Mel and Joe's small, rainy St Andrews wedding at The Hide

Mel and Joe got married in St Andrews, Fife, in the rain. A tiny ceremony under The Arches by the University after the morning’s storm covered their beach, an ice cream stop at Janetta’s Gelato, then dinner and dancing at The Hide in St Andrews with around 25 of their closest family and friends. Call it a relaxed wedding or an elopement with a party. Either way, it was done exactly the way they wanted.

St Andrews, one of the best corners of Scotland to shoot in

As a Scottish wedding photographer based just outside Edinburgh I love the chance to travel to different corners of Scotland, and St Andrews is one of the best. The town is known for three things:

1. Being the birthplace of golf (a controversial point of debate for some).
2. One of the world’s best universities.
3. Janetta’s Gelato, an ice cream shop that has been going since 1908 and was the perfect spot to hide from the rain for some St Andrews wedding photos.

Scrapping the hotel package

Mel and Joe got in touch a couple of years before the wedding, originally planning a more traditional, medium-sized venue wedding. In the nicest way possible, same old, same old. Over the two years between, we’d shared enough life milestones that by the wedding I felt like this pair were just friends.

So when they got in touch to say the normal wedding package at a hotel wasn’t going to be what their day looked like, I knew we were in for something special.

They cut the guest list to their closest family and friends, planned an even smaller ceremony with just their two kids and two witnesses, and we were heading to St Andrews beach.

A beach wedding in Scotland, and what the tide did about it

A wedding on a beach in Scotland, surely that’s risky with the weather, I hear you ask?

Correct. The winds and storms of the morning had dragged the tide right in, covering their secluded cove.

Luckily I’d scouted St Andrews a few weeks earlier, so we redirected the Fairmont St Andrews shuttles and they got married under The Arches just outside the University instead.

A calm morning at the Fairmont, umbrellas up through the old streets

Instead of a generic hotel wedding, they had a relaxed, calm morning with their kids at the Fairmont St Andrews, then a rainy adventure through the old St Andrews streets with the umbrellas up.

We went for ice cream with their girls before heading to The Hide for dinner and some dancing with around 25 of their closest family and friends.

It’s your wedding, do it your way

This wedding is testament to what I spend my days shouting from the rooftops. It’s your wedding, do it your way.

Oh, and if it’s raining, embrace it, throw up the umbrellas and let’s go on an adventure.