Wedding Fun in the Scottish Highlands – Rebecca and Dan at Glenfinnan Church and Kinlochmoidart House
The very same weekend that I photographed the wondrous elopement of Brittany and Tyler at loch Coruisk on the Isle of Skye I also photographed a whole load of wedding fun in the Scottish Highlands at Rebecca and Dan’s big day. It was a wedding photographer’s dream weekend (apart from the midges, but at least they didn’t strike until later). I have to say, for me this was the perfect wedding and I had an absolute blast photographing it – relaxed, fun, plenty going on and very few unnecessary formalities.
Since I had to travel a fair way north, past Glencoe (the scene of many photoshoots) and out to the west coast on Saturday for Rebecca and Dan’s wedding at Glenfinnan and Kinlochmoidart, and then on to Skye on Monday, I thought it would be sensible to stay up there and make a weekend of it. I even got to hang out with Humanist celebrant extraordinaire Paula with whom I have set up a little Scottish Highlands elopement partnership called Bog Cotton Elopements. If you are thinking of coming up to Scotland for a little wedding for two then get in touch – we would love to hear from you!
Each of the weddings I was photographing that weekend shared something in common – neither were in what you would consider to be wedding venues. The loch Coruisk wedding was outside by the side of a Scottish loch and Rebecca and Dan had managed to rent the beautiful Kinlochmoidart House and turn it into their own incredible wedding venue. The house was full of little nooks and crannies and the fact that it was quite sunny outside enabled me to capture some lovely photographs indoors where people were lit only by window light in an otherwise dark room. I have always loved that style of photography, but the conditions aren’t always right, especially in the artificially lit hotels I often find myself working in.
Rebecca and Dan had decided to have their ceremony in Glenfinnan Church about 30 minutes away from Kinlochmoidart House. I had actually worked there before several years ago and as soon as I peeked inside I remembered why I had such fond memories of the place. The inside was bright and spacious and outside you are surrounded by some of the most beautiful countryside Scotland has to offer. There was no need to worry about the background of the photographs as there was almost nothing that I had to avoid. It even has its own car park which comes in very handy because the Harry Potter famous Glenfinnan Viaduct is right next door and is slammed with tourists most of the time.
Whilst Kinlochmoidart House itself is set amongst beautiful farmland we thought it would also be nice to make the most of the fantastic coastline that we had to drive past to get back home. Kieran from wedding film makers extraordinaire Cue the Mustard jumped into my car and we drove (very slowly) along the shores of Loch Ailort behind Rebecca and Dan in their rented Landrover. Stopping at a few points along the way, with a little bit of scrambling in the middle, we had great fun and managed to capture some of the amazing landscape. Rebecca and Dan were very keen to clamber up onto the rocks by the way – I didn’t make them do it 🙂
Anyway, that’s enough rambling on by me. Hopefully you can see from the photographs how much fun everyone had. It truly was a brilliant day to be a part of and a wedding that I will always remember. There was even a dog, and chickens! Perfect. If this is the kind of wedding you are having then definitely give me a call as I would love to be a part of your day!
By the way – it was really great to work alongside film makers Cue the Mustard – check out their film of Rebecca and Dan’s day.
