Top tips for getting married on the Isle of Skye

The Isle of Skye is one of the most popular places in the world for couples coming looking to get married, elope, or celebrate an engagement or pre wedding photo session.

With its beautiful landscapes and ever changing weather, it’s clear to see why many couples come to Skye to get married, but it can also be a challenging place to know how to make the most of your trip – and to know what to expect.

A couple of top tips to make the most of your Isle of Skye trip would be:

Be Prepared: The island is beautiful, but often for it’s ruggedness. If you want to enjoy the best views and secret spots of the island, a sense of adventure is essential! It would also help to have a good pair of comfortable shoes or wellington boots – spare socks, an umbrella and a towel will also prove useful at some stage of your photo shoot!

Be Flexible: We can guarantee we’ll do all we can to have a great time – but we can’t beat the weather. Having some flexibility around your plans will always help to make the most of where the best photo opportunities are on the day. There are lots of great locations on the island (and just off it) – sometimes the weather just needs a little time and it’s sometimes worth driving in the opposite direction of the rain.

If you have a ceremony planned as part of your Isle of Skye photo session, then it would help to check ahead with your celebrant to see if they have flexibility over timings with the weather.

Locations can often look vastly different two days apart – the big skies and changing seasons can do that – so don’t get too attached to certain images ahead of time. Your new favourite image is the one we haven’t taken yet!

Go where the tourists don’t: The island is an incredibly popular tourist spot all year round, and some of the most popular spots such as the Fairy Pools and The Old Man of Storr are overly busy. They are great spots, and Google might make them look even better – but there are other great spots to be had, often quieter and more private.

Take Time: Getting around the island can be slow at times, with windy roads and a slower pace of life. That’s all part of the charm and should be enjoyed as part of the experience. You won’t be able to do justice to the island in a couple of hours, and perhaps not even in a couple of days. Give yourself some time to go slow, and enjoy a coffee or a dram in some of your new favourite spots.

Have a backup plan: This one is all about the weather too. The island is popular for outdoor ceremonies – but often you have to work with what you’ve got. Have a plan b lined up in the event of terrible weather, if you don’t need it that’s good news – but it’s always good to have the peace of mind. Having a great and comfortable place to come home to at the end of a days photo exploration is also a wise move.

Book Ahead of time: The island doesn’t have a huge population, relative to the number of tourists who visit all year round. It’s advisable to book your vendors ahead of time, especially for accomodation. Likewise, restaurant and cafe’s can be busy – and often close early – it’s worth booking ahead of time where you can.

You’ll find xcweather.co.uk should have a fairly reliable weather forecast – but it’s normally most reliable about 24-36hrs ahead of time. The island has beautiful spots whatever the weather – you just need a sense of adventure to explore them – so don’t be too focused on what the forecast says.

When I photograph weddings and couples sessions on the island, I normally carry a magic supply of items in my car – you’ll never know what you need ahead of time, but it’s good to be prepared. A change of clothes can be a good insurance to the weather – towels, wet wipes, hand warmers, bottles of water and flasks of tea also come in handy.

Most of my sessions work as a roadtrip across different parts of the island, usually from north to south or vice versa. Where we can, and where timings allow I aim to get couples photographs in the landscape, with seascapes, mountains and fields of heather.

If you’ve got questions about getting married or being photographed on the Isle of Skye please get in touch – I’d love to hear from you!

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