Tammy and Mike had been engaged for almost a year with no plans at all. Then one evening Mike suggested ditching the family for a day and getting married without telling anyone. Tammy thought he was nuts. Then she emailed us.

Here’s how she put it:

They hadn’t put it off too long. They had four months, which is tight but doable, and we’ve done tighter. The complication was Mike. He coaches skeleton, the sport where you throw yourself headfirst down an ice track, and he was off to the Winter Olympics with his athlete for most of the planning window. So Tammy ran the whole thing from Alberta, mostly on her own, while Mike was busy with slightly bigger things.

We handled the bits that trip people up from abroad. The notice paperwork, the registry office booking, the timing of it all around a family holiday that was already locked in. By the time Mike got home from the Games, there wasn’t much left to do except turn up.

A quiet morning, then City Chambers

They got ready at their hotel on a bright May morning, then met each other for the first time in the hotel grounds, under the trees in the long grass. Just the two of them. No audience, exactly as ordered. A drink in the lounge to settle the nerves, then into town.

The ceremony was at Edinburgh City Chambers, the registry office right on the Royal Mile. It’s a lovely room, properly grand without being showy, and it suits a two-person wedding better than most people expect. They said their vows, swapped rings, signed the schedule and walked out onto the High Street married. Nobody back at the hotel had a clue.

Then we walked the city

Mike had asked for a castle. We gave him Edinburgh, which is a castle with a city attached. We wandered down through Dean Village, which is busy and famous for good reason, and we know how to shoot it round the crowds. Along the Water of Leith to St Bernard’s Well. Up through the New Town under the cherry blossom, which was out and showing off. Into Princes Street Gardens with the Castle sitting over them, and finally into the closes of the Old Town as the light went gold.

“Four months to plan it. One of them spent at the Winter Olympics. Tammy did the rest from Alberta, and it was exactly the day they’d pictured.”

And then the best bit. They walked into the pub where the family were waiting and told them. We’ll let the photos cover the reaction.

Thinking of eloping to Edinburgh on a tight timeline? It’s more possible than you think. Here’s everything about eloping in Edinburgh with us, or check your date and we’ll tell you straight whether it’s doable.