A Beach Wedding on Lewis
Careen & John Laird - Dail Mor beach, Isle of Lewis
A wedding of many firsts!
Shooting John & Careen’s wedding was a real joy, from the moment we sat down for our first meeting I could tell this was a wedding I absolutely had to shoot. Not many couples are brave enough to have a beach wedding here on the Isle of Lewis given the unpredictability year round for harsh weather but as they further explained that they were both keen surfers, the idea of a surfers wedding was too good of an opportunity to miss. Luckily, our beaches unlike our weather here are absolutely world class and they had settled on the stunning beach of Dalmore (Dail Mòr in Gàidhlig) on the West side of Lewis, featuring dramatic cliffs that flank the spectacular beach view across the North Atlantic.
It was everything a wedding should be, it surprised and delighted on more than one occasion (I had never seen guests get changed into wetsuits to go surfing straight after a ceremony till then!). Their day was both fun and deeply personal, from the many hand made decorations such as giant ‘love’ sign and surf board table names made by John, to the bridal party all running into the sea it, made my job of capturing it a truly refreshing experience.
An interesting side story was one that could have almost ended the couples hopes of their favourite beach wedding when, shortly after our booking meeting where we had discussed how to plan for the unexpected, for things such as inclement weather and back up spots for photos, well absolutely nothing prepared either of us for what happened a few weeks later. A terrible accident at sea during a fierce Atlantic storm cast adrift an oil rig being towed due for scrap called the Transocean Winner making news headlines when it ran aground, on of all places, on our beautiful Dail Mòr beach! Thankfully salvage teams from all over the world pitched in and safely removed it without leaving a trace allowing John & Careen’s wedding to go ahead as planned. A reminder if ever there was one, to always plan for the unexpected!
As I said, a wedding of many firsts!