Wedding and honeymoon
A few pictures and reminisces of my wedding and honeymoon
Wedding
The wedding was at the Ballachulish Hotel on Saturday the 7th of March 2015. I need to burn that date in my head so that I don’t cause any incidents in future years.
For the days leading up to the wedding it was clear that the weather was going to be terrible. There were weather warnings for heavy rain for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So Lynsey ordered a white umbrella and we were all set.
Many people stayed the night before at the hotel, so I had plenty of company. My school friends all came the night before so I stayed up and talked until I was exhausted.
The day of the wedding I woke up quite early and read a book (How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie, a great book and very easy read.) The morning went very fast because I kept busy.
Then all of a sudden everybody was filing into the ceremony and I was married before I knew it. Lynsey looked beautiful and I nearly cried but managed to just about hold it together.
Lynsey’s picture (lightbox, opens inside this page)
Favour
Sugar cake toppers
We got the speeches done before the meal. Sam’s speech was great, though he threw me a bit by partially repeating a story I was going to say, but I managed to figure out what to do. The bit I enjoyed the most was maybe when he gave me a John Denver CD because that used to keep Lynsey quiet, and told me to use it wisely. My speech went fine and it was ever better because I forgot to use a particularly egotistical joke.
The ceilidh in the evening was also great, with the exception of the first dance which was a shambles because of me. The best bit was maybe when the drummer switched to bagpipes and the band did a thumping Strip the Willow. It was a shame that Lynsey’s dress was too large for her to do all the dances, but she did her best. The band was Ross MacPherson and other players (his CD).
Honeymoon
After seeing our guests and family again for breakfast we were off on the honeymoon to Invermoriston.
Night 1 - Invermoriston
We stayed at the Glenmoriston Arms and we had the four poster room with jacuzzi in the bathroom! Out the window there was a field with Highland cows in it, which we both liked. Invermoriston was pretty small and we headed off fairly early the next morning.
We went down the side of Loch Ness, which I’ve never seen before and is almost as bonny as Loch Lomond. We stopped off at Urquhart Castle which was extremely windy but still enjoyable. Maybe the wind made it more enjoyable because the flaps of my hat kept flying into my face.
On the way to Aviemore we continued the Historic Scotland PIC bagging by going to Fort George as well, an active military base that you
can visit to see the old cannons, guns ‘n’ roses buildings. The soldiers in the cafeteria were a bit
starey, but one of them had “Mum” tattooed to his neck so he must have been OK.
Night 2 - Aviemore
We went for dinner to a place called International Starters for dinner, but amusingly I didn’t have a starter, just a main course, so perhaps it was a wasted visit.
We went for a splish splosh before bed, and also in the morning I swam some lengths which was my only exercise of the honeymoon and possibly kept my weight gain below a stone in a week.
On the way to Gleneagles we bagged our third Historic Scotland at Ruthven Barracks. It was unmanned but slightly interesting after Fort George to see the same type of buildings in ruins, the views were good though:
Ruthven Barracks
Lynsey at Ruthven Barracks
Nights 3 and 4 - Gleneagles
I can’t really say enough nice things about Gleneagles. It was expensive, but everything was as good as it could possibly have been. The staff were very attentive but not irritating. The food was out of this world. The room was beautiful. The pool was just amazing.
One morning for breakfast I had
- smoked salmon
- steak and chips
- a pancake
- a pastry
- a yoghurt
and the other morning I had
- smoked salmon
- steak and chips
- a (small) cooked breakfast
- cold meats, cheese and bread
It was excessive, but I did skip meals the rest of the day to make up for it. It was the greatest breakfast I’ve ever had, even beating the Hotel Metropole in Brussels which was the next best I’ve had.
The pool area was great. I could have stayed in the Alpine Onsen all day. It was a hot outdoor pool with bits to lie or sit comfortably.
The pudding at dinner in the hotel restaurant was without doubt the best course of food I’ve ever had. It was rhubarb mouse with orange sauce and sorbet, or something like that.
Other stuff to do includes: pitch and putt (I got par of 3 at 3 holes which put me in a disproportionately good mood), walking in the grounds, seeing birds of prey and hunting dogs, complimentary cookery and wine demonstrations, great aftenoon tea. It was just so good. They even gave us a bottle of champagne and bigger room because we were on our honeymoon.
Golf
Neil Golf
Afternoon Tea
Room
Room 2
Night 5 - New Lanark
I’ve liked New Lanark since I was a boy. I was inspired to go there to stay when I was watching my favourite cheer-up programme, Great British Railway Journeys presented by my fave mad hatter Michael Portillo.
The night before we played Jenga which this fantastic video came from. Lynsey cried with laughted about my shifty eyes near the end:
I really wanted to see the Falls of Clyde. On this one occasion we were lucky that there was heavy rain because the Falls of Clyde were very powerful and the Clyde wide (as wide as the Clyde?)
Hopefully I have another week in my life that is as brilliant as that one.