Kimmy & Sam | A Goth Elopement at Slains Castle
They flew from Washington State with thirty of their closest friends. A clifftop castle ruin. A ceremony conducted by their best friend. And a second shoot through the streets of Edinburgh after dark.
Kimmy and Sam knew exactly what they wanted. Dark. Moody. Unapologetically them.
They also knew what they didn’t want: a traditional wedding. The white dress, the church, the endless formality. None of it felt right. So they found us from across the Atlantic, and we started planning something different.
Slains Castle, Aberdeenshire
If you’ve never heard of Slains Castle, you’re not alone. It doesn’t have the fame of Edinburgh Castle or the tourist crowds of Eilean Donan. It’s a ruined clifftop fortress on the Aberdeenshire coast, dramatic and windswept and slightly eerie. Bram Stoker reportedly visited and was inspired to write Dracula.
For a goth couple flying in from Washington State? Perfect.
Kimmy and Sam brought thirty of their favourite people all the way to Scotland to watch them get married in the castle ruins. Their friend Brooke conducted the ceremony – a symbolic one, full of meaning and personality and none of the standard script. It was theirs, completely.
The weather? Freezing. Absolutely freezing. This is a clifftop on the Scottish coast, exposed to everything the North Sea throws at it. But Kimmy and Sam wanted to wait for sunset. They wanted dark skies, moody light, that blue hour atmosphere.
So we waited. And they trusted us.
That trust matters more than people realise. When your photographer says “I know you’re cold, but if we wait another twenty minutes the light will be incredible” – some couples say no. Kimmy and Sam said yes. Every time.
The result? Images that actually look like them. Not bright and airy. Not soft and romantic in the conventional sense. Dark, dramatic, windswept, real.
Edinburgh After Dark
A few days later, we met again in Edinburgh for a second shoot.
Different energy entirely. The city at night, lit up and atmospheric. Kimmy and Sam wandering through the Old Town, the closes and cobblestones, that gothic architecture that Edinburgh does so well.
It was cold again – clear but cold.
What Made This Work
We helped Kimmy and Sam plan almost everything. No wedding planner, no coordinator, no other suppliers to wrangle. Just us, working together over months to figure out the logistics, the timing, the locations, the flow of the day.
That’s not unusual for us. We’re not just photographers who show up, shoot and leave. We’re part of the planning process. Especially for couples doing something unconventional – no set venue, no standard timeline, no rulebook to follow.
But the thing that really made this work was Kimmy and Sam themselves.
They were flexible. They trusted our judgement on locations and timing. They didn’t have a rigid shot list or a Pinterest board they were trying to recreate. They said “we want dark and moody and we want it to feel like us” and then they let us figure out how to make that happen.
That kind of trust gives us room to do our best work. We’re not executing someone else’s vision. We’re collaborating on something together.
For the Couples Who Don’t Fit the Mould
Not every elopement looks like Kimmy and Sam’s. Most don’t, honestly. But their story matters because it shows what’s possible when you let go of what weddings are “supposed” to look like.
Thirty friends instead of two hundred. A castle ruin instead of a venue. A ceremony by a friend who actually knows you. Photos that look like a film still from your favourite movie rather than a bridal magazine.
If that sounds like you – if traditional wedding photography makes you feel nothing – we should talk.
— Jodie & Matt
Planning something unconventional? Get in touch. We love the weird ones.
Scroll down for the full gallery from Kimmy and Sam’s day.
