About the author:
We’re Katy and Jim, the internationally award-winning husband-and-wife team behind The Caryls Photography. Based in Perthshire on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, we’ve worked with nearly 300 couples since 2017, planning and documenting elopements and intimate weddings across Scotland, from Glencoe and Skye to Torridon, The Cairngorms, and The Borders, as well as in Italy and France. Our cinematic, fine-art imagery blends Scotland’s epic landscapes with heartfelt storytelling to create timeless, deeply personal photographs.
Do We Need An Elopement Planner?
If you’re planning on eloping in Scotland, just the two of you, you may be wondering whether you actually need a Scotland Elopement Planner, or whether you can just organise your Scotland elopement adventure yourselves?
There is no right or wrong answer to this. But there are a few things to consider, which could swing it either way:
1) Have You Visited Scotland Before?
Have you been to Scotland before? If the answer is ‘yes’, and you are familiar with the area that you are planning to elope in, and you already have accommodation in mind, then it’s possible that you can handle planning your elopement wedding day without the assistance of an elopement planner.
If the answer is ‘no’, then having some planning assistance will be a real help to you, especially if you are travelling from abroad. Those scenic locations that you may have seen on Instagram could be very different in reality (imagine arriving at what you’d thought was a peaceful and private ceremony location, only to discover hundreds of cars and tour buses there!) The Instagram versus Reality issue is very real. You want to be sure that you have local knowledge and expertise feeding into your plans for your day.
2) How much time to you have?
Do keep in mind, though, that even if you are familiar with Scotland, you probably haven’t experienced an elopement wedding day. So you will be doing a lot of Googling and in-depth research to find your supplier team (celebrant, florist, hair & make-up, restaurant/ private chef etc), and this could prove extremely time-consuming.
3) How familiar are you with elopement weddings?
Scotland elopement planners and elopement photographers will have experienced lots and lots of elopement weddings in Scotland, so they know all the best people in each supplier category. They will know tried and trusted suppliers who can be relied upon to give you a great all-round experience. So having some planning help can save you a lot of Googling time and also give you peace of mind that all of the suppliers that you are booking will be really excellent.
4) How many people will join you?
If you are eloping with friends and family (especially if you have more than about 8–10 guests) then we would 100% recommend getting some planning assistance, especially if you are travelling to Scotland from abroad.
5) Where will your friends and family stay?
If you are planning an elopement wedding in Scotland with more than about 10 people, then your day will go much more smoothly if you have accommodation for all of your guests to stay together, and for you all to celebrate together in the evening. This means that no-one has to drive home at the end of the night. Taxis are very few and far between in the Scottish Highlands, and there’s no Uber. Also, Scotland’s drink driving laws are much stricter than a lot of other places, so you can’t have a few glasses of wine over dinner and then get behind the wheel.
6) How far will you need to travel on your elopement day?
Do be aware that what can look like a relatively short distance on the map can actually take twice the time that you might experience to drive, if you are navigating winding, single-track Scottish roads in the dark. So if you’re booking a variety of different accommodation options for your guests, they can end-up being miles away from you. This makes for a bit of a logistical nightmare on the day, which is why we strongly recommend that you and your guests all stay together in the same location.
What Can A Scotland Elopement Planner Help With?
So, what exactly does an elopement planner do and what can they help you with? A good elopement planner can help you with pretty much every aspect of your wedding day. Everything from the ceremony location you choose, the accommodation you stay in, what you eat on your wedding day, and how your photos turn-out. A good Scotland elopement planner can set you up for a romantic, stress-free wedding day, helping you to create amazing memories that you will treasure forever, and shoulder a lot of the wedding planning workload for you.
Location, Location, Location
A Scotland elopement planner can help you to narrow down which part of Scotland you want to get married in, based on your ideas about the sort of landscape backdrop and atmosphere that you want for your day. This will be unique to every couple, which is what makes elopement weddings so unique!
If you are mountain-lovers, your elopement planner can suggest a variety of mountain elopement locations, based on your fitness levels, and how much hiking you want to do on your day. If you are history lovers, then your elopement planner can suggest some historic castle locations that date-back centuries. You can tread in the footsteps of the kings and queens of Scotland in days gone by. If your planner is also your photographer, they will know how long it’s likely to take to get to a specific location; when in the day the light will be at its best; and how to modify the plan in the spare of the moment if the weather isn’t going your way.
Accommodation options
Once you have narrowed down your elopement location, your elopement planner can suggest a variety of different accommodation options (both hotels and airbnb’s) depending on your budget and the vibe that you want for your day. Do you wake-up in a luxury boutique hotel on the morning of your wedding day, or a cute, cosy cottage in the middle of nowhere. The options are endless and the choice is yours!
It’s worth keeping in mind that the accommodation you choose will also be the backdrop for the morning preparations on your wedding day. This part of the day can be really atmospheric and beautiful . . . if you choose the right place. It helps if your elopement planner either has an artistic eye or is a photographer as well. This means that they know how somewhere is going to translate into photography. An interior that looks great in an interior design magazine isn’t necessarily a good backdrop for photographing people in that space. So you want to choose your accommodation with care.
Supplier recommendations
As mentioned above, a Scotland elopement planner can help you find the perfect supplier team for your big day: photographers, videographers, celebrants, hair and make-up, florists, dining options and recommendations for places to visit and places to stay before and after your wedding day etc.
It’s worth asking if a planner will be attending your elopement, to trouble-shoot, should any issues arise on the day. If a planner doesn’t actually attend on the elopement day, then it’s worth considering whether they have personal experience of the suppliers that they’re recommending, and how they know that the day they’ve planned has gone smoothly. It’s just something to consider.
Scotland Elopement Photographer and Planner
As Scotland elopement photographers we also offer a Scotland Elopement Planning service. We’ve photographed over 300+ elopements and counting, so we’ve developed a huge amount of experience when it comes to Scotland elopements, and have a clear sense of what’s going to work well and what’s going to work less-well. So we thought: why don’t we pass-on the benefit of our experience to our couples, to ensure that we set them up for success? And so, our Scotland Elopement Photography and Planning business was born!
If you’re curious to see the people behind the cameras, this is a rare sighting of us in front of the lens below:
Why it’s great to Have an Elopement Planner and Photographer all rolled into one
One of the things that we love about being able to offer couples both photography and planning, is that we’re planning their day with both visuals and logistics in mind, with the ultimate goal of ensuring the best experience across the day. We know which accommodation options are going to make for the most visually beautiful and atmospheric ‘morning preparation’ photos. We have a realistic idea of how long it takes to capture relaxed and unrushed photos of the couple as they get ready in the morning.
As Elopement Photographers and Planners we know the realistic travel time between locations, because we drive them so often. We know which ceremony spots are going to be both scenic, peaceful and beautiful at different times of year; places do change throughout the seasons, both in terms of the look of the landscape and in terms of how busy they are. We know the nicest cafes and restaurants in each area, because we’ve eaten there ourselves. We can also offer outfit advice, because after photographing hundreds of couples in a Scottish Highland setting, we know what’s going to be both comfortable and practical for you to wear on a mountainside, and (crucially!) also look good in photos.
It gives us great pleasure to be able to download a vast amount of experience and information, and to save our couples an enormous amount of Googling time!
If you are interested in hearing more about our past couple’s experience of eloping with us, you can check-out our Google Reviews. They will give you a real feel for what we’re like as people, and what it would be like to plan your Scotland elopement with us!
If you are interested in our Scotland Elopement Photography and Scotland Elopement Planning Packages, and would like to know more about what we offer, feel free to drop us a message via our Contact form.