Sophie and Alasdair

Sophie + Alasdair

At the start of May I traveled to Islay to photograph Sophie and Alastair’s outdoor beach wedding. Although I love a good local wedding I do also like to travel around Scotland. Photographing beautiful weddings against the gorgeous back drop that our wee country has to offer us is such a treat.Never having been to Islay I did not know what to expect although I had heard that it’s a tad windy no matter the season. 

Off I traveled to the ferry port and began my journey to this gorgeous island, the ferry ride was a pleasant one and I was lucky to have a very calm crossing, which was to set the tone for the whole weekend as the sun shone from the minute I left Glasgow until I left Islay 5 days later. 

I met up with Sophie the day before the wedding at the farm house where her wedding was being held. I arrived amidst the hustle and bustle of loads of family and friends helping to create this gorgeous wedding. A large marquee had been erected and there was Alasdair and his friends loading large logs onto the grass in front of the beach. Inside the house were many bags of treasures and items being fixed and sorted to create centre pieces and loads of little details for inside and out the marquee. Having a look around the area I knew the wedding was going to be a spectacular one and I couldn’t wait for the next day. 

As I arrived on the morning of the wedding the girls were calm and having a lovely relaxed morning being pampered ahead of the ceremony, everyone had worked hard organising everything the day before and the marquee and seating area for the ceremony was fabulous. Sophie’s dad surprised her with a red tractor as her wedding transport and off they went for the 2 minute journey down to the beach. Although the sun was shining the wind well that was something else, check Sophie out fighting her veil. 

Alasdair and Sophie opted for a short but sweet ceremony led by one of the argyle and Bute registrars and also incorporated a hand fasting into the ceremony. 

Afterwards Sophie’s dad picked us up in a pick up and took us to laggin bay where the water is blue and aqua and the sand a beautiful creamy white a gorgeous back drop for personal portraits. Later in the evening we took some more beautiful portraits along the beach before heading to the evening reception where the ceilidh band were set and ready to go. After a good few dances I was ready to head back to my holiday home to my boys and husband but I have a feeling that the party had just begun for Sophie and Alasdair as I left them on the dance floor having a rare time. 

Here are a few images from their amazing day.