This afternoon's wedding is guaranteed to make your heart catch in your throat. For a start it takes place by the side of a loch - Loch Shiel to be precise - on Glenfinnan Monument beach in Scotland.

Yes folks, this afternoon we've gone beachside.

Bob and Helen decided to break with convention and do a first look before their ceremony cue mad scrambles up a hill and over a river or two. An inspired decision in my personal opinion and absolutely most definitely worth it because the shots of the two of them looking over the loch are breathtaking.

And that's not all - I've decided that Helen's buxom bouquet is possibly one of my favourite wintry bouquets I've seen on these pages - the perfect palette of alabaster tones splashed with the briefest touch of purply violet.

And just wait until you see where Helen and Bob hosted their wedding breakfast - a perfect log cabin-esque inn filled with warmth, log fires and a whole heap of dancing.

Heaven.

Helen The Bride:My dress was called 'Unforgettable' by Ian Stuart which I purchased from La Novia in Edinburgh. It was the first dress I tried on, a sample dress they were selling off as it had been discontinued. It fitted perfectly and only needed the length altered. It was meant to be!!

I accessorised with Merrel snow boots! Eva, our photographer, had to laugh as she took photos of me putting on my knee high wooly socks and snow boots - a first for her I think! I had some nice white shoes for the evening but ended up never putting them on as I danced all night in my bare feet.

My bridal shawl was handmade from felted merino wool by a wonderful designer called Anna Turnbull from Biteabout Arts. It was designed specifically for the wedding with colours to look like an autumnal sky and was utterly gorgeous!

I had my only real panic during the wedding planning stage as the local florist we tried didn't seem to understand what we wanted in flowers. Our photographers, Craig and Eva, recommended Sophie from I Heart Flowers and as soon as I spoke to her I knew she understood exactly what style we were after. They looked perfect on the day!

We chose Craig and Eva after they were the photographers at a close friend's wedding and we saw what an amazing job they did- both on the day and also the final photos.

They really did make our wedding day! They felt like our wedding planners also! They helped to persuade us that getting married outside on a beach in November really was a good idea and gave us advice on so many different aspects of the wedding and really helped us to coordinate all the different aspect! As this was very much a DIY wedding we were so grateful for their guidance.

Due to the poor light in November and having an afternoon ceremony we decided to meet before the ceremony and do our couple photos. Initially when Craig and Eva suggested this idea we were unsure as we wanted that "first look down the aisle" moment. Then we realised we would be able to have that moment but be able to have it just between the two of us (and the clicking photographers!) which made it so much more special- I wasn't worried about crying, was my make-up being smudged or what our guests were thinking.

We had a beautiful hour not worrying about whether we were taking too long, were our guests missing us, had everyone already eaten all the canapés etc! I don't think I have ever laughed so much, especially when Craig and Eva asked us to jump over a small river and climb a hill (in my wedding dress!) to get the perfect view over the loch. I was picking heather out my underskirt all evening! It was by far our favourite part of the day! We both felt so relaxed going into the ceremony, although it didn't stop either of us crying when we first saw each other at the beginning of the ceremony!! We loved their very natural style, they managed to capture some beautiful moments when people didn't realise photos were being taken.

We spent several months searching for different venues around the Highlands but kept being drawn back to Fort William and the surrounding area which is where we met. When we found out we could have our humanist ceremony in any location it didn't take long to decide we would have the ceremony on the beach at Glenfinnan. It has always been a favourite spot of ours and whatever the weather the views are stunning.

However having an outdoor ceremony in November in a very exposed spot was perhaps quite brave and we spent a very nervous week before the big day watching the forecast of rain! We had a back-up indoor option thanks to the kind registrar in Fort William giving us permission to change at last minute if we needed to. All our guests were prepared with jackets, wellies, umbrellas and a good sense of humour!! Luckily other than one quick shower as I arrived in the car and a sprinkling of rain during the ceremony (which gave us a beautiful rainbow!) it was sunny and surprisingly warm!

We loved Janet as soon as we met her and our ceremony was so beautiful. She made it really personal- full of funny stories from how we met and various funny things that had happened on our adventures together. Most of our guests had never been to a humanist ceremony and loved how personal it was. We included ring warming into the ceremony (very much needed!).

Bob and I now live in Edinburgh but Bob is originally from Fort William, this is where we met and lived for our first few years. The Ben Nevis Inn was our favourite place to go for a drink, dinner , meet friends and they have always known how to do a good ceilidh! I had spent five years before Bob even proposed saying what a good place it would be to have a wedding!

They don't normally do weddings so we had to do a little bit of pleading before they agreed to let us have our reception there. For a place that doesn't normally do weddings they did an incredible job!! The food was fantastic, all the staff were so attentive and helped make the evening feel so special!

We have always loved the food at the Ben Nevis Inn so felt confident to let them guide us. We both wanted Venison Casserole as it's a perfect main for a cold Autumn day, but Tom guided us with the rest of the menu. It was gorgeous! Neither of us are big cake fans but LOVE cheese so went with a "cheese cake" that we served at 10pm. We had 13kg of Isle of Mull Cheddar as the bottom layer!!

We had two of the musicians from Jim Jam Ceilidh Band to play "Over the Rainbow" as I walked down the path to the beach and "Ho hey" while we had champagne on the beach. They must have had chilly hands! They then played some live music before the dinner and then an AMAZING ceilidh! I couldn't recommend them enough- fantastic musicians!

We chose the Ben Nevis Inn because of its rustic, relaxed feel so felt we didn't have to add much more to it. Tom (owner of the Inn) hand-made the snowflakes on the ceiling. We used "Rock My Wedding" blog a lot for different ideas and of course Pinterest and decided the venue wouldn't suit lots of flowers and to use mostly candles on the tables.

Bob and I are very keen Mountain Bikers and so had a "bike" theme to the decorations. For our table plan and photo display we went to our local bike recycling centre and picked up lots of old bike wheels, gave them a quick clean and put twinkly lights around them- they looked great! My Mum hand-sewed all the napkin holders in a mixture of MacFarlane tartan, Northumberland Tartan and Loch Buie Tartan.

Photography by Craig & Eva Sanders
Venue Ben Nevis Inn, Fort William | Dress Ian Stuart | Boutique La Novia | Shoes Merrell Snow Boots | Groom's Outfit Jeffrey Taylors | Hair Clare Ashford at Ash Hairdressing | Band Jim Jam Ceilidh Band | Florist I Heart Flowers | Celebrant Janet Donnelly | Bridesmaid dresses Hobbs.