Vision to Venue

April 2025 - Five Years Later

I originally wrote this blog in April 2020. It was supposed to be the start of our first big wedding season at Folkerton Mill but instead we were plunged into lockdown due to COVID, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that things were not going to return to normal any time soon. So instead of getting ready to host dream weddings and celebrations, I was busy reassuring couples that we would help and support them in anyway we could. In reality this was a lot of tearful and emotional (me included!) conversations and the postponement of nearly two years worth of weddings. Five years later I can look back and reflect on this time and some of the very bizarre rules even make me smile now; no alcohol, no dancing, no music, no indoor speeches, bubbles, one-way bar system, face-masks, two-metre distancing, requiring a list of all wedding guests and contact details, and the list goes on. However, amidst the chaos there were also some positives; we hosted some incredibly beautiful intimate events and we were also able to do a whole lot of work to improve Folkerton Mill the wedding venue.

So Scott and I are just a little over a month away from our 5 year wedding anniversary that marked the beginning of this crazy journey, and the Mill has gone from strength to strength. I am so excited for the future and I cannot wait to see where it goes in the next 5 years. We have some exciting ideas for growth and lots of things planned so watch this space and keep in touch so we can share that journey with you.

Continue reading to learn how this all began…

April 2020

Vision to Venue: the beginnings of Folkerton Mill

It was love at first sight! It was a cold February afternoon and pouring with rain, and when I say rain, I mean that incredible horizontal kind of rain that you only get in Scotland!  The wipers on our van were going at full pelt as we slowed down, pulled around the corner on the road and through a beautifully understated wooden gate on to the driveway of Folkerton Mill. Scott stopped the engine in the courtyard and the two of us just looked at each other and smiled.  We sat in silence for a few seconds listening to the sound of the rain hammering down on the roof of the van, no words were needed, we both knew that we had just stumbled across something very special.

Folkerton Mill courtyard. Photograph by Lena Sabala

The proposal in the Barn before we fixed it up - dodgy photo by one of the kids!

I feel like life has been non-stop since that rainy afternoon with one big life event after another. We were moved in to Folkerton Mill at the end of April with all three children in tow and a fourth one that arrived just six weeks later.  The place had been empty for almost 18 months and the air inside the house was so cold you could see your breath, the wooden floor in the living room was buckled, the heating didn’t work and there were broken panes of glass in the sash windows.  The first night we all slept in joggies and hoodies, the three boys had two duvets and all slept in the same double bed for warmth. 

There were boxes down both sides of our bed and at eight and half months pregnant I had to sort of throw myself into the bed from the end and then hope that I didn’t need to get up to pee! It was so dark we couldn’t see our hands an inch in front of our faces and it was so incredibly quiet, we just loved the place. Three weeks after our little girl was born Scott (finally) proposed, making me the happiest girl in the world, and it is this event that was really the beginning of Folkerton Mill Weddings although we didn’t realise it at the time.

I don’t remember exactly whose idea it was (probably mine – Scott always needs to take a seat when I say I have an ‘idea’), but we decided that we would get married at the Mill.  I mean what could possibly be more romantic than that, right!? Plus, although the house was totally liveable (once Scott had fixed the aforementioned issues!), the other buildings all needed a great deal of love and attention.  Very little in the way of maintenance was carried out in the years before we moved in to Folkerton Mill and if we weren’t careful our beautifully constructed 200 year old sand stone buildings would deteriorate beyond repair, so it made sense to put our energy, time and money into starting to restore the place.     

We gave ourselves two years to do the work that was needed to host our wedding at the Mill.  At the beginning this felt like ages and even (I thought) factored in extra time for things to take longer than anticipated.  You know, project managing 101; estimate how long you think a job will take and then times it by two equals plenty of time…right?

Cue the start of the most insane two years of our lives to date.  I mean, in addition to all the normal stuff that brides have on their ‘ to do list’, I had things like re-point walls, put in drainage, fix roof, put in under-floor heating and fit a new floor, build toilets, build tables, build a bar and the list went on and on.  As well as the family we both had full time jobs to juggle; we got up circa 0530, started work at 0700 (after a 60 minute commute), came home for about 1600; homework, tea, play, kids to bed; 2100 outside to work; midnight bed! And repeat.

Its like herding cats but I wouldn’t change them for the world - meet the children

I would be lying if I said there weren’t some dark moments and at times I thought it was going to break me but our relationship never wavered and we learnt so much about each other; I am all about the big picture, Scott loves the nitty gritty detail, I am annoyingly optimistic, Scott less so, we both love a project in the rain (because generally speaking it rains a lot in Scotland), I make things look pretty, Scott makes sure everything is functional, I like to contemplate new ideas, Scott just likes to get the job done, I stress, Scott never gets stressed just brings me tea and chocolate.  Opposites in many ways but seemingly we make a great team and we created something wonderful with genuine passion and love fundamental to it all.

The ups and downs, wins and losses, good days and bad days definitely brought us closer and made us stronger as a couple and a family and it was amazing to see all our hard work pay off.  It culminated in the best day of my life when I got to marry my best friend and begin our married adventure.

Scott and I just married in the Mill. Photograph by Claire Fleck

I loved all the people we met along the way planning our wedding and the industry is just full of wonderfully creative happy people, who wholly invest themselves in making each and every wedding the best that it can be.  We received so much encouragement and positive comments about the Mill that made it feel like such a natural step to turn our beautiful Mill into a wedding venue.  The place is so unique and such a well kept secret it is lovely to share that with people and the income that we generate from hiring out the Mill is invested straight back into restoring Folkerton Mill.  We hope this means that the Mill will be here for many more years to come as a piece of beautiful Scottish history and the perfect place for dreams to come true.

For more photographs of our beautiful venue have a look in the Gallery.