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Contrary to the traditional order of events, we had pretty much planned our whole wedding before we even announced our engagement. We knew that we would be married some day, but when we started planning a vacation in Europe, the idea came up that perhaps we could combine the two.
She really made us feel comfortable with all the arrangements, so we took the plunge and booked a date: Wednesday, August 4, 1999. We chose Borthwick Castle as the site for the ceremony because of its historic mystique. After much of the planning had been arranged, we announced our engagement on May 10th, telling everyone that the wedding would be "sometime next summer". Sometimes it was hard to keep our "secret", but we just kept telling people that we would start planning the details once we were back from our trip to Europe. A few weeks before the big day, we told our parents what we were up to. They had a hard time keeping the secret under wraps, but in the end they had a lot of fun being the ones to break the news to everyone back home and seeing the surprised reactions! Our wedding day was truly beautiful. Words can hardly describe how happy we were as the day unfolded even better than we had expected. Yvonne had taken care of all the details so we had no worries.
The gate house, twin towers and beautiful garden had set a great precedent as we entered the castle. We were struck by the original masonry inside, the medieval spiral staircases, and the great hall. By the time we were shown to our room, the Mary Queen of Scots bed chamber, we were like kids in a candy store. We wanted to see every little bit of the castle, but of course we had important things to attend to: our ceremony was to take place at 3pm. Everything fell into place as our wedding ceremony unfolded. Yvonne had thought through all the details and was with us the whole time; she even played the role of amateur videographer with the camcorder we had brought! Walter, our photographer, was very creative and professional; he knew how to pose us, and encouraged our input. Before leaving us to enjoy our evening, they both surprised us with news that family back home had done some "conspiring" of their own, arranging with Yvonne to deliver us a gift. Before dinner we had time to tour the grounds and castle, taking our own photos. We were still surprised that it seemed we were the only couple there; it was dinner time before we knew that there were other guests staying at the castle.
The next morning after breakfast, we began exploring the castle on our own, but were lucky enough to meet up with a small informal tour given by the head cook. She shared stories of the castle's original construction, its days as a home for Lord Borthwick's soliders, Queen Mary's stay, and Oliver Cromwell's attack. She took us onto the roof, allowing us to see the breathtaking countryside and ponder the prisoner's leap. We cherish the wonderful memories of our wedding day and hope to go back again and again in the many wonderful years ahead. Scotland was a beautiful place to travel for our honeymoon, and Borthwick Castle was an awe-inspiring place to get married. Thank you for the happy memories. Jim and Joanne DeGraaf
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A
bit of research indicated that this would be best accomplished in Scotland.
We had stumbled across SWC on the web and Yvonne had been very helpful
in answering all our questions and providing useful suggestions. 
Driving
up to the castle we were in awe: standing on a hill in the countryside,
with woods and an old church beside it, it was as if we had travelled
back in time. 
Dinner
was marvelous. All the guests were invited to gather around the enormous
fireplace in the Great Hall for cocktails. A waiter dressed in the traditional
garb of William Wallace kept the conversation lively. The meal was delicious,
as was the dessert and truffles that ended the evening. 