Annie & Steven Elopement in Glencoe

Annie and Steven were due to get married in Northumberland, until COVID put a stop to those plans. They then decided to elope to one of their favourite places in the world and asked if I would join them! I of course jumped at the opportunity and here’s how they did it. 

My drive up to Glencoe was magical. Once you pass Glasgow and into the countryside the scenery is just breathtaking. By the time I got to Glencoe it was dark and the roadside was full of wild stags eyes staring back at me. It really was a sight to behold! The weather forecast didn’t look good for the next day, with Storm Aiden heading over the Atlantic and sure enough I was woken in the middle of the night, when my hotel window swung open and rain and wind come howling in. I lay there thinking, what on earth am I going to do tomorrow?

I was up early and after a full Scottish Breakfast, I went for a recce around Glencoe Lochan, before the ceremony. It was pouring down but Annie and Steven were determined to get married on a jetty overlooking the Loch. I then caught up with them both at the absolutely stunning Glencoe House. They were both chilling in their bath robes and were so relaxed, despite the Scottish monsoon outside! 

They then proceeded to get ready in different rooms and I just jumped between the two and captured it as it happened. Annie had Adele Houston on Hair and Jennifer Claire on make up. They also kept Annie laughing throughout. Once Annie was ready, I looked out the window and noticed we had a break in the rain. I got Steven to stand outside on the terrace and Annie came out to meet him. When Steven turned around for their first look, it was such a sweet moment and he even shed a few tears, with the stunning Loch Levan in the background. We then had a short walk up to Glencoe Lochan for the ceremony on the jetty. Claire the Humanist was brilliant and had us all laughing, with her stories and tales of Annie and Steven. Halfway through the ceremony, the heavens opened again and we whipped out the umbrellas. One umbrella blew inside out and the other one nearly took Annie off into the highlands! They read their personal promises to each other in the rain, which was beautiful and then Claire suggested we finish the ceremony off in the woodland just behind us. After their first kiss and shared a wee dram of whisky and then it was hugs and smiles all around! 

We headed back to the House for a quick glass of Champagne and then looked out of the window, as the 50mph winds blew the rain sideways across the Loch! We were all still determined to get into the mountains, so hopped into my car and headed to the famous little white house. As we parked up, the winds and rain were worse than ever and the storm was totally battering my car. We waited a while and there was no let up, so just decided to go for it. We put on our coats and jumped out of the car and got into position. I talked through the shots I wanted and then they quickly whipped of their coats and we went for it! Looking at the times on the photographs I took, we had 4 minutes from the first photo to the last! This is the quickest I’ve ever had to work in and we were all absolutely soaked through, even after such a short space of time! We ran back to the car for shelter and looked through what I’d captured. After a 10 minute break we had one last quick shoot for around 1 minute, just outside the car. The wind was blowing the rain directly into my camera and I still don’t know to this day, how it continued to work in that weather. This was easily the worst conditions I’ve ever been in, never mind photographed in. I drove us back to the house and we all got dried off and laughed at what we’ve just been through. 

Once I got home, I couldn’t wait to look through their photographs and edited some previews for them. I honestly think the storm made the photographs even more special and one of their photographs was Highly Commended in the Junebug Best of the Best Awards and was also featured in Your Perfect Wedding Photographers Best Photographs of 2020. A huge thanks to Annie and Steven for not only asking me to capture their elopement but also for braving the worst conditions I’ve ever known (see video above showing just how bad it was!!) You guys are total legends and I can’t wait to party with you both at the end of 2021 for your wedding reception! 

Here are the suppliers that really made the day so special for Annie and Steven:

Venue: Glencoe House

Hair: Adele Houston Hair

Make Up: Jennifer Claire Make Up

Humanist: Claire the Humanist

Photography: Eye of the Tyne Photography

Dress: Wed2B

Flowers: The Whole Sch-bang

Suit: Mr Munro