Simone Smith Photography via SWNSA couple have hiked for six hours up a Munro to get married before camping overnight with macaroni cheese and Champagne to celebrate.
Steph Ivers, 30, changed out of her walking gear and into a bridal gown to marry Morgan Price, 31, during howling winds and minus six degree windchill at the top of Beinn Bhreac in the Cairngorms.
The couple exchanged rings and said their vows in a pared-down ceremony in a day which involved a six-hour hike up the 249th highest Munro, accompanied by their black Labrador Zack.
The couple then set up their tent and enjoyed a wedding breakfast of macaroni cheese and Champagne to celebrate on June 16.
They had a hand-fastening ceremony in Devon the previous weekend with 30 people, before driving up to Scotland from their home in Yatton, North Somerset.
Steph, who works as a vet, studied in Glasgow while Morgan, who works as a design engineer for Network Rail, previously worked in the oil industry in Aberdeen.
They try to go to Scotland every summer which wasn’t possible last year.
Simone Smith Photography via SWNSThe couple, who have been together for almost eight years, were joined on the hike by their registrar and wedding photographer, with help arranging the unusual ceremony from bridal company Wild Scottish Weddings.
Steph’s dress cost just £150 and was altered by her mum, before she carried it in her backpack up the Munro.
She then changed in a sheltered spot as the top of the Munro was too windy.
Steph said: “We love being outdoors, so we had a minimoon afterwards in a campervan for ten days – it only rained once.
“On the day of the wedding we walked from the Linn o’ Dee car park at the Mar Lodge Estate up to Beinn Bhreac.
“I got changed into my dress on the cairn and we had our marriage ceremony just below the peak in a space slightly more sheltered from the wind.
Simone Smith Photography via SWNS“We then walked from Beinn Bhreac up to Loch Etchachan where we camped for the night, having mac and cheese and champagne for our wedding dinner.
“In the morning we walked up Ben Macdui and then back to the Linn o’ Dee car park via Derry cairngorm.
“We spent the night before and the night after the wedding in Braemar in our van.
“We did about six hours on the actual wedding day.
“It was a relief to stop and get married.
“It is a really remote Munro, I just got changed at the top and got changed back into my hiking gear afterwards.
Simone Smith Photography via SWNS“I took the dress in my backpack, it cost £150 and my mum altered it for me, she made Morgan’s waistcoat as well.
“For the actual getting married part I was barefoot, but afterwards I put my boots back on.
“We had a hand-fastening ceremony in Devon the weekend before then we drove up to Scotland.
“It was just a civil ceremony – we did do handtying again, but it was pretty simple and straightforward.
“It was about as minimalist as you can have.
Simone Smith Photography via SWNS“The camping was pretty no frills.
“We were in the tent and we had macaroni cheese we heated up.
“We wanted everything to be as straightforward as possible – we have been planning this since before Covid.
“I think Covid will have changed people’s perspectives a lot on weddings.
“I think back-to-basics will probably become more popular.
“It feels more intimate, we had 30 people in Devon including us and it feels a bit closer – rather than those ones with 200 people.”
She said the weather was perfect on the hike but was windy and cold on the munro.
Simone Smith Photography via SWNSSteph added: “There was no way we could do it on top of the Munro so we had to go down and find shelter.
“The photographer and registrar hiked up with us, it was the first time we had all met each other.”
The next day the couple went for tea in Braemar, Aberdeenshire.
Steph added: “We spent the next ten days going up the north-west coast before we came back down.
“It was pretty great weather, it only rained one of the days.”
Images supplied by Simone Smith Photography | https://simonesmithphotography.com
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