2021 Skye Wedding

September 2021

This is the big week, I'm getting married to Rachel at Eilean Donan Castle on Tuesday. We've been looking forward to this trip for months, and we begin by driving up from Edinburgh to Kyleakin in the Isle of Skye.

We head up via Glenfinnan Viaduct, known as the Harry Potter bridge, where in 2020 I proposed to Rachel.

On the Sunday we travelled almost the whole length of the island to a beach in the North to collect some black sand for our wedding ceremony. On the way back South, we decided to go for a walk up to the Old man of Storr, knowing that rain may arrive any minute. And as we reached the top of the walk, we watched the cloud descend and did indeed get absolutely soaked wet through.

We were preparing for the wedding on Monday, the weather really rolled in and we had several spells of very heavy rain through the day. We collected our marriage schedule, and went to the castle to check a few final things. On the way back from the castle we saw a couple of horses roaming the hills above Loch Duich just down from the castle.

Tuesday was the day of our wedding, and unlike so many weddings, it was very relaxed. The ceremony wasn't until the evening, so we woke up at a sensible time. Cupcakes were delivered to our accommodation from the amazing Cakey Pangs, we had coffee an chill out ahead of going to pick up our flowers from Loch Duich Plants. Then Bee Bonnie Beauty came to our accommodation to do Rachel's hair and makeup. When it was time to put the dress on, I was banished to the downstairs so I wouldn't see it before the wedding.

Our celebrant (Rona) and photographer (Penny Hardie) came to pick us up and take us, separately, to the castle. Rachel was piped accross the bridge, and we met again at the end before walking towards the castle together. After a wonderful ceremony in the courtyard of the castle we headed inside to sign the paperwork and warm up by the fire.

After some photos outside the castle we had pizza, champagne and cake back at our accommodation.

The next day we woke up quite refreshed and had a chill morning. We went to Elgol, and finally saw the famous Highland Coos on the road there. The weather was breathtaking, and such a contrast with the rest of the week, although a few clouds did appear over the beach, we walked down to the head of the Spar Caves from Elgol enjoying the golden hour.

Because the wedding was late in the afternoon, the plan was to take more photos on Thursday. As the day approached we were all fairly concerned the weather was going to be too bad to stand on cliff tops at the Quiraing but we pressed ahead and altered our route a little bit and ended up getting some amazing photos. This was an opportunity for me to help Rachel into her dress and hiking boots.

The busy week hit us on Friday and we had a duvet day until mid afternoon. We headed down to Armadale Castle museum only to find it was closed due to high wind, so we did a little storm watching from the end of the Sleat peninsula (around Aird) on the way back we picked up some cauliflower wings from the House of Juniper and they were some of the best food we've eaten.

Saturday marked 7 days in our Kyleakin accommodation which meant we had to pack the car and take a drive up to the North of Skye. We were going back to stay at Abhaig B&B where we stayed in the summer, the owners Viv and Steve are so lovely and having told them about our wedding plans in the summer it was really nice to tell them how it went. Viv and Steve left an amazing cake from Skye Bakehouse in our room!

On Sunday we went to the Coral Beach, although the weather wasn't the best, the gusty winds blew dry some of the rain from us. We went on a tour of the SkyeSkyns tannery on the Warternish peninsula and bought a new sheepskin to go with the one we bought in the summer.

Monday saw us heading down to Sconser to get the ferry over the Raasay, we managed to check straight into the distillery where we were staying. And after a quick coffee, we got our boots on and hiked up Dun Caan the highest point on Raasay and one of the most distinguishable points on the skyline from all over Skye.

The walk up Dun Caan was very pleasant with a little light rain at the start of the trail. By the time we'd had some hot chocolate and a cake at the top a raincloud was rolling in, but luckily it just missed us depositing only a small amount of drizzle before passing over.

Our final night was very pleasant, we had a three course meal at the distillery with some cocktails, and headed to bed. In the morning we packed our things and headed back to Edinburgh, stopping at Eilean Donan Castle as we passed to thank the staff and walk down the bridge one more time.

One final photo of Rachel and I on the bridge at Eilean Donan Castle after our wedding ceremony.