scarf.
The Pentlands, accessible by bus from the city centre, is the range of hills south of Edinburgh and offer plenty of walking options from flat paths around reservoirs to climbing the whole ridge. Expect to see highland coos, grouse, pheasant and sometimes deer. Proper (waterproof) boots and jackets necessary.
Rabbie's Tours are a well known local tour operator who will whisk you off to Loch Ness, Skye, Glencoe and other destinations.
