Isle Of Skye Elopement With Drumtochty Castle Weekend-long Afterparty

Today we’re bringing you a two part dose of Scottish wedding inspiration! With many of you now considering an elopement or micro wedding, followed by a big afterparty when it’s safe to do so, Emma and Craig’s story is sure to resonate.

In pre-Covid times, they eloped to the Isle of Skye, then invited friends and family for a weekend-long winter wedding celebration at Drumtochty Castle in Aberdeenshire. Here Emma and Craig share how they brought the two occasions together in a way that worked beautifully – for them as a couple and their loved ones.

How did you two meet?

We met online. Craig was in the process of cancelling his account when a message from Emma appeared.

What inspired your wedding plans?

We had always planned to have a small ceremony, just the two of us and then a big reception party. The idea of saying our vows in front of lots of people was a bit terrifying for us both. By having the elopement we managed to completely relax and enjoy the day – we didn’t stop smiling all day.

We chose the Isle of Skye because of the family connections and the opportunity for some memorable and stunning photographs. Our elopement ceremony was held at Honeycomb Rock, Elgol, Isle of Skye. The intention was to go to Loch Coruisk, but the weather was too bad for the ferry, but instead, we got stunning photos looking over the sea to the Cuillins mountain range.

We love your outfits!

Emma: I wore a fitted lace fishtail dress with a Justin Alexander beaded belt plus Monsoon little cardigan. On Skye I wore a pearl necklace and blue diamond/sapphire earrings so for December I reversed this and wore the blue/diamond necklace and pearl earrings.

Craig wore Braemar Tweed Jacket in Lomond Blue Ancient Hunting and a MacFarlane Kilt.

Your photos are incredible – you must be thrilled with them!

Andrew was outstanding on the day of our ceremony. The three of us toured Skye to get to some incredible locations to have stunning photos. No matter the weather conditions, his energy was infectious and we found ourselves jumping fences and climbing mountains. It made for an even more memorable and fun day.

He was able to capture everyone being able to enjoy the evening of dinners, drinks and dancing naturally. His photos are very atmospheric.

Tell us more about your weekend-long afterparty!

For the reception, we booked Drumtochty Castle. We saw this venue and only viewed one other before choosing it! It’s such a beautiful place with a great wedding team. The chefs were also amazing.

We were looking for a venue which could accommodate all of our guests over the course of a long weekend. With everyone under one roof for three days and two nights, then all these friends and families could have a decent catch-up and experience. Plus the benefit of not waiting on taxis and long lies in. The layout allowed for people to mingle freely, a number of activities were available for during the day and evening.

The reception was basically a Scottish/antler theme: lots of time spent on Etsy looking at all the amazing things there are and adapting and personalising. We got photos from the elopement blown up and then had lettering done by a local artist (Cloudy Blue) in Aberdeen, so people could see where we got married (it had things written like ’tis the season to be married’ and some quotes from our ceremony.

The aim was to have a big celebration weekend. With people flying in from around the world, we wanted to make a weekend of it. We made the seating plan ourselves – printing polaroids of each guest and sticking them onto a copper frame. We also bought little silver antler bottle openers as favours and ordered tags and tied these on with ribbon.

We designed the Gin Bar with all our favourite gins and personal ones – Gin from the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh for Emma and Aviation gin for Craig, Misty Isle Gin for Skye etc.

On the Friday we had afternoon tea with our close family and then in the evening, a hog roast with Christmas themed fancy dress! This ended up featuring a camel, baby Jesus and a donkey, and lots of Christmas jumpers. We had an amazing musician, who Emma used to see in the pubs in Edinburgh while at uni, play for us – Acoustic David.

The Saturday was clay pigeon shooting in the morning, then at 4pm guests gathered at the bottom of the stairs. Our bridesmaids and Emma with her father were piped down the stairs (a good opportunity for dad to be involved as it was just us at the elopement!). We then enjoyed canapes and Champagne, cutting of the cake with a sword and then everyone moved into the main hall for speeches and dinner.

On Sunday, everyone who had stayed at the castle came together for a brunch which was a lovely chance to say goodbye to everyone.

Tell us about the gorgeous flowers…

Emma: The flower brief was large, wild and rustic, I wanted a huge bouquet. We had an archway that was outside on the Friday night with just leaves and then on the Saturday was moved inside to be the entrance way to the main hall, and flowers were added to it.

Our bridesmaids had bunches of greenery and I had purple, hot pink, dark blue and deep red colours, plus flowers in my hair. We also had a bunch of mistletoe, flowers around the welcome sign, and gave the mothers/granny a Christmas wreath instead of a bouquet to say thank you.

Our florist, Kim Dalglish deserves a shout out for putting up with the many plan changes – the flowers were sensational.

What was your first dance song?

A traditional Grand March. We cannot speak highly enough about our band, Cutting Edge. The floor was never empty and a number of people asked for their details to book them. We had the brass section also, this added a whole new dimension to the music and the feel for the evening. Highly recommended.

Were there any challenges along the way?

The Gin Bar emptied far too quickly, never go shy on gin and the gin bar. Also, a three hour round trip the night before the reception to collect balloons and drop them at my parents was not ideal!

Did you manage to stick to your budget?

We went over, but no regrets.

Any advice?


Hire a wedding planner! We organised it all but it was a lot of time and work and the Saturday was hard trying to get ready and get everything organised at the same time.

Have exactly the wedding you want, not what others want. It is about you and your partner. Relax and enjoy the day, try not to drink too much.

Honeymoon or minimoon?

We had a minimoon at the Torridon Hotel in the Scottish Highlands and booked a suite for several nights. We were able to explore the local area and sample the gorgeous food, whisky and highland hospitality.

The honeymoon was meant to be last summer but was delayed due to Covid.

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

It was having the opportunity to have so many close friends and family from all over the world, some of whom have never met or had years between seeing each other, all under the one roof for a three day and two night gathering and celebration.

We love the way Emma and Craig celebrated with an intimate elopement AND a weekend-long after-party – the best of both worlds! x