Spotlight on: Holiday Let Wedding Venues

November 12, 2019by lauraw0

If you’re familiar with Scotland, we won’t need to remind you that it is a country packed with all kinds of gorgeous! From serrated snow-capped peaks, ancient woodlands and mile-deep lochs to towns and cities bursting with energy and packed with tales from the dim distant past, Scotland has got it ALL going on. Therefore, it should come as no surprise at all to hear that for the sixth consecutive year, the land of heather and haggis has outperformed the rest of the UK in attracting visitors, but what has Scotland’s tourism industry got to do with the wonderful world of wedding planning we hear you ask?

Well, as a direct consequence of the surge in tourism, countless holiday lets have sprung onto the self-catering market, and that, brides and grooms-to be, is very good news for you! From recently renovated bijoux country houses to cosy and characterful farmsteads, in the past few years, huge swathes of incredible self-catering holiday lets, or how Team Fuze like to think of them – alternative wedding venues – have popped up all over Scotland.

Many of these properties make for PERFECT elopement and micro-wedding venues where couples are free to celebrate their love without having to endure all the stress that can be associated with the wedding planning process. Lately, we have become slightly obsessed with holiday let weddings for SO MANY REASONS, here’s our top six:

Variety: Because holiday house rentals come in all shapes, sizes and locations, there is truly something out there for every couple. For a tiny luxe elopement for two, check out Craighead Tree Howf in Perthshire, where couples can enjoy an intimate ceremony in the beautiful grounds before champagne toasting their newlywed status by the fire-pit. Or how about a hillside micro-wedding with an uninterrupted Ben Nevis backdrop at Lone Pine Lodge near Fort William?

Flexibility: Having the flexibility to handpick wedding suppliers for your special day is a MASSIVE bonus. Couples are often restricted by a venue’s preferred suppliers. Renting a holiday house offers a huge amount of flexibility in terms of catering, music, timings, ceremony location etc. The list is endless.

Individuality: Individuality and personality were the wedding buzz words of 2019 and this ethos is set to continue to soar throughout 2020/21. By selecting a holiday house to host their wedding, couples will naturally gravitate towards a property that represents who they are; one that feels authentic to their taste and style. Therefore, by renting your dream holiday house, the lion’s share of the work in create a feeling of “you” will already be done.

Less stress: Generally speaking, holiday lets are rented on a weekly basis, so couples are effectively blessed with the gift of time (both before and after their big day), thus massively reducing any last minute stress by adding oodles of time for couples to put any finishing touches to the décor.

Multi-purpose: Couples may not ordinarily splurge on such a fabulous rental for their run of the mill summer holiday; therefore, a week long rental effectively kills three glorious birds with one sugarcoated stone! By having their ceremony and reception at their chosen holiday let, couples can then go onto use the remainder of their stay as a mini-moon.

Affordability: Finally, all of the above combines to allow for substantial savings to be made. From the aforementioned and spectacularly located Lone Pine Lodge available at £900 a week to the high-end luxury retreat, Oran-na-Mara, available from £2000 a week, couples can combine their rehearsal, ceremony, reception and honeymoon for a fraction of the usual price, freeing them up to splurge if they want (caterers, wedding stylist, harpist etc) or make further savings (homemade food, handpicked flowers, playlists etc). The world is your oyster!

The wedding of Lynsey & Graham Angus

One of our favourite holiday let weddings of 2019 has to be the beautiful beachside nuptials of Lynsey & Graham Angus, who exchanged vows at Driftwood House near Arisaig.

For Lynsey & Graham, Driftwood House was the perfect location for their late summer wedding for a whole world of reasons. First and foremost, Arisaig was the location of the couple’s first ever holiday together back in 2016 and a place that they have continually visited with their fur-baby, Angus, ever since. Not only was the area significant in terms of their journey as a couple, Lynsey & Graham are also huge lovers of the great outdoors, having a particular obsession with the Scottish coastline, so what better place to say “I do” than above one of Scotland’s most jaw-droppingly beautiful beaches, Camusdarach! Finally, Lynsey & Graham were looking for a stylish property that reflected their personalities and one that could accommodate a small ceremony and reception for twenty of their nearest and dearests. Enter Driftwood House!

Nestled on a hillside between two heathery mounds, Driftwood House occupies a truly spectacular position with undisturbed sea and island views. The property makes for the ideal rental for those planning an elopement or micro-wedding due to its private location, romantic appeal (sunset gazing – check, hot tub – check, wood burner – check) and ceremony options (couples can say “I do” on the beach, terrace or in either of the reception spaces at the property).

Lynsey & Graham chose to check-in the Friday before their Sunday wedding, which allowed plenty of time to both decorate the property and take a relaxing sunset cruise with family and friends the evening before the big day!

The happy couple were married by Celebrant, Paula Wilkinson, and chose to have their ceremony on the terrace with the Small Isles and Camusdarach beach as their backdrop. After the ceremony, champagne was popped and local caterer, Claire Gunner, dropped by to whip up a delicious three course feast fit for a King & Queen. Once the sun set on their beautiful day, wedding guests retired back to Arisaig Hotel in the nearby village and Lynsey & Graham had the run of Driftwood House for the rest of the week. The perfect way to spend their first week as newlyweds.