Home > Uniquely Unspoilt Magazine > Issue 21 > Romantic Scotland
~~ Romantic Scotland ~~
From shotgun weddings at Greta Green to Madonna's Skibo Castle nuptials, more and more couples are opting for the dramatic scenery of Scotland as a backdrop for their wedding and/or honeymoon.
Weddings
With Scots law placing the emphasis on the qualification of the person officiating at the ceremony rather than the location, anywhere from an isolated beach to the Falkirk Wheel is a potential wedding venue.
Both the National Trust for Scotland and Historic Scotland rent out properties for ceremonies, ranging from ancient medieval castles to city townhouses.
There are also several possibilities for marrying on water, including sailing to Inchcolm Island on the Maid of the Forth to marry in the abbey.
Alternatively you could go for a Jacobite cruise on Loch Ness or hop aboard the Silver Marlin on Loch Lomond. Only half an hour from Glasgow, it's the most accessible and renowned of Scotland's lochs and is often referred to as the gateway to the Highlands.
The only limit seems to be your imagination, it seems, with "I do" having already echoed from Edinburgh Zoo - one couple even had their photographs taken in the penguins' enclosure.
If even that seems too conventional then there's always the option of following in the footsteps of one couple who tied the knot at Tynecastle football stadium in Edinburgh, home of their beloved team Hearts of Midlothian. Apparently the minister played along despite being a Dundee United fan - and even put on a Hearts top after the ceremony.
Equally unconventional are two intrepid souls who took their vows in the safari tank at Deep-Sea World, North Queensferry, surrounded by 130 guests, more than 3500 fish and seven sand tiger sharks. They wore special diving suits adapted to look just like real wedding outfits.
But old favourite Greta Green, just over the border from England, remains popular to this day. Originally favoured for its handy location and the fact that couples could marry at 16 rather than 21 in England, it was immortalised when Lydia raced north of the border with her soldier lover in Pride and Prejudice. Currently more than 4,000 couples get married there every year - about 13% of all weddings carried out in Scotland - and in 2005 people travelled from as far afield as Australia and South Africa to the Dumfriesshire town to tie the knot.
Places to visit on honeymoon
The romantic opportunities offered by the Scottish countryside are endless. There's the dramatic scenery of Buachaille Etive Beag (meaning 'small shepherd of Glen Etive' in Gaelic) in Glen Coe, the instantly-recognisable view of Eilean Donan Castle, Loch Duich, near Kyle of Lochalsh, or the spectacular silver sands of Morar in Mallaig.
A more unusual site is the little-visited Loch Awe near Crianlarich, the longest freshwater loch in Scotland, which has the romantic ruins of Kilchurn Castle at its northeastern tip between the villages of Dalmally and Lochawe. The ruin can be visited by boat from the pier in Lochawe village.
The following holiday cottages are relevant to this article:
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