One of the most beautiful adventures that this job of mine has given me.
When I received Alice’s email asking me for availability for a wedding photo shoot on a small island in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland, I almost couldn’t believe it.
Thanks to the wonderful fairies of FairyEco, who took care of the design of the event and who referenced me, this wonderful family has come to me.
At the end of June I found myself at Edinburgh airport waiting for Alice and Alessandro, their families and friends: together we would travel to Oban, then embark for the Isle of Mull and finally land on the magical Iona.
More: Iona is mystic.
From here, Christianity spread throughout Scotland thanks to Saint Columba. Countless clan chiefs and kings of Scotland are buried on this island, but the turquoise colors of the sea, the bright green of the hills, the seraphic animals in the grasslands are enough bring a sense of immense peace in the heart.
I think I will never really be able to forget the wonderful feeling I experienced going to the bed and breakfast where the bride-to-be was staying, in the morning, with a backpack of equipment on my shoulder, on foot on a small road that ventured between the sea and the prairies, with distant bleating, the sound of the waves, the singing of birds, the warm kiss of the sun on the skin.
Nor will I be able to forget the intensity of the moment in which Alice entered the austere and ancestral abbey, accompanied by her father, anticipated by her children, while Alessandro with shining eyes was waiting for them at the altar, and a friend of theirs was playing the organ for them, like the music of a music box.
I will never forget the ritual of the warmth of the rings, passed from hand to hand by the guests, in the silence of the abbey, or accompanied by the singing of a very dear friend of theirs, a single voice that rose up to the wooden roof of the church and beyond, crystalline , pure.
I will never be able to forget the ritual of “handfasting”, the tying of hands with a ribbon by some of their most significant friends and relatives (the words of the groom’s grandmother, the shy and excited gaze of their children!).
I had the privilege of being part of their group; I traveled with them, hugged their children, told stories, listened to legends. I sat at the table in the small Argyll Hotel, together with all of them, I listened to their friends’ speeches; I was also able to wander alone on this island: get lost on the white beaches to the north, looking for the green stone of Iona (Iona green marble), walk barefoot on the beaches to the south, where the sea looks like that of the Caribbean, walk the paths on the hills, among sheep and the typical Scottish cows, under leaden skies and beaten by a wind that transformed the grass into a single green wave, walking at night in the glow of the light of a sun that never completely goes away at this time of year and at this latitude.
Iona is sacred.
Iona is timeless.
Iona gets under your skin.
Where there is love, there is life (Gandhi)
To you the story of this wonderful adventure, a blessed prelude to all the time to come for Alice and Alessandro, their splendid children and all the Love I have felt and which I wish them again and again, with immense gratitude.
Wedding art Design: FairyEco
Location: Iona Island
Location bride preparation and dinner after the wedding: Ardoran House
Groom preparation and wedding lunch location: Argyll Hotel
Wedding Ceremony: Iona Abbey
The journey to Oban, the ferry to Mull, and finally … Iona and the Abbey
The big day has arrived
Let’s celebrate!
The two of us
The cake? At the Bed and Breakfast
And while the Scottish sky at the end of June still allows us light until late, Alice and Alessandro cut the cake on the beach, what else?
«For you I’ll build a house High upon a grassy hill Somewhere across the border Where pain and memory Pain and memory have been stilled There, across the border And sweet blossoms fill the air Pastures of gold and green Roll down into cool clear waters And in your arms beneath open skies I’ll kiss the sorrow from your eyes There, across the border.»
(Bruce Springsteen)
(a little backstage photo: my backpacking happiness, in a great place!)
Fotografa professionista ho scelto di fare questo lavoro perché sono convinta che la fotografia sia uno dei mezzi espressivi più potenti e d’impatto che il mondo ci riservi. Benvenutə sul mio blog!
