Wild & Wonderful Isle Of Skye Elopement with a Bride in a Blue Cape

An Isle Of Skye Elopement

Jess and Mac are keen adventurers, travel is an integral part of their life together and so it was only natural that they chose the Isle of Skye to host their wedding. Their Isle of Skye elopement was nothing short of spectacular. Think breathtaking scenery, hiking, cosy roaring fire reception and a humanist ceremony taking centre-stage to their day. It looked magical.

I just adore their outfits too. Jess wore a stunning lace sleeved gown teamed with flower crown and a striking blue cape. Do spy her really cute welly boots too! Meanwhile Mac opted for a tweed suit and thistle buttonhole. Didn’t they both look stunning?

Maureen Du Preez captured the whole affair in beautiful style and I am so grateful to be able to share these incredible images with you.

The Proposal

We love to travel and so if we can, we opt for adventures instead of exchanging gifts so for the anniversary of our first date (17 years previous!), we were heading to Big Sur, California. The trip was wonderful but the day of the proposal was perfectly magical.

We had flown into San Francisco and driven down to Santa Monica to spend the night (to try and sleep off jetlag before we started the drive to Big Sur). We awoke the next morning to a beautiful sunrise, walked down to the pier to see the sea lions, ended up watching sea otters in the harbour of nearby Monterrey and on our way to Big Sur, saw a beach of seals sunning themselves on the sand and even saw a whale spout in the distance! I was on cloud nine and was totally oblivious to Mac having something big planned.

As a matter of fact, I was so enthralled by the sea life, I missed some very big clues! He kept insisting that we not linger in any one spot so that we’d catch the sunset at the cabin we’d rented which is unusual because he’s not one to make or stick to a plan…

We had a great drive down the coast and once we arrived at the cabin, we called to let our host know that we’d found the place and checked in and I thought it was just the hosts being nice to add fresh flowers to the cabin, including a bouquet of roses. She had even asked how “my guy” was doing which I thought odd but dismissed thinking they were just but concerned about the drive we’d made.

When we went to unpack the car, I suggested we should go to the nearby store to supplement the food we’d brought but Mac surprised me by telling me he’d “arranged a picnic” for us to enjoy while watching the sunset. He rarely makes restaurant reservations, much less arranging for a picnic to be made ahead of time but he threw me off the scent by mentioning that there was a protected otter sanctuary right below the cabin (it was settled on a picturesque cliff above the sea). As I gleefully ran outside, he started spreading out our picnic. I made to go back in the house to get something else and that’s when he stopped me and said “while I’m down here [on my knee]…” and pulled out the box with my gorgeous, vintage sapphire engagement ring (incredibly, he had found it in the Estate jewellery section of a store going out of business with a matching wedding band and they were my EXACT size!).

He proceeded to tell me all the sweet, wonderful things that you’d want to hear (even though I was somewhat expecting it to happen at SOME point) – and accepted. We held each other and watched not only the most beautiful sunset but also a pod of grey whales go by. It was beyond fabulous!

The Vision

After the excitement of the proposal, Mac looked at me and asked: “Scotland or Iceland, right?” meaning, we’d look for an adventure to say “I do” for. We are absolutely in love with Scotland having been multiple times and also loved the wild landscape of Iceland (I’ve been twice, once with Mac). We knew we wanted something simple that felt like ‘us’. Nothing too fussy OR expensive. ?

The Planning Process

While Iceland is gorgeous, it made more sense for us to look to being married in one of our favourite places in Scotland: Isle of Skye. We had spent more time there and were more familiar with the landscape and resources there. Plus, we have dreams of moving there one day, so why not make it a permanent piece of our history?

We didn’t mean to have a very short engagement but there was some pressure to go ahead and do it after we’d already waited so long (again, 17 years in!) so Mac proposed on February 1, 2018 and we set a date of September 28^, 2018 as our wedding date (our first date anniversary is January 28^th and I didn’t want to learn a new number for a new anniversary).

We wanted to make the wedding official in Scotland, so a lot of the planning was dedicated to filling out the necessary paperwork and making sure we followed the protocol for that. Because Skye has unpredictable weather (which we had experienced first-hand on multiple occasions) we had a short list of locations we’d like to say “I do” at but waited to decide on the official location until 2 days beforehand.

Since we had to plan everything from our home (some 3,500+ miles away), we depended heavily on google searches and email. It took a lot of faith in others that a confirmation via email was all we needed!

Budget

We tried to do this as cheap as possible. We ended up getting some help from our parents but for the most part, we were paying for everything directly. While we value experiences more than material objects, we knew we did not want to go into debt to have an expensive wedding. While we have amassed loads of friends over the course of our relationship, we knew that having a wedding over 3,000 miles away would keep the guest list much more manageable than if we would have a local wedding. In total, there were less than twenty of us so that really helped keep the cost down.

The Venue

We knew we wanted to be married outside with the majestic Cuillins as our backdrop and have as much privacy as possible. There are a lot of tourists who visit Skye, but we were hoping that by hiking in, we’d be able to get married without a lot of spectators. Knowing that the weather on Skye could be a limiting factor (and we did not want to push our guests too far out of their comfort zone), we waited until 2 days before the wedding to officially choose a location. We picked our favourite hotel on Skye, Sligachan Hotel, to be our ‘home base’ since there were multiple options for our guests (including their guesthouses in addition to the hotel) and so that we’d all have the same starting point. Luckily, our guests were brave enough to accept a venue of “TBD” as just part of the experience.

Once we were on Skye (we arrived a few days early so that we could scout a location), the weather was rather discouraging. We had made a backup plan with Dierdre at Sligachan to use a room in the hotel if the almost hurricane-esque weather continued. One of our good friends had shared a Southern tradition with us that to insure good weather on your wedding day, you only need to bury a bottle of whiskey at the location of the nuptials, dig it up the night before (enjoy said whiskey) and the day would be rain-free. We were ready to try anything to be able to be outside so we purchased a mini bottle of whisky on Skye and headed out 1.1 miles (again, trying not to push our guests too far) into Glen Sligachan to find our spot. Once we found the spot, with Marsco behind us and Sgurr nan Gillean beside us, we dug a hole and placed the whisky in it. The night before, we raced out of our pre-wedding dinner, dug it up and enjoyed it! The next day, the rain held off and my mother walked me out of the hotel to met Mac and our guests on the old bridge to begin our journey into the Glen. We all hiked the 1.1 miles to our spot and had a beautiful ceremony in that ancient Glen.

Your Outfits & Accessories

Me:

I sew and had entertained the idea of making my own dress but didn’t want to add to the stress of planning a wedding overseas so I visited a local shop here and fell in love with the beautiful simplicity of a Barbara Kachok dress. I also loved the fact that the dress company were a mother and daughter team. The dress makers agreed to alter the design of the dress (by filling in the open back with additional beaded lace) to make it feel more ‘me’. The dress is a crepe A-line dress with a v-neck and beaded lace cap sleeves. Since the dress was short sleeved and had a lace back, I found a beautiful cobalt blue cashmere cape from Etsy that would keep me from shivering. I chose matching, vintage sapphire/ruby/emerald (all stones that can be found in our home state) earrings and necklace to wear and pinned a vintage thistle brooch to my cape. I wore bright red Hunter boots so that there would be no issue with the terrain and a gorgeous flower crown made by Simply Flowers on Isle of Skye that matched my fabulous bouquet. I wanted to have a little colour added to our ceremony and I think we got it! ?

Mac:

Mac wore a 3-piece suit made of blue Harris tweed along with his hiking boots and a boutonniere made by Simply Flowers. He also had on his hiking boots and wore gaiters underneath his pants (just in case!).

Beauty

My beautiful friend Amy Testerman (co-owner of the hair salon I go to here, Syd’s) made the trek to do my hair and makeup on the day. She has been a friend for years and I knew she would make me feel both comfortable and beautiful! My hair was down so that my natural curls could do their thing and makeup (while more than I normally wear) was pretty minimal.

Groomsmen

No groomsmen – and we told all our guests to dress comfortably with good shoes, good socks and a warm, waterproof jacket, just in case!

Bridesmaids

No Bridesmaids, though I did gift some of the ladies who were helping me with a vintage brooch that was either Scottish/Celtic design.

The Readings & Music

We had beautiful music played by Alan Mackenzie on the bagpipes.

Our celebrant included some great Scottish folklore into our ceremony. We included a snippet from The Velveteen Rabbit as well as a snippet from Leonard Cohen’s Anthem.

You can discover even more wedding readings and wedding music inspiration on our site too.

The Flowers

Bouquet, flower crown and boutonniere made by Simply Flowers, Isle of Skye. Flowers were a beautiful mix of roses, thistles, and other wild-like flowers.

The Cake

Ages ago, I made wedding cakes for fussy brides and I vowed then, I would never be one of those people! We wanted something that those with dietary restrictions or different tastes could also enjoy dessert so we worked with Cakey Pangs on Isle of Skye to have an assortment of 3 small cakes that were simply decorated but delicious!

We chose:

Vegan chocolate

Courgette, coconut & lime

Lemon, elderflower, & blueberry

They were divine!

Your Photographer

The FABULOUS Maureen Du Preez and her husband, Chris Du Preez. No film – though Maureen made a very lovely slideshow.

The Details & Décor

We were there for the natural scenery so did not worry too much on the details! Our wedding dinner was in Sligachan’s hotel dining room and it was just beautiful the way it was! The windows looked out at the Cuillins and there was a fire to keep us cozy while we ate the delicious meal prepared by the Sligachan Hotel.

The Honeymoon

Technically, a destination wedding doesn’t really need a honeymoon but we had an official honeymoon a few months later. We chose the island of São Miguel in the Azores! Warm weather and hiking – perfect!

Memorable Moments

Walking out of the hotel with my mother and seeing everyone gathered on the old bridge (including my husband who I’d managed to keep my dress a secret from).

Having the long hike into the Glen with everyone.

It was also fabulous to hear the bagpipes being played in the Glen while all of our favourite people were gathered around us. For most of the people there, it was their first time visiting Scotland and Skye and it was really special to share our favourite place with them.

The most memorable moment was when we realized that I had forgot the marriage license paperwork back in the hotel room (after we’d walked more than half a mile in) and Chris Du Preez ran to and back from the hotel with it, literally saving our marriage! ?

Advice For Other Couples

Our advice is to do what YOU want. Looking back, all our stress was mostly worrying about what other people wanted which was totally unnecessary!

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Also, big shout out to Elizabeth McNiven at the Portree Office who helped us work out our marriage license!

Wow! So special.

Jess and Mac thank you so much for sharing your epic Isle of Skye elopement with us, it looked truly memorable xo Lou