Beautiful Camusdarach Beach Wedding – Daniel and Sarah

Many of you will already know that I am a huge fan of elopements (which for me are just very small weddings) and Daniel and Sarah’s Camusdarach beach wedding was just perfect and reinforced my love for this type of ceremony. Since joining forces with Arisaig-based humanist celebrant Paula Wilkinson in our joint venture Bog Cotton Elopements I have been working in some amazing places along the west coast of the Scottish Highlands. An easy drive from Glasgow – I regularly drive up, photograph a wedding and drive back the same day – it is just such a magical area. Arisaig is somewhere that I have always loved to visit and to be able to work up there a few days each year is more than enough to keep my love of wedding photography topped up.

Camusdarach beach is at the northern reaches of the stretch of land along the little peninsula that includes Arisaig, Morar and Mallaig. Everyone will tell you that it is famous because of the film ‘Local Hero’ (still never seen it) but it is also well know for its wonderful white sand and staggering views across to the islands of Rùm, Eigg, Muck and, of course, the Isle of Skye. It is an amazing place for a wedding of any size. This year alone I have photographed Lesley-Ann and David’s wedding in the woods in Arisaig, with about 70 guests, and also Daniel and Sarah’s wedding with only five people in attendance. Both were amazing, although the latter had far fewer midges.

This Camusdarach beach wedding was very much of the usual format for me. I started in a little cottage, Rhu Ach Mhor, that they had hired right by the beach itself. I photographed some of the action there (mostly drinking tea and polishing shoes) before walking over the hill to Elephant Rocks Beach to pick put a nice spot for the ceremony. Because this was just a tiny wee wedding the timings and exact location aren’t important at all – there is absolutely no stress whatsoever. We picked a place and I walked back to the cottage to fetch Sarah and her best friends Lorena and Geertje. The super-relaxed ceremony led by Paula, complete with hand fasting with cloth printed with photographs of their best friends and family, and then a drink from the traditional Scottish quaich was absolutely amazing. Hearing about their lives and love of the great outdoors whilst stood on a beautiful white deserted beach overlooking the distant mountains was something I won’t forget in a hurry.

After the ceremony everyone left me with the bride and groom and we spent just a few minutes scrambling along the the edge of the rocky outcrop at the end of the beach to capture some nice dramatic photographs. Note to potential clients – this is always entirely optional – I will never make you do anything you don’t feel entirely comfortable with, I promise! We arrived back at the cottage for some present unwrapping and ceremonial beheading of Colin the Caterpillar cake and then my day was done. I got to drive back through the mountains, riding the sugar rush from my slice of cake, listening the second half of the podcast I didn’t finish on the way north that morning. Daniel and Sarah, meanwhile, enjoyed a nice barbecue before heading a little further north the next day to compete in the Hebridean Challenge – very romantic… I don’t know how they got on in the race – maybe they will let me know in the comments below.

If you are planning your own Camusdarach beach wedding please do get in touch. I photograph weddings and elopements all over Scotland and Arisaig is just one of the many, many beautiful spots for your ceremony. You can view my most recent elopements on my site here https://www.silverphotography.co.uk/elopement-photographer-in-scotland/