Weather is unpredictable (especially in Scotland!), and when you shoot weddings and elopements you have to be ready to work with whatever conditions you’re given. Extreme weather can be difficult to work around, and as a photographer you need to have a backup plan to cover anything that might arise. Sometimes though, extreme weather comes as a blessing, as this was one of those times!
We could not have gotten any luckier with the weather for this elopement shoot up at Glenshee in the Scottish Highlands. Planned by myself and my very talented friend and florist extraordinaire, Amanda of The Floral Design Boutique, our vision was to create a shoot full of romantic winter wedding inspiration. We knew there were no guarantees, but our hope was to have some snow on the ground at the very least, and if we managed to get some light snowflakes in there too that would be even better.
As such, we scheduled our shoot for the end of February, thinking that was our best chance for a snowfall and chose a beautiful spot up at Glenshee in the highlands of Scotland. We planned our shoot months in advance, along with creative input from makeup artist and hair stylist Lesley of Pamper & Polish, and recently married couple Melissa & Ross who were than willing to get all dressed up in their wedding attire again! We found out just a few days before that the massive Beast from the East storm was due to hit the following day, and with yellow travel warnings in place and we had to make the call the morning of our shoot- do we risk it? A two hour drive each way in the snow, up some very narrow and windy roads and there was no guarantee we would make it up and get our photos done in time to beat the weather.
Thankfully everyone involved was feeling a bit adventurous (my kind of people) and we decided to give it a go! We were rewarded with the PERFECT conditions for our efforts, albeit a lot colder temperatures than we would have liked (Melissa was an absolute rockstar running around in the snow in her dress!) but when the snow started falling it all felt very worthwhile. We got our dreamy romantic snowfall and we all managed to make it home safely just in time for the worst of the storm to hit. Sometimes being a little bit adventurous really pays off!
Check out some of my favourite images below for a wee bit of winter wedding inspiration! If you’re considering a winter elopement in Scotland, I would love to hear more about it! Get in touch at hello@rhiannoneale.com or fill out my contact form here.
