Dave and Vanessa, who met eight years ago after Dave reached out after seeing her in a movie trailer, hosted a multi-day celebration at Dunskey Estate in Stranraer, Scotland. The Edwardian castle, surrounded by woodland and overlooking the sea, perfectly set the scene for a darkly romantic, gothic-inspired wedding.

“We really wanted the wedding day to feel like a piece of heaven,” the couple told us. “It was important to us to find a place that felt unlike anywhere we had ever been, a place that embraced nature and transported us to another world.”

A string trio performed as Vanessa walked down the aisle to Debussy’s Clair de Lune. They exchanged handwritten vows in the Victorian greenhouse which was decorated with gold candelabras, red roses, and chandeliers which hung from the ceiling to create an almost celestial ambiance.

The couple chose looks that nodded to their influences and felt true to them. Vanessa worked closely with designer Tina Wong from Grace + Ivory to create a corseted, Victorian-inspired gown with layered appliqué, a pearl-beaded cross, and velvet lacing. The back had black velvet lacing in a nod to Dave’s all-black suit. “It was designed to feel airy, like an iridescent cloud,” she said. She finished the look with Versace Mary Janes and a pair of angel wings. Explaining the unique accessory choice, she said it was because “Dave calls me his ‘breathing cherub.’”

“We wanted our wedding to feel like a dream,” Vanessa said again, circling back to the vision. “Dave saved me from myself. I love who I am now because he’s shown me who I can be and what I’m capable of. He’s kissed all my scars and I don’t know if either of us would be alive today if it weren’t for each other.”

Dave echoes the feeling. “We support one another in ways that we’ve never experienced before, through the darkest times and the lightest times. We can always rely on each other to catch the other if one of us slips.”

There was music, candlelight, and a sense of something theatrical without being overproduced. Everything was built around the intimacy of the day. “We wanted our loved ones to share in this intimate experience,” Vanessa concluded. That shaped the tone of the entire celebration, from the setting to the vows to the styling. Nothing was rushed, every detail was deliberate and so perfectly them.

You can also find their story in issue 64 of the magazine.