David & Fi get Hitched in the Highlands at Inshriach House

The most intimidating wedding gig must be shooting for another photographer, but it is also the hugest compliment so when David Anderson contacted me to say that there was no other choice for their wedding I was utterly flattered. Also super excited to find that by sheer coincidence his fiancé Fi had stumbled across my good friend Walters house Inshriach as the ideal venue for their style of wedding.

David and I met years ago in Edinburgh when we were both shooting for Anna and Jonathan Freemantle's amazing fashion event Noir! I was just a rookie photographer still in my first year at college and keen for any opportunity to photograph creative events and interesting people. And it was fantastic to catch up with Anna and Jono at the wedding.

As the day before the wedding came around it was all hands in deck to dress the marquee, untangle bunting and cut branches. I love that when I shoot a wedding at Inshriach I become involved with the wedding party so that the day itself becomes a more intimate affair.

Despite the rain David and Fi pushed forward with the plan to marry atop the hill and it was so beautiful. The elements adding to the drama and majesty of the setting as we stood looking over the Cairngorm mountains.

This was a wedding of passion, intimacy, grounding and love and I adored being a part of its magic.

Food by Good Highland Food

Bridesmaids dresses designed and made by Fi McKay

Bridal dress made by Rowan Joy

Simon + Tanja's Wedding in Aviemore

Aviemore holds a very special place in my heart and I have been going up there for many years so I'm always happy to have a reason to make the 10 hour journey up there to stay with my good friends the Micklethwaits who own and run Inshriach House and Estate. Simon and Tanja made the move 18 months ago from London life to take over Simon's family business to become the third generation to run Pinebank Chalets, turning their life from the daily commute to daily snowboarding.

The wedding took place at the idyllic St John's the Baptist Church, Rothiemurchus. Tanja and the bridal party got ready at the Highlands Hotel and arrived in a 1964 Humber Sceptre MK 1 courtesy of Ross at The Dell of Abernethy and Morris Minor white Cabriolet from Bygone Drives.  As they arrived a handful of snow fell - it was all very pretty and romantic.

You can view the full gallery of images and purchase prints here.  The password is Pinebanks.

Credits:

Food by Good Highland Food.  We ate roasted red pepper, sweet potato, chilli and coconut soup with oak bury crusty organic bread followed by rare roast fillet of Caithness beef with red wine jus, fondant potatoes and parcels of fine beans and Morayshire carrots.  To finish we had panna cotta with a strawberry compote and homemade shortbread.

Flowers by Country Harvest, Kingussie

Dress by Dress 2 Impress, Inverness by San Patrick

Shoes by Irregular Choice

Tipis by Highland Tipis

Hair by The Retreat, Aviemore

Make-up by Kate Higham

Ale by Cairngorm Breweries

Djs were Owen and Gordie from The Old Bridge Inn, Aviemore

The Lazy Duck at Nethy Bridge

So after my epic adventures in America I then retreated up to Aviemore, via a small wedding in Perth (to be blogged about soon), to stay with Walter and Lucy at Inshriach House in anticipation of a wedding I was covering there at the end of the week. Lovely Polly (who owns The Dell of Abernethy cottages which I blogged about here) asked if I would photograph the latest accommodation addition at her parents place, the Lazy Duck at Nethy Bridge, the Woodman's Hut.  The cottage is super cosy with a wood burning stove and a cute box bed which can be closed up at night and has a skylight for stargazing, and windows out into the woods and across to the Caingorms for lazy mornings in bed with a cup of tea.  I had almost finished up there when the sun came out in a last blaze of glory before dipping down behind the mountains and it was absolutely lovely.

The bit at the end is an outdoor shower...

The Lazy Duck Hostel...

Some Lazy Ducks...

Lucy + Simon's highland wedding at Inshriach House

When I met up with Lucy and simon in the summer in Super Pizza on Brick Lane I was delighted - here was a couple with strong creative ideas and lots of input as to the type of photography they wanted. Roll on a few months and I arrived up at Inshriach House, nr Aviemore to find full hands on deck for their homemade village fete style wedding. The marquee on the lawn of the main house was bedecked in the brightly coloured, many metres of bunting that Sophie had worked tirelessly on for the Insider Festival, long trestle tables ran the length, covered with linen and sackcloth and scattered with purple vetch. Wild flowers were in a mix of cut glass vases and jars and the crockery and cutlery were mismatched. Unique place names (the arrangement of which were still being decided on hours before the ceremony!) were handwritten seed mats which could be taken home and planted. As I captured the details in the morning both the bride and groom were wandering in and out seeing to last minute arrangements.

Lucy didnt emerge from the bathroom until about an hour before the ceremony and slipped effortlessly into a trailing vintage style lace dress and enormous platform shoes (Lucy is very petite and Simon well over six feet!) and then I dashed on ahead to meet Simon at the Old Bridge Inn opposite the church - St Aidan's.

The cars were supplied by Bygone Drives in Aviemore with the bride arriving in a beautiful 1954 convertible split screen Morris Minor and her three gorgeous sisters, who were the bridesmaids, in a Bentley.

Whilst the signing of the register took place Lucy's sisters sang and Lucy and Simon peeped out to watch, both very moved. This is a couple so deeply in love that it's expressed strongly in their every interaction, so much so that I was moved to tears just watching them (it's something of an occupational hazard).

I always knew the the couple photographs would have the most spectacular backdrops. I could have shot there all day and we didn't even make it to the farmyard (chickens, tractors, festival props etc) but we did stroll through the fields and past the squash court and bothys.

The owners of Inshriach, Lucy and Walter Micklethwait, perhaps inadvertently,  come as part of the venue fee and are untiring in their efforts to ensure that a wedding on the estate runs like clockwise with nothing being too much trouble (picking vetch at 7am on the wedding day, extra lighting for photobooths at 11pm at night etc) So much so that the grateful bride usual insist they join the guests for the party.  As this bride told me, unlike other venues who are quick to discuss costs and curfews during an enquiry call, Walter simply enthused that a wedding at inshriach is 'amazing!' - sales pitch enough for an openminded couple with imagination.  Where possible they encourage the use of local or connected suppliers (such as myself - I have been going to Inshriach for 10 years) which gives any event a homely and personal touch.

The food, which had a very Scottish flavour, including venison stew and cranachan was supplied by Taste of Moray.  The cake (made by Lucy's sister, layers of coffee and fruit and nut cakes trimmed with wild flowers) was cut and it was onto a waltz for the first dance, played in by Ali and Hazen et al of Ord Ban Music who followed up with a good old barn storming ceilidh (which yours truly couldn't resist joining for a very extended Dashing White Sergeant.

I ended the night with an hour in the teepee cum photobooth with guests scratching out messages for the couple on the blackboard.  It's the first time I've done a photobooth but I really think it brings out the exhibitionist in guests - well, that and a belly full of wine, love and happiness...

(If you were a guest at this wedding, you can view the full album here.  The password is the surname of the groom).