Caitlin & Jack, Loch an Eilein, Cairngorms

Their story...

Jack and Caitlin met at university over nine years ago.They fell in love with Scotland on a trip to Skye in 2017 and have been coming back ever since for hiking, camping and relaxing. 

Tell us about your wedding. Why did you choose Scotland?

The scenery, and because it is our favourite place. We love the outdoors, and couldn’t have wished for anywhere better to celebrate our relationship. 

Your photos are amazing. You look so relaxed and happy!

Our photographer, Alysa from Wildling Photography, was wonderful and really took the time to understand the shots we wanted. She was unobtrusive on the day, but captured it beautifully.

We also loved our Registrar, Keith. He was so kind and accommodating, and completely unphased by the weather.

A shout out to my (Caitlin’s) lovely Dad who made the wedding cake and my wonderful Mum who played me down the aisle on a tin whistle! Obviously, they are not for hire…

For our meal, we had the Highland Slice pizza van come to the house. They were so friendly, battled through the elements and everyone loved the pizza (especially the haggis pizza). 

Because we had a very small wedding it didn’t require too much planning. We came up to visit the location as part of a wider trip but we’d already been to the loch before we got engaged so we knew the area. The only slight challenge was getting the proper paperwork in and having our interview with the registrar, which had to be in person – but a good excuse to visit Aviemore. 

The whole day was perfect, and exactly what we hoped for. Celebrating in a place we love with a small group of people we love and doing it in a really relaxed way. Getting to show our family and friends a place that means so much to us was such a treat, and being able to host everyone (nearly) in Kincraig was a real bonus. Honestly, we talk about the weather a lot (there were amber weather warnings and the day after we would have been flooded trying to reach the ceremony location), but we all still marvel at how beautiful a place it was. 

What were your plans to get over the post-wedding blues?

After the wedding, we stayed in a cabin near Nairn for a couple of nights which was a gorgeous way to spend the first days of married life. We then spent a night in Edinburgh (one of our favourite cities) on the way home.

We were so lucky to have friends and family who were supportive of us making the day exactly what we wanted. It means the memories are so special and we never look back and think ‘I wish we had done this or that differently’. A small wedding also meant we got to spend so much time together on the day, which is how it should be, I think! 

Venue | Loch an Eilein, Cairngorms followed by informal drinks at Kincraig House

Photographer | Alysa Tarrant, Wildling Weddings

Celebrant | Keith from Aviemore Registrar

Pizza | Highland Slice

Florist | Own dried flowers

Cake, music and general excitement | provided by family