An Epic Adventurous Isle of Skye Elopement

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What better way to commence your wild new adventure of life together than running away to the Isle of Skye, raincoats and hiking boots in tow, for a destination elopement?! Today’s real couple started their marriage together in an epic fashion.

With very little to plan – thanks to their experienced adventure wedding planner & photographer – Briony and Collin got to focus mostly on fashion (score!) Knowing they’d be hiking through rugged terrain and likely showered upon the couple focused light-weight wedding attire with versatile accessories. This meant rugged mountain boots, modern rain slickers, a hooded bridal cape and totally adventurous attitude.

Finding the perfect dress for the occasion proved to be the most difficult. Searching online and in shops, Briony struggled to find a weather appropriate gown that still fit her style. Eventually, Rock the Frock & bridal designer Milamira came to the rescue creating a custom wedding dress that combined her favorite elements of a few different gowns. The result was both romantic and weather appropriate.

Our Love Story

I’m Briony and I’m from the UK, my Husband is Collin and he’s originally from Zimbabwe. We now live together in the UK. We met through my sister; Collin was in the UK working on the same farm as my sister’s then-boyfriend. We had heard of each other through my sister and seen each other once or twice in the local village pub before we met properly, which happened when we both went to London with a group of people to watch my brother running the London Marathon. We then met again at a party at my sister’s house and we started dating not long after that.

Collin booked a trip to Bruges as my birthday present as I’d always wanted to go. We had been together for almost five years. Collin bought a ring before we went (which I didn’t know) and the whole weekend we were walking around Bruges he had the ring in his pocket trying to decide where to propose. He said later that he was so nervous because I like to put my hands in his pocket to keep them warm!

In the evening we were walking next to a canal on our way to dinner when he asked if we could sit down on a bench by the canal. He sat for ages waiting for people to stop walking past, and I wondered what was going on! Then, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said “Yes”.

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The Dress & Attire

I knew I wanted long sleeves and needed the dress to be light as we’d be doing lots of walking on the day. I went to Rock the Frock in Chelmsford; I loved that their dresses were different, and much more my style. I tried on a couple of dresses by Milamira Bridal that I really liked, but they weren’t exactly right. Rock the Frock were amazing, they spoke to Milamira to see if we could make some changes to one dress that I liked and use the long sleeves from another. Milamira made the dress just for me, so I hadn’t actually seen it until it arrived ready for my first fitting, and it turned out perfectly!

Collin already had a lightweight blue DKNY suit from Moss Bros. that he liked and wanted to wear, so that part was easy. He bought a couple of ties and pocket squares from ASOS to choose from.

We knew that we’d need boots and warm jackets for an outdoor wedding on the Isle of Skye. I found a grey pair with bronze trim from Timberland that were perfect, and we got Collin a matching brown pair to go with his blue Suit. The boots were perfect on the day, they were really comfortable and kept our feet warm and dry all day. We also got matching jackets from Superdry, grey for me and black for Collin. They were a brilliant choice, even though it was August it was definitely cold that day in Scotland. We have both worn our jackets and boots since the wedding, and we love that we got things we can keep using in real life!

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Favorite Moments

Our favourite part of the day was the ceremony, we weren’t even worried that it rained. I had nightmares about a big wedding, so what we chose was perfect as it was just us, our mums and Reverend Sandor. We chose a spot on the edge of Raasay Island where the land jutted out, so we were standing on this tiny bit of land with a huge dramatic background of the sea and the mountains of the Isle of Skye in the distance. The scenery on Raasay is breathtaking and in the photos, it’s just amazing.

My mum walked with me to where Collin was waiting, and Collin’s mum read Corinthians 13 for us with tears in her eyes. It was really meaningful for us to include our mums in our ceremony, as we both lost our fathers when we were children, and for both of us it has really been our mums who have been there for us for all the ups and downs in our lives.

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“I also had a cloak with a great fluffy hood that I wore for the ceremony, which was a last minute find on Ebay. I love things with hoods! I was pretty grateful for it as it rained during our ceremony, and I probably stayed the driest out of us all.”

– Bride Briony

Family Heirlooms & Jewelry

I had a pearl headband made by Pearls by Tabs for Collin’s elder sister to wear for her wedding a couple of years ago. She gave it back to me when we were engaged, for me to use if I wanted. My sister and mum also lent me the hair pieces from their own weddings, and I choose between the three pieces on the day of the wedding. I chose the headband to help my hair stay in place in the wind!

For jewellery, my sister lent me an antique locket necklace that she wore on her wedding day (which has a picture of my dad in it), and my grandmother lent me her engagement ring, which I wore on my right hand. She had previously lent it to me to wear when my engagement ring was being resized. I wore the same pair of earrings that I wear almost every day, they were a present from Collin a couple of years ago.

We had our rings made by a jeweller who is a family friend, Simon Rees. He used gold that my grandmother gave us, and we were there to watch him melt down the gold and make it into the rings. We really appreciate that our rings are unique to us and that they both came from the same gold.

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Advice to Other Couples

The other advice we’d give is that it’s ok to throw out the rulebook and do what you want as a couple, not what everyone else thinks you should do. Keep the bits of tradition that you like and forget the bits that you don’t. Collin and I both got to put on hiking boots on our wedding day, which is much more ‘us’ than heels and fancy shoes would have been.

We were worried initially about offending people by not inviting them, but actually, everyone was so supportive and we’ve had so many nice comments from people. If friends and family care about you, they’ll want you to do what makes you happy, and they won’t care less that you didn’t have a ten-tier wedding cake or 500 white doves.