Your Wedding Ceremony

The Atholl Palace Hotel is licensed for both Civil and Religious Wedding Services so that you can choose your perfect ceremony.

We have a selection of rooms suitable for a wedding ceremony from the intimate Corrie Room to the grand Bow Lounge. You may prefer a tranquil spot in the grounds such as the Japanese garden or fountain area, surrounded by giant copper beech trees, and perhaps choose a Highland Handfast ceremony traditionally held by running water.

Pitlochry also has several pretty churches, of different denominations, if you desire a traditional church wedding or the beautiful Dunkleld Cathedral is only 10 minutes away.

Handfast Blessing

The traditional Highland Handfast is held by running water. A couple would swap pieces of cloth, that had some significance to their families, as a symbol of their commitment to each other. Their friends and family then bind their hand together with ribbons which symbolise their emotional bonds - this is the origin of the term 'tying the knot'. A year later the couple return to the same spot to seal their commitment and so be considered married in the sense that we understand it.

We can help you arrange a version of this ceremony in the hotel gardens or grounds, as part of a wedding, engagement or anniversary celebration which is very colourful and entertaining but is NOT a legal ceremony. Many registrars now also offer to perform a similar ceremony at the Atholl Palace which is a legal wedding but does not include a guard of authentically dressed Highlanders.