Edinburgh & Lothians

August is a different city

For most of August the Festival and the Fringe take over Edinburgh. Accommodation is booked months ahead and priced accordingly, the centre is crowded from morning to late at night, and moving vehicles through the Old Town becomes genuinely difficult.

Couples do marry here in August and it can be wonderful — but only if you have accepted the cost and booked your guest rooms very early. If your guest list is travelling and your budget is fixed, almost any other month gives you the same city for considerably less. Hogmanay carries the same warning in miniature.

Why winter works here

Edinburgh is one of the few places in Scotland where a winter wedding is an easy recommendation. The venues that define the city — Georgian townhouses, historic halls, hotel ballrooms — are all interiors, so a short dark day costs you very little, and the city itself is at its best under lights.

Photography is the thing to plan around rather than the weather. Winter daylight in Edinburgh is short, so if daylight portraits matter to you, your ceremony time needs to work backwards from sunset rather than forwards from lunch. Any photographer working locally will tell you the cut-off for your date.

Guests travelling in

Edinburgh is the simplest Scottish city for guests arriving from elsewhere — an international airport with a tram into the centre, and direct trains from London. If a good part of your guest list is coming from abroad, this is the practical argument for the capital over anywhere else in Scotland.

Because the centre is compact and walkable, hotel choice matters more than transport. Guests booked on the wrong side of the city still face a hill and cobbles in wedding shoes, so be specific in your recommendations rather than just naming a price range.

What to ask an Edinburgh venue

• What does this date cost compared with the same day in a quieter month?
• Are guest rooms held, at what rate, and until when?
• Where can cars and taxis stop, and how far is the walk from there?
• Is the ceremony space the same room as the dinner, and how long is the turnaround?
• What time does daylight go on our date, and where do couples photograph nearby?
• Is there another event in the building that day?