AFTER a weekend of miserable summer storms, bringing torrential rain and severe gales, one couple still managed to get the wedding of their dreams on a Scottish beach.
Ola McKay and Brian MacRae, from Inverness, planned to tie the knot on the shores of Tiree at the Hebridean island's music festival when they and thousands of other festival-goers were evacuated from the site after gales flattened campsites.
They spent the night before their wedding in a caravan being lashed by the wind and rain and when the poor weather continued on Saturday morning it looked like they might have to pay a visit to the local registry office.
But the sun came out for the couple at the last minute and the pair were piped on to the beach by a member of their favourite band before going for a paddle in the chilly waters on completing their vows.
The new Mrs MacRae, 47, a school support assistant, said: "The weather on Friday night was a bit scary, but we are positive thinkers.
"We woke up on Saturday and it was still a bit scary, with rain and wind, so I was slightly panicky, but later on the sky turned blue in time for our wedding. Martin Gillespie of Skerryvore piped me on to the beach and wrote a new tune for it."
Mr MacRae, a sales rep, added: "It was a lovely day in the end. We are Scottish music fans and we were going to Tiree for the music festival so we thought we would get married there, the two go hand in hand."
Tiree was one of the worst affected areas in the weekend's storms, with Perthshire also being badly hit, leading to play being suspended in the Open Championship at St Andrews.
Only around 50 of the 1,700 attending Tiree Music Festival left the island as locals rallied round to provide food and shelter to stranded campers.
As Tiree only has a handful of hotels and guest houses, local families offered visitors spare rooms, while schools, churches and offices were also opened up.
Marianne Dobson was attending the festival with her family when high winds snapped their tent poles on Friday.
She said: "Everybody got taken to the school and other places as they evacuated the camp site. It was amazing, there were local people
in their cars waiting to pick people up, the local community have been so nice."
Musicians also gathered at the local community hall to put on impromptu performances.
Meanwhile, the disruption to play at the Open in St Andrews means that the tournament continues today, with play spilling over into a Monday for only the second time in the tournament's history.
The Met Office predicts further wind and rain today, but forecaster Peter Sloss said it will not cause any disruption.
The forecast for the rest of the week shows a mixture of dry spells and rain, with temperatures remaining low.
(Additional reporting Victoria Weldon)
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