Inside Amber Anderson and Connor Swindells’s Quintessentially Scottish Highlands Wedding
Being friends before dating is a classic Hollywood trope, from When Harry Met Sally to My Best Friend’s Wedding—so it’s perhaps fitting that actors Amber Anderson and Connor Swindells followed the same route to romance. After meeting on the set of Autumn de Wilde’s Emma, the two kept in touch, but it was lockdown that cemented their budding relationship.
“We ended up together during the first lockdown,” explains Amber. “We were both living alone and relatively near each other, so we decided to bubble together. We got to really support each other through that. Lockdown meant we had time with each other that we wouldn’t have gotten if we’d both been away filming. Our official first date was literally about three months into our relationship when everything opened up again. I feel like we did everything backwards in a strange sort of way.”
Connor proposed to Amber during a group trip to Botswana, having successfully thrown her off the scent first. “I was away filming in Italy a few months before we left when the realization hit me that this trip was going to be the moment,” shares Connor. “I tasked my best friend Oakley with both collection and transport of the ring, which he performed with diligence, knowing full well Amber would sniff out any remnants of a proposal—this was the only way.”
Once they were in Botswana, the couple’s friend and guide, Gareth, suggested that Connor should get down on one knee by a beautiful 1,400-year-old baobab tree, which he could lead them to. “Next came the arduous task of getting Amber into a Land Cruiser, on our own without anyone else, and convincing her to drive to a secluded location—all without her realizing what was happening,” remembers Connor. “Finally Gareth crackled over the radio, ‘Guys, I ve spotted some leopard tracks, I’m going to go ahead and see if they go anywhere, if you need the toilet, here’s a safe spot.’ With that, we rounded the corner, and there stood a beautiful baobab. I knew the rest was up to me.” Soon, it was Gareth’s turn to hear the radio crackle: “She said yes.”
Amber is a planner, so she immediately set to work. The couple settled on Boath House in the Scottish Highlands as their wedding venue, given that it’s close to where the bride grew up and important to them both. “I planned pretty much all of it, but had help from a wonderful woman called Lindsay from a company called Wide Sky Weddings, who came on for the last four weeks to take everything off my hands,” Amber says.
She very nearly didn’t find her dream wedding dress at all, after originally settling on the first one she tried on. “I was so convinced that it was the one that I almost canceled my fitting at Vivienne Westwood,” the bride remembers. She ultimately went ahead with it, and “as cheesy as it sounds, I just knew as soon as I tried it on. My favorite parts of my body were accentuated, and the bits that I didn’t like didn’t really matter anymore, and I knew it would look good sitting down or standing up. The entire Vivienne Westwood approach is what appealed to me, that I shouldn’t change anything about myself to subscribe to a specific bridal look.”
Amber added elbow-length tulle gloves by Vivienne Westwood, as well as fine jewelry from Chanel and silver shoes from Roger Vivier. “My wonderful friends at Patou in Paris sent me a beautiful blue silk bag which had ‘Amber and Connor’ embroidered on it inside, with a heart,” she adds. “I also had a veil by Clio Peppiatt with mine and Connor’s zodiac signs on in sequins, but I forgot to put it on until after the ceremony!”
The bride’s glam squad traveled from London for the wedding, with make-up artist Victoria Bond creating a natural look finished with a cat-eye flick, and David Wadlow styling Amber’s hair in Old Hollywood waves, pinning her fringe so that she couldn’t tuck it behind her ears, as is her habit.
Connor, meanwhile, wore a suit by his tailor, Tom, from Atelier Arena. “He dresses me for 90 percent of all things I do,” the groom shares. “He flicked me through some fabrics, ideally that would fit well with my skin tone, pasty as it tends to be. We landed on a wonderful navy. He threw in the Anderson tartan details. He’s a true maestro and I can’t begin to thank him enough for everything.” Connor’s Grenson shoes had the couple’s initials on the soles.
Amber’s seven bridesmaids were given free reign over their looks, with the only stipulation being that their outfit should be on the spectrum from cobalt to navy blue. “One wore a three-piece suit, another wore a long backless dress… everyone looked stunning but like themselves,” she shares. “I didn’t want to put anyone in anything that they didn’t feel comfortable in.”
The couple’s family and friends played a huge role in their wedding day. The ceremony was officiated by the actor Alistair Petrie, who plays Connor’s dad in Sex Education, while Amber’s godmother gave her away. “My dad sadly isn’t very well, so he wasn’t able to do it,” shares Amber. “She is the godparent that he chose for me, so it felt like a nice way of having him there.” Another nod to Amber’s dad came in the form of his guitar, which her friend, the classical musician Sean Shibe, played as she walked down the aisle.
Fun touches included a reading from Maddy and Marina Bye, who together make up the comedy duo Siblings, who performed an aura cleansing of the groom (“It was a wonderful moment of humiliation for Connor,” laughs Amber). Meanwhile, Moose, the couple’s pet rescue dog, served as ring bearer, complete with Anderson tartan bandana. “The tone was set for a wedding that was meaningful, but not overly serious—just how we wanted it,” says Amber.
Before the drinks reception, the couple did a Celtic quaich ceremony. “It was originally to do with clans meeting—it’s a cup which you hold with both hands, with the symbolism being that you can’t have a sword in your hand if they’re both holding the cup – and you put whisky in it and drink from that,” explains Amber.