Romantic Wedding Proposal: Dunrobin Castle

Andy’s Wedding Proposal to Rachel: 10 March 2020.

On the first day of their North Coast 500 holiday through Scotland, the last thing Rachel expected was a wedding proposal from boyfriend Andy, set against the stunning backdrop of Dunrobin Castle!

Andy got in touch with me a few weeks before their North Coast 500 trip, telling me about his plan to propose to Rachel at Dunrobin Castle. Knowing what a big moment this would be for Andy, I was happy to help construct a master plan, especially as they were coming up from England and there would be no opportunity for me and Andy to meet up in person beforehand and walk through the location he’s going to ask her.

Every little detail was planned under cloak & dagger, even down to my chance encounter with the couple on the day.

The biggest unknown was the weather, so we came up with a 2nd indoor location just incase (this is Scotland after all). Then we had to figure out the perfect spot on location, a lot easier said than done when you try to plan this remotely and can’t physically get the to site until the day of the proposal itself.

Andy knew he wanted the propose with Dunrobin Castle in the backdrop, so with some meticulous internet research, I found a few good angles to potentially setup in order to get the gigantic castle in along with the proposal in one shot. The problem was, until I know where the best light was on the day, we could not set this in stone, so I turned up early and walked through the options. At this point of course, I could not exactly phone Andy (Rachel in the car with him) and brief him on the findings of where the best spot is, so had to rely on our telepathic communication (it’s amazing how much you can say without actually speaking).

The plan was of course for me to blend in with all the other tourists in the gardens and shoot the proposal unnoticed… well, imagine the heart drop moment when I stood looking out over a vast garden with not another person in sight. On any other given day, a photographers dream, but how on earth was I going to “blend in” and not get Rachel suspicious? Well, like with any wedding, you have to think on your feet, so I decided to go about my normal way as if I was a tourist with a big camera and photograph everything that I possibly can, in plain sight of Rachel (I genuinely do this on holiday, just ask Chris!).

After Andy was roughly in the right spot, he called across to me, asking if I can “take a photo of the two of them on his phone”. At this point my knees was shaking with excitement for him, and had to try very hard to be very chilled about our chance encounter. I wanted to move a little from where they were at that point to get better light, so asked them to move to a different spot so I can get the whole castle in. Photo done and I walked back to where I were to set up for the big moment. With a final signal we agreed on beforehand, Andy dropped down and one knee and asked Rachel to marry him. By the way… SHE SAID YES!!

After the initial excitement, I gave them a few minutes alone after which we did an engagement shoot, just about in time before the next downpour hit us.

Huge congrats to you both!! Thanks for putting up with all the Scottish wind, cold & rain during your shoot 😉