A Wedding Built From Their Own Story — Jenny & Remo
Ten years before they stood on a beach in the Scottish Highlands, Jenny and Remo were at a party, taking turns hammering nails into a log.
The game is called Nageln — a popular party tradition where players drive nails into a wooden block using a regular hammer. It sounds simple. It's surprisingly absorbing. And somewhere in the middle of it, Jenny and Remo found each other. That is where their story begins: not with a lightning bolt, but with laughter and a hammer, on the 4th of April.
Which is also, as it happens, my birthday — a coincidence I took as a very good omen indeed.
When Jenny's email arrived the plan was already beautifully formed. They were travelling from Switzerland on a six-week campervan journey through the UK and Ireland, and they wanted to get married in Scotland along the way. Something small. Something intimate. Something surrounded by nature. They paused their journey for a few days, used Inverness as a base where their friends could join them, and chose Achmelvich — a little beach on the northwest coast — for the ceremony itself. Practically speaking, they also navigated every legal step, including the Marriage Visa, with impressive efficiency.
My husband and I were looking for someone in Scotland who would conduct a ceremony with us in German. We then came across Monika. We then messaged Monika to see if she had any available dates. Monika responded quickly and also had some available dates. You can tell that Monika puts her heart and soul into her job. We are very happy that we found Monika. She immediately suggested a great location. She was always available to answer any questions. And she tailored the ceremony perfectly for us. Thank you so much, Monika.
Jenny & Remo
Their motto, which ran through every part of the day, was this: "It's the little things in life."
It isn't a grand statement. It doesn't need to be. Their relationship has been built not on dramatic gestures but on accumulated, everyday pleasures — film nights, weekends away in their VW bus, walks with the dogs. The kind of life that looks ordinary from the outside and feels, from the inside, like exactly enough. When I read a poem that spoke of love not as a sudden fire but as a steady, flowing river, it felt less like a metaphor and more like a description.
The handfasting followed — a ritual that ties two people together, literally and symbolically, and one that suited the spirit of the day perfectly.
Then came the moment that brought everything full circle.
With a hammer they had brought from home, Jenny and Remo drove a nail together into a piece of wood.
It was a simple action. It lasted only a few seconds. But in the context of their story — ten years on from the party game where they first truly connected — it was quietly extraordinary. The same gesture, now made together, now made as a vow. Their actual vows had the same quality: strong, clear, unhesitating. A "Ja, ich will" — yes, I will — to each question about their future together. No flourishes. Just certainty.
The weather was kind — dry and pleasant, with the soft, muted colours that the northwest coast does so well. Their photographer friend captured the day exquisitely. The atmosphere was one of the most relaxed and cheerful I've been part of, and when we all meandered down to the beach together I noticed, in one of those small moments of serendipity, that my outfit was a perfect colour match for the wedding party.
There was one small reminder of where we were: a friend's planned musical contribution couldn't happen because there was no phone signal. It's a good tip for anyone planning something similar — always have your music downloaded. But it didn't matter. The day was so full of joy and warmth that nothing could have touched it.
Jenny and Remo, thank you for travelling all this way and for making me part of your adventure. Your ceremony was a wonderful reminder that the most meaningful weddings are the ones that feel effortlessly, unmistakably like the people at the centre of them.
For you, that meant a hammer, a nail, and a motto you've already been living for ten years.
It's the little things in life.
Want to discover more weddings at Achmelvich? Here you'll find more stories from couples who chose this special beach for their ceremony: Jessica & Stu and Tanja & Ralph.
And if you're travelling through Scotland by campervan and thinking about getting married along the way, you can also find out more about getting married on the move.