I recently got married in the Scottish Borders and wanted to share more about my experience! I am an American who married an American, so I'll be sure to include more about the visa process in case anyone else finds themselves in the same boat! Overall, our wedding day was magical and I can’t recommend this experience enough to couples looking for a small ceremony in the beautiful Scottish Borders.

If you get a visa to get married in the UK, your marriage is valid in the US as well. Depending on your preference, it may be just easier to get married at a courthouse in the US and have your ceremony in Scotland. We went the official route and it was very easy (just time consuming!).

Visa Process:

The Visa process was lengthy and will change a bit person-to-person, but I will summarize the experience we had! To marry in the UK as an American, you'll likely need a Marriage Visitor Visa. First, you'll need to apply online for the Marriage Visitor Visa, providing necessary documents and attending a biometric appointment at an immigration office in the US. There are certain parameters for when you can apply for your visa, but you want to do it as soon as you are able. When we got married, we could apply for a visa 90 days before our wedding.

After your visa is approved, you can travel to the UK, give notice of your marriage (the local registrar will guide you through this!), and get married. Another requirement to get married in the UK is a "Marriage Schedule." This is the UK's version of a marriage license and it's required to perform the ceremony! All venues in the UK will be familiar with this and can direct you to the local registrar's office to complete this.

Something to note - you will need to pick up your schedule IN PERSON, so be sure to account for time to do that before your wedding. Call and make sure they're open (they'll likely have you make an appointment). You also need to drop this schedule off after the wedding within a certain timeframe, but this can be done in a drop box in most cases. We were fortunate enough to have time before and after the wedding day to do this all in person and we left the country with our marriage license in hand!

I always knew I would elope, but had always considered somewhere like Las Vegas. My fiancé (now husband) mentioned Scotland so much, I figured I owed it to him to look into it. I was so pleasantly surprised to come across so many small venues in the Scottish Borders - this entire wedding day just seemed to fall into place with ease!

We still wanted to elope, but wanted to have a Catholic ceremony if at all possible. We found Traquair House (Scotland’s oldest inhabited house) while searching online and fell in love immediately. This venue was the perfect place for us - we could stay on site, there was a Catholic chapel, and the estate was just STUNNING!

Traquair House is located in Innerleithen, Scotland, which is about an hour south of Edinburgh. It was a charming little town, but we hardly left the estate! The grounds were too beautiful to want to leave. With peacocks, pigs, goats, and two charming pet spaniels, this felt like heaven on earth. There's a hedge maze, croquet, and artist cottages, making this the most picturesque place on earth.

Finding vendors was easy, especially with such a small wedding party. We hired the following vendors and absolutely loved them all!

Cake: Cakes by Nikki Sloan
Photography: PJ Phillips Photography
Videography: Blue Juice Media
Floral: The Flower Bee
Hair: Eve Tripovic
Makeup: Selena Jack
Dress: Urban Bridal (Kansas City area, USA)

The day was absolutely perfect! My mom and I got ready together at the house while my husband and dad got ready at the inn in town. We had our hair and makeup done by Eve and Selena and the entire morning was just so much fun and so relaxing.

We had a first look behind the house, overlooking the grounds, and it was absolutely perfect. My parents were able to watch secretly from a window inside, and one of the resident goats climbed onto the roof of his structure to get a better look - which made me laugh and relieved some of the stress I had been feeling pre-wedding!

After our first look, we had a bagpiper lead us into the chapel where we had a full Catholic Mass with a local priest. Happy to go into the process of getting approval to get married in a Catholic Church abroad - just let me know if you're interested! The Mass passed in the blink of an eye and the bagpiper was leading us out again. Jake and I were then able to explore all of the estate taking photos and capturing the day. We scheduled afternoon tea with champagne and cake to end the day, and it was so quintessentially Scottish in the best way. After tea, my parents left and we changed into comfier clothes before exploring the grounds again. We had a private dinner on site and it was truly the most perfect day I've ever experienced. The next morning, we met the other two couples staying at the estate over breakfast and it was such a fun way to relive our special day with strangers who became friends before the meal was over.

After breakfast, we spent time reorganizing our luggage before flying to India for a family wedding and our honeymoon. It was truly the time of our lives!

I will share all the details of our India honeymoon soon - I have so much to share!