Drumtochty Castle Wedding

Timothy and Holly’s Drumtochty Castle Wedding

During each year of wedding photography (and there have been plenty for me) I have always had a few clients who have made the journey from the USA to Scotland to be married in our beautiful mountains and castles. In more recent years I had formed a partnership with Lisa, the owner of Tartan Weddings, a planning service for couples wanting to get married here in Scotland.

We had some lovely weddings lined up, and I was very excited about them all. But then, all of a sudden, we didn’t have any at all because coronavirus came along and effectively stopped all our happy couples from travelling to Scotland…

However, amongst all the rebooking and cancelling clients there were Tim and Holly who steadfastly stuck to their date and managed to become my first post-lockdown American couple when they had their Drumtochty Castle wedding in September 2021. As well as being an all-American wedding it was also one of the few larger weddings since 2019, and what a great wedding it was too!

Drumtochty castle, about halfway between Aberdeen and Dundee, is a very picturesque location for a wedding indeed. Set in beautiful grounds there are ancient trees, lawns, statues, topiary and a large pond with its own bridge. There are also a lot of deer antlers to make it that little bit more ‘Scottish Highlands’. It’s one of those amazing venues dotted throughout Scotland were you can, essentially, hire an entire castle all for yourself. This meant that the wonderful old building, and the surroundings, were all ours to use for photography. Just one example of why that’s a good thing – we could use the window seat on the stairs beneath the impressive stained-glass window without getting into trouble. What could be better than that!

After photographing both Holly and Timothy getting ready, and walking way more than my 10,000 steps for the day in the process, it was time for the wonderful Humanist ceremony by John Leo Scott. The light in the room was very directional (all the large windows are on the same side of the room) but I enjoyed using this more dramatic sunlight to pick out details around the room, such as the gentle folds in Holly’s dress and the room itself. Oh my goodness, there are so many stunning rooms there to use. I could never pick a favourite.

Since the weather was absolutely glorious everyone headed outside, through the clouds of confetti, for some sparkling wine, courtesy of the little Art Deco Prosecco van. Just before the van’s alcoholic cargo was depleted Holly, Tim and myself jumped in the car and drove up to the Cairn o’Mount viewpoint for a change of scene and a little photoshoot.

Timothy and Holly’s Drumtochty Castle Wedding was an amazingly fun day to photograph. I am always a wee bit proud when couples come from all over the world to our small country for their wedding. It reminds me how beautiful it really is here, at any time of the year, and also just how many truly epic places there are for your wedding!

If you’re thinking of coming to Scotland for your wedding why not take a look at some other larger weddings on my blog and, if you are coming from the USA, you should definitely check out Lisa from Tartan Weddings as she works like crazy to make sure your day is absolutely perfect.