Nick and Haley reading their vows on top of the world.

From the initial contact from these guys to myself, it was as though we were literally made for one another.

Nick and Haley, from Nevada, had already interviewed a couple of Scottish photographers (sayyyy whaaaat!?!?!), but they didn't feel that they were 'the one' (YAY!).  Haley found me on Instagram one evening whilst she was on the sofa 'I'VE FOUND HER' she elated.  Nick was so confused, 'found who?'.. 'Our photographer' she replied.  We met on zoom, which was when Nick realised too, that I was the one.

We discussed their elopement plans, why Skye?  Why Scotland? And discussed all things ‘them’. They explained how they had met initially at college, and would meet over, and over again amongst mutual friends at parties, but each time Nick didn’t remember who Haley was, even though Haley did.  They were both in relationships during these meetings, until the last meeting when Haley and Nick were both single, and finally she had enough of this ‘Mr. Never remembers me’ and she introduced herself AGAIN, with a little help from the vodka soda’s... it's safe to say, he never forgot her again.  Fast forward 10 years and they were eloping in Skye after making their marriage official in Nevada before leaving for the UK.

We discussed what was important to them, and whether they had a celebrant.  They explained that they didn’t have a celebrant planned yet, and I explained that my partner wanted to start her celebrancy journey and right away Haley said ‘we will have her, it all just seems so perfect’.  So Chloe the Celebrant was born and she got to work straight away on their service.

Chloe and I packed our bags and our walking boots and headed to the airport.  We flew into Inverness and headed to collect our hire car.  Too many people had hired the ‘standard’ vehicle at their branch and therefore had to upgrade someone… I of course had to step into action, ‘IT’S MY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!!’, ‘Sold’… they upgraded our vehicle to a BRAND new (second person to ever drive it)… silver AMG.  What a beauty, I thought ‘amazing, as I am driving my bride and groom around Skye in a couple of day, so this is IDEAL! A chauffeur in style.’

We drove to our apartment and got straight to work on planning the route.  The next morning we headed up to the North of Skye, pinning beautiful locations en route.  We made our way to Neist point, which is where I imagined their ceremony would be held.  I revisited their questionnaire and their timeline of the day, but they had popped in that they would like their ceremony held at Dunscaith Castle Ruins… I spoke to Haley that evening when they had reached their hotel down the road.  I asked why they had chosen Dunscaith and they explained that it was due to a recommendation from the Scottish photographer that they had spoken to before me.  I confirmed that there was no sentimental reason before suggesting the lighthouse location.  Haley replied, ‘wow, absolutely yes.  My father and I used to visit lighthouses together, that was our thing’, needless to say, we quickly changed the timeline to the one we had planned.

The morning of their elopement, we headed to their hotel where we found Haley in a serene white cosy number getting ready in the main lounge/bedroom, with Nick hidden in the second bedroom, alone.

Haley was so relaxed, doing her make up by the window.  Nick was sat drinking his glass of champagne.

Once Haley was ready, we got Nick outside ready to have his first look with his bride.  They were back to back until I gave them the go ahead to open their eyes.  Nick was BLOWN away by Haley and was utterly speechless.  Once they had admired one another, we hopped into the beautiful AMG and made our 2 hour journey up the island.  We bonded in the car over the differences in Americanisms and English terms.  The journey FLEW, and soon enough we were like friends we’d never not known.  We reached Neist point where we battled with the wind, up to the point where you could just see the Lighthouse popping in between Nick and Haley’s bodies.  Chloe positioned herself in front of them in order to host their service.  Chloe spoke about the colours of the fabric that were to fast their hands together, their story and how they would exchange their vows.  Nick and Haley took it in turns to exchange beautiful words to one another, the only people who heard was them as the wind whipped their voices away no further than each others ears.  Beautifully intimate.

Chloe then tied their hands together in a hand fasting ceremony, bonding them for life.

Once their ceremony was complete, we made our way back to the car and Chloe took over driving so I could shout ‘Stop’ at any of the previously pinned locations on the map.  We stopped everywhere, except for a place I had nicknamed ‘Sheepville’, a place where we had seen all the sheep hanging about, and I have envisioned Nick and Haley embracing amongst a herd, but to be honest- they wouldn’t have stuck about, the sheep are quite scared of us it would appear!  We stopped off at a little coffee shop for a well deserved hot vanilla oat latte, which turned out to be both mine and Haley’s order!

We stopped at beaches, waterfalls and picturesque roads, totally encapsulating this beautiful island.  The rain held off all day, apart from when we were at the waterfall- IDEAL!  I’d always wanted it to be raining and dramatic at the waterfall, and the weather totally understood the assignment!  Nick and Haley held one another as they soaked in the elements, totally in love.

We had so much fun, adventuring around that the hours whizzed by.  We ended up back at their hotel for an outfit change and for them to cut their cake!  Their cake had been ordered for the wrong date so they had to buy an M&S one that their florist, Emma from Skye Bloom, pimped to a beautiful vintage looking cake with matching florals.  Nick and Haley penned with black icing ‘Just married’ onto their cake.  Haley changed from this long dress into a flirty little spicy number with the most gorgeous shoes!  She touched up her make up and refreshed her locks for dinner.  They cut their cake next to the piano in the sitting room of their hotel and had a little dance.  We popped a bottle of champagne at the front of their hotel and celebrated their elopement.

That was it, the end of our time together.  It was time for Nick and Haley to go and enjoy a well deserved hot meal in the comfort of their gorgeous hotel.

I will never forget Nick and Haley, a dream elopement that I was able to shoot, with my partner at my side.  What a life.  Forever grateful for them.