There’s something so romantic about the idea of getting married in a forest, I couldn’t imagine anywhere more beautiful to do it. They are rather magical, mysterious places, reminiscent of fairy tales. It’s no wonder there has been an increase in woodland weddings over the last few years, with more couples opting to get married out in nature instead of the usual traditional settings. If you are getting married in Scotland the possibilities are endless to where you could hold your ceremony. Unlike English law you do not need to get married in a permanent structure building. Scotland has endless beautiful woodland areas to choose from, all you need to do it contact your registrar to make arrangements. As free-spirited & basic as they may seem there is actually a lot involved when planning a woodland wedding.
Things to consider are the ever-changing weather, providing toilet facilities, catering, electricity hook-ups, furniture.. the list goes on. Thankfully, there are a number of venues in the UK offering couples the option to have the forest wedding of their dreams without all the hassle that is usually involved. In addition to catering & electricity they can also provide yurts, tents & shacks for your guests to stay in so you can make a whole weekend of your wedding – festival style. Some licensed UK woodland venues include (I will continue to add to this list):
Scotland
- Marthrown of Mabie in Dumfries & Galloway
- Rothiemurchus in Rothiemurchus (near Aviemore)
- Chia-Aig Falls by Fort William
England & Wales
- JollyDays in Yorkshire
- The Bivouac in Yorkshire
- Camp Katur in Yorkshire
- Fforest in South Wales
- Treborough Woodland in Somerset
- Wilderness Woods in Sussex
Free-spirited wedding blog, Festival Brides, also has a great list of woodland venues on their website: Festival Brides Wedding Venues Another way to avoid much of the hassle of planning a full-blown outdoors wedding is to hold just the ceremony in the woodland area & have the reception at a nearby venue (like a restaurant or hall). Additionally, you could choose to have a romantic private elopement (one of my favourites is this wedding by Benj Haisch.) I’ve also put together a Pinterest board with lots of beautiful images to help inspire you to have the woodland wedding of your dreams: Woodland Weddings Mood Board Are you planning a woodland wedding? I’d love to hear all about it.
Bohemian Woodland Forest Wedding Venues