Coming up trumps
Kat Walker couldn’t find her dream dress so she turned to the man she knew would solve her problem — her dad Walter. Susan Welsh meets the man who helped his Kat find the cream
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SEEING your daughter in her wedding dress for the first time can be a hugely emotional moment for any father.
For Walter Walker from North Kessock it was especially moving, as the 45-year-old chef made daughter Katrina’s gown himself — but it wasn’t until the big day that he saw her wearing it for the first time.
“About four months before the wedding, Katrina announced that she wanted me to make her dress as she hadn’t seen anything she liked,” said Walter.
“I was a bit taken aback, especially as I had agreed to make her cake but I was happy to have a go.”
Keeping it in the family is not unusual for Walter as he works alongside Kat and her husband, Richard Wardrop, in the kitchen of the Bunchrew House Hotel near Inverness. Walter is head chef, Katrina — known to all as Kat — is chef de partie and Richard is sous chef.
It’s also not the first time Walter has had a hand in making sure the bride’s outfit is perfect.
“I grew up with five sisters who were all into sewing so I suppose it was only natural that I learned,” he added.
“I married for a second time seven years ago and one of my sisters made my wife Karen’s dress, while I made a cloak to go with it.
“That was the first time I’d tackled anything larger than general sewing, and I managed it, but making your daughter’s wedding dress is quite a tall order.
“The only brief she gave me was that it had to be quite simple, full-length, made of lightweight material and about as far from a meringue style dress as you could get.
“We came up with a design for a two-piece Grecian-styled outfit made with cream French chiffon and satin-sheen silk.”
Proud Walter added: “Kat wanted it to look simple from the front but have lots of detail on the back so I opted for a lace-up bodice with lots of embroidery detail. Instead of a veil we had embroidered shoulder drapes.
“As I was having to spend a lot of time decorating the cake, Karen helped out with some of the embroidery. She did a good job, too.”
He added: “She looked really bonnie if I say so myself.”
The dress drew admiring glances aplenty as did Walter’s other creation, the cake, a three-tier stunner.
“I had local baker Harry Gow make the fruit bases but I decorated each layer using a lattice-style framework.”
It featured handmade sugar yellow and cream-coloured roses in bud and full-bloom, heather bells and thistles, swans, and was topped by a winged fairy sitting on a toadstool.
“Kat loves fairies so instead of making the usual bride and groom figures I thought I’d go for something different,” said Walter.
As for bride Kat, she was delighted. “I knew my dad would come up with the goods although everyone was teasing me and suggesting I might end up walking down the aisle in my underwear if he didn’t manage to complete the dress,” said Kat, 20, who made the invitations and thank you cards herself.
“I wanted a one-off dress and cake. Thanks to my dad that’s what I got. But I don’t want to praise him too much in case his head gets too big,” she said.
Richard and Kat tied the knot at the Bunchrew House Hotel, before spending their honeymoon in Prague.
