Catarina & Pedro: A Handfasting in Glencoe
Catarina and Pedro came from Portugal to celebrate their love in Scotland, a country that already had a place in their lives. They have family here, they visit regularly, and they had been to Glencoe before. This was not a place they had simply picked from a list. It was somewhere that already meant something to them.
They got in touch to arrange a small, symbolic handfasting ceremony, and from the start the whole thing had a lovely, relaxed quality to it. They brought Catarina's cousin and her family, who are based in Edinburgh, and the group was intimate enough that everything felt easy and personal from the moment we met.
The original plan had been to use a more exposed location near a waterfall, but the weather in Glencoe in September has its own ideas, and we moved to Glencoe Lochan instead. It was the right call, and they took it entirely in their stride. Rather than simply arriving at a predetermined place, we took our time walking along the loch, had a good chat along the way, and let the search for the right location become part of the experience itself. Glencoe Lochan has a quiet, sheltered beauty that suits a small, intimate ceremony rather well.
The ceremony was warm and unhurried, very much in the spirit of the couple themselves. At the heart of it was the handfasting, with the cord binding their hands together as a symbol of two people who remain themselves but choose, quite deliberately, to share their lives. They spoke their promises to each other spontaneously rather than from prepared words, which suited the occasion perfectly. Rings were exchanged, and the ceremony closed with the quaich, shared with whisky, as it should be when you are standing in the Scottish mountains.
It was a small, intimate occasion, and one of those days where the simplicity of it all is exactly the point.
Congratulations, Catarina and Pedro. May the adventures keep coming!
"Monika worked tirelessly to organise our ceremony. She was attentive and made sure everything went smoothly, just as we’d hoped. And it really was a wonderful ceremony set against the backdrop of the Highlands, which we love so much. Thank you so much for everything!"
Catarina & Pedro
Read more about another Glencoe ceremony and an Interfaith Ceremony at Glencoe.