An intimate Isle of Skye wedding

Ashlyn and Michael were drawn to the breathtaking scenery of the Isle of Skye for their intimate wedding. They loved the idea of being legally married outdoors, surrounded by nature, which Scottish law allows. After travelling by boat and smiling through the rain, they tied the knot in an emotional ceremony by the edge of Loch Coruisk, in the heart of the Cuillin Hills. We are more than a little in love with their day!

How did you two meet?

We knew each other when we were 16 and were young loves but drifted apart with uni and moving to different cities. But we reconnected seven years later, intending to meet for a quick drink which ended up being a long night in the pub then being told to leave!

What inspired your wedding plans?

Michael always wanted to get married outside and didn’t want a big wedding. I thought I wanted a big wedding. We almost had a cathedral wedding but it didn’t feel right and we soon agreed we only wanted our very immediate family present.

We’re not religious – we are more spiritual, if anything, and we’re very outdoorsy people. We love nature and the Isle of Skye feels so old and mystical.

We thought about holding an outdoor ceremony in the forest in our home country, England but it would only count as a blessing and we wanted wherever we got married to be the sacred place we took our vows and Scotland offered that and more.

Our celebrant, Sonja spent such time and effort to create the best ceremony I have ever known. Her words resonated perfectly to us and made everyone so emotional and we love the fact our marriage certificate says, ‘Married on the edge of Loch Coruisk’!

What an incredible setting! Tell us more about your day…

We wanted to hold our wedding ceremony somewhere with the most breathtaking views and Loch Coruisk kept coming up. We loved the idea of having to catch a boat there and back to access the loch.

We hired a house from the owners of Kinloch Lodge, The Macdonalds – we decorated it and celebrated our marriage there after leaving Loch Coruisk. Part of the party stayed at the house and the other half at Kinloch Lodge.

On the day of our wedding, we headed to Elgol where a private boat took us over to Loch Coruisk for the ceremony and we had a piper, called Martin, play for us – it gave us goosebumps! We packed picnics for everyone to enjoy whilst we left to have our photos taken, but it started to rain so we left the loch early and headed back to the house.

Misty Isle Boats provided the transport – they decorated the private boat with bunting and offered a bottle of bubbly for us to celebrate on return, as well as a beautiful gift.

After cake and Champagne we got freshened up and headed over to Kinloch Lodge for our five course wedding dinner. They provided a private room for us to celebrate the night away, separate to the main hotel so that we could make as much noise as we wanted and we stayed our first night as man and wife in their beautiful suite. We found it online and the reviews were brilliant. We wanted delicious food and brilliant hospitality, and they exceeded our expectations.

We had some beautiful flowers from our florist, Simply Flowers for my flower crown, bridesmaid bouquets, buttonholes and corsages, so that everyone had flowers. For my bouquet, my sister made the arrangement and it came out fantastic.

I took lessons from a make up artist back home as I was worried about booking someone that I had never tried – on the morning of my wedding if I didn’t like it, I would be so disappointed. I’m so glad I took the lesson, I felt so relaxed doing my make up in the morning and now know so many tips and tricks!

I found a stationery designer on Etsy who let me adapt the invitations myself and add my own touches to them to make them ultimately unique to my own taste.

A local bakery made three of our favourite cakes; Victoria sponge, lemon drizzle and coffee and walnut. My sister decorated the cakes with flowers. We also had mini cakes of elderflower and lemon from Eat n Mess, our favourite baker back home, which were given to us as a surprise!

We were only a small party so we had our Bose and pre-made playlists for the party. Our first dance was to December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night). Whenever one of us needed a pick me up, we knew by playing this song it would definitely put us in great spirits, that is how it became ‘our song’ and we knew we wanted it as our first dance.

How did your photo adventure go?

Our photographer, Lynne Kennedy is the warmest person you will ever meet. She becomes more than a photographer – a dear friend you feel who have always known. Michael and I did not feel like naturals with photos, but Lynne made us feel so at ease and had us laughing and enjoying the whole experience.

I found Lynne’s website trawling online and knew at once I wanted to have her. Lynne’s photos are so romantic and we love how she captured people’s emotions so well. We only had a small wedding so it was so important for us to ensure we had the best photographer to capture the breathtaking views of the Isle of Skye and Lynne definitely did that.

We love your dress! Tell us more…

Initially I had placed a deposit on a dress from a boutique bridal shop after searching and searching for the dress I had in my head – I never found it but I came close. I later discovered Monsoon bridal and straight away saw my dream dress for a fraction of the price and ordered it immediately. It was a lace dress with sleeves and an open back, it was described as bohemian elegance which was exactly what I wanted. I also had a Black Watch tartan shawl to keep me warm which matched the groom’s and groomsmen’s ties.

I wore boots as the ceremony was outside, I ordered them from Amazon. In the evening I wore gold partly heels from Dune. I had a flower crown made for me and wore my sister’s diamond earrings and grandmother-in-law’s pearl ring.

Because it was outside, I wanted my bridesmaids to be warm. I ordered blush pink skirts from Amazon and white cashmere long sleeved turtle neck tops from Mark & Spencer’s with a Black Watch tartan shawl to match mine and the boys’ ties.

The groom and groomsmen had matching blue suits and grey waistcoats with a Black Watch tartan tie.

Was there anything that didn’t go quite to plan?

Rain! But it actually made it so much more magical and fun and we knew going to Scotland the weather can change, funnily enough we had brilliant bright sunshine the rest of the time we were there!

Did you manage to stick to your budget?

Pretty much yes, there were some extra outgoings but we felt we did very well!

Any advice?


If you want to hold a small wedding, do it! Don’t feel you have to do the big wedding because it’s what you think you should do, really sit down and decide together what it is you want your day to be like for yourselves and not what you think it should be.

Why Scotland?

The law meant that we could choose where we wanted to hold the ceremony and it be legal. We love nature and the feeling of ancient land which is Scotland to a T – especially the Isle of Skye, it feels so magical and is so breathtakingly beautiful.

We spent a minimoon road-tripping around Scotland, making a fun drive back to our home in Kent, England. Our honeymoon will be spent in Iceland.

What’s the one moment you’ll always remember?

Two parts. Standing on the edge of Loch Coruisk, looking at Michael and seeing his warm eyes looking down with such love. And our first dance.

We love that Ashlyn and Michael stripped their wedding plans right back after sitting down and figuring out exactly how they wanted their day to be. Anyone else tempted to do the same? x