17th – 26th March 2013

We hit the ground running once we got back to England, we literally saw everyone that we could, picked up Peggy and hit the road to Scotland for our next wedding.

We had guests coming along with us this time and we picked them up on route. Alex and Richard were coming on a roadtrip! We got to calling Alex – Girl and Alex – Boy to save confusion!

We had been planning our Scottish wedding for quite some time and it was growing every day. We were so excited and once we knew Alex (girl) and Rich were coming it started to get even bigger…we were planning bridesmaid dresses, best man kilts, and the list went on.

Alex (boy) has roots in Scotland and we were excited to explore them. His Dads family were from Campbeltown and that was where Dennis (Alex -boy’s Dad) grew up. Alex had only visited once as a child and we had managed to get some help from an incredible wedding location in Crear, just several miles from Campbeltown itself, it was going to be perfect.

Anyhoo, we collected Alex (girl) and Rich, hit the supermarket and stocked up on wine and food and made our windy way to the Mull of Kintyre on the west coast of Scotland.

The weather deteriorated and got colder and colder as we got further north and we kept receiving urgent emails from Kate at Crear telling us tales of 6 foot snow drifts, tractor rescues and weddings going ahead regardless of the treacherous conditions to get to the remote village. We saw no signs of snow or ice and wondered if it was all a little bit dramatic, we all know how the British react to a little sprinkling of snow.

As we neared Scotland we began to see the now topped hills and mountains around us and the snow came at us sideways on a few of the major highways. We seemed to drive through it and the sun even shone a little when we arrived in Glasgow to collect our very Scottish attire.

We popped in to Melle Cloche and met the very excited Lisa and Jacqueline who had sourced me not one but TWO dresses from my most favourite designer Lindsay Fleming Bridal (who I had found and followed on social media since the early days of our adventure) and were going to lend me some fantastic accessories for the day. The also had a bridesmaid dress for Alex (Girl) and we excitedly had a little fashion show in the store while the boys waited in Peggy outside.

We met Graham there too. he had driven all the way up North from Devon to shoot our wedding for us. Our great friend Gardner had put us in touch and we were excited to meet him.

Anyway, I go on…next stop was to collect the kilts from Slanj Kilts for all three of the men (poor Graham was getting roped in to the festivities as most of our photographers do), then to collect some going away dresses from the FABULOUS Iona Crawford and then to finally make our way to Crear to meet Kate with whom we had been planning for months on end.

Aware of the weather warnings from Kate but still not really seeing any evidence of any real snow we took it steady along the narrow lane to the cottage. As we bumped along Peggy’s suspension arm came loose once again and we clattered along in true Peggy fashion. The road became narrower and the snow drifts got higher and higher as the night got darker and darker. Before long we were squeezing through embankments of snow 6 feet high and with only just enough room for Peggy’s big behind to get through. The sides of her bumper scraped along the icy mounds and we steadily weaved our way through!

Kate had not been exaggerating at all, the snow had come from nowhere and just seemed to settle in just this one place! We skidded a few times down the lane and almost lost control of the back end as we took a bend a little too quickly but luckily recovered and heeded the warning. We slowly made our way there taking in the stunning scenery all around us. The snow gave way to a rocky beach where seals lay enjoying the dusk and then we slithered inland again and saw white as far as the eye could see. We were beginning to panic that we had passed the cottage when out of nowhere we spotted a white sign well disguised in the snow.

We pulled into the drive and found a rather wrought Kate at the end. The large cottage glowed warm inside and a generator whirred noisily outside…they had lost the power. No electricity the night before a wedding, all the guests were warm inside thanks to the gennie but the panic was for the refrigerated food and drinks for the next day…everything was under control and Kate had handled everything perfectly, the guests seemed blissfully ignorant to the whole panic and within minutes she showed us to our cottage.

Gorgeous Caisealrag cottage was so welcoming, we were so excited to be able to stay there! A full kitchen, under floor heating and a small converted barn attached for sleeping it was perfect.

Kate explained that this was the home of the wee wedding. Small groups like ours can come and stay and have their wedding in the very cottage if they wished or on the beach nearby.

It was late and we were tired from rushing around and travelling so we settled in quickly and felt even more at home when Kate dropped us in a HUGE steak pie for us to pop in the oven to warm through.

We unpacked, filled the fridge, cooked a few veg, opened the wine and sat down to a hot meal at the table. We were all about two mouthfuls in to the pie when we all looked up and pretty much in unison said, “is this the best meat pie you have ever tasted in your life?!” We all agreed and continued to eat the pie pretty much in silence barring the odd murmer of enjoyment. Alan Boslem had prepared the pie for us and I honestly may kill for the recipe!

We slept soundly and got excited for the wedding around the breakfast table the next day. We had a day to explore and Graham was meeting us at the cottage with Crear’s own photographer, Bart, they would make up our party of six.

Before they arrived we wrapped up warm and went for a ‘stroll’ down to the beach to have a look at where we would be holding the ceremony. The private stretch of sand is only accessible through several farmers fields, of course in Scotland there is the Queens land rule and as long as the rules are observed one can walk anywhere.

We followed the path suggested by Kate and in the melting snow and thick mud we made our way to the beach. Once down there it was stunning, the water is as clear as glass and as cold and fresh as newly melted ice. We fought the wind to climb up to an old burial mound on the rocks and marvelled at the colours all around us. This truly was the perfect spot for a Scottish wedding. The family grave was that of the very towns namesake, the Campbells and we all quietly considered how long the family name had lived.

We skimmed stones and watched the wandering rams for as long as we could face the biting wind and then made it back over the top of the hills to the toasty warm cottage.

As we got back Graham and Bart had arrived and we all sat down to some lunch, we talked cameras and kit and weddings and Scotland and anything else we could think of while warming ourselves on a hot pot of tea.

Wedding flowers arrived with Melody from Crear flowers who absolutely summed up her name. She followed a giggle into the room, arms filled with sweet smelling lavender and huge perfectly creamy hydrangeas in tiny glass jam jars. She was like a bubbly colourful sprite with a loving spring in her step and adventure and mischief in her eyes. We talked of travel and flowers and colours as we dotted the flower arrangements all around the cottage! We had ‘talked’ via email and I had pretty much told Melody only a few key words about what I had in mind but completely left her to it and literally got the bouquet I had envisioned in my mind!

She had created button holes for the boys out of Scottish thistles and a posy for Alex (Girl) and myself. As I waved when she left I hoped I would see her again someday!

The afternoon flew by and we talked into the night and even snuck out into the icy evening to take a couple of shots in the pristine snow fields. Not a footprint around us, not a blade of grass, just pure white snow and a clear blue evening sky.

We tucked up once more and began to feel the pre-wedding nerves sneaking up on us! we were so excited and nervous for this wedding. We are for all of them but this one just felt special, we felt connected to the place, we had great friends around us and it just felt like the right place and the right time, there was just one thing missing; Dennis, Alex’s Dad.

We had hoped so much that he could come but with the weather and other factors he just couldn’t make it. We felt him close in our minds and knew he would be with us in our hearts on the big day.