The Venue: Stones of Stenness Stromness, Orkney 1 Schedule June 1st, 2021: Arrive in Kirkwall, Orkney June 2nd, 2021: Sight-seeing in Orkney (We’ll plan this. Please RSVP. See Pages 3 - 5.) June 3rd, 2021: 4 PM - Stones of Stenness Wedding Ceremony in Stromness 5 to 6:30 PM – Photos (Stones of Stenness, Ring of Brodgar, Earl’s Palace) 6:30 to 11 PM - Reception at The Storehouse Restaurant and Rooms (Our treat!) Why Orkney? In 2017, we visited Scotland together after college graduation and fell in love with the weird and wonderful archipelago of Orkney. Orkney, sitting just north of the UK mainland, is home to the world’s northernmost Scotch distillery, Highland Park, and is filled with archaeology from Neolithic monuments and tombs to Viking longhouses. The Stones of Stenness (thought to be Britain’s oldest henge) was a particularly mesmerizing site, and we used to joke about having a standing stones ceremony. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do! A big wedding didn’t fit, and we considered eloping; however, it was important to us to invite all of our closest family and friends along for the ride. We hope you’ll join us on our adventure! Important Information – Please RSVP! If you plan to attend, please let us know as soon as possible so we can get an accurate head count for the reception. The day before the wedding, we plan to show whomever is interested the best of mainland Orkney (see Pages 3 - 5 for full details). We would love to use our knowledge to show you our favorite sites. We will need to rent a few vehicles, so if you’re interested in joining and splitting the cost of rental cars, let us know. We also will pre-book for entrance into Neolithic tombs like Maeshowe, so we’ll coordinate with you if you plan to come along. We will share all important information on our Facebook Group. COVID19 Contingency Plan We understand that there is a lot of uncertainty around travel next spring/summer. Our plan right now is to book whatever we can that is refundable. We plan to purchase our plane tickets in the Dec ’20 – Feb ’21 timeframe. We suggest waiting until we have booked our own plane tickets before booking yours. We’ll update you with this information in our Facebook group. However, we encourage you to book anything you can, such as lodging, as early as possible as long as it is fully refundable/has free cancellation especially in Kirkwall. It can get booked up fairly quickly in the spring/summer months. If the situation has not improved by Feb ’21, we will look into postponing the wedding. Attire The weather in Orkney is cool in June with temperatures ranging from 55 to 75⁰F, so please keep this in mind. For the ceremony, we request that you keep to our color scheme inspired by the surrounding landscape: blue, green, gray, and beige. How formal you choose to dress is up to you! We will be wearing traditional wedding attire. Also, remember that the ceremony is in a field, so prepare accordingly. Read on for sight-seeing details as well as flight and hotel recommendations! 2 June 1st: Arrive in Orkney Fly into Kirkwall Airport (KOI). We recommend staying in Kirkwall (hotel recommendations on Page 5). Some interesting sites in Kirkwall: The Earl’s Palace, St. Magnus Cathedral, the Orkney Museum, Highland Park Distillery, and several cute shops selling Orcadian jewelry and fair isle sweaters. June 2nd: Sight-Seeing Maeshowe Older than Stonehenge, this Neolithic tomb appears to be nothing more than an emerald mound to unsuspecting passerby. However, inside is a different story. The chambered cairn once housed ancient human remains, was built to align with the winter solstice, and requires visitors to crawl through a tunnel to reach the internal chamber. To make it even more interesting, Vikings once sheltered inside its depths during a winter storm and carved all over the stone walls. The Stones of Stenness Across the field from Maeshowe is the otherworldly Stones of Stenness which is believed to be the oldest henge in Britain. This is where we’ll be getting married! 3 The Ring of Brodgar Just up the road from the Stones of Stenness is Orkney’s second famous henge, The Ring of Brodgar. Seated on a hill sloped toward the sea, this henge is newer than our wedding venue and also much larger. The Birsay Bay Tearoom We’ll grab lunch, tea, and scones at a cute little tearoom that has a view of Birsay (the island pictured here), which we’ll visit once we’re stuffed on clotted cream and jam. Brough of Birsay If we time it right, we can walk across the path in the picture above to the tiny island of Birsay. This is where it is believed Vikings first settled in Orkney, and the remains of several longhouses can be seen today alongside the ruins of a medieval church. The island also happens to be one of the best locations to spot puffins! And the view alone is worth the walk. Skara Brae This Neolithic settlement is what Orkney is known for and gives a glimpse into the lives of the people who built the standing stones and tombs all over the islands. At roughly 5000 years old, it is western Europe’s best-preserved Neolithic settlement and one of our favorite places we’ve ever been. 4 Stromness This village, although smaller that Kirkwall, is very scenic with medieval streets and a beautiful waterfront. We’ll spend the evening here and maybe have dinner as well. Also, this is another great place to find a classic Scottish sweater. Lizzie would know. Flights to KOI You can book a flight to Kirkwall, Orkney (KOI) from anywhere in the UK. Arrive in Kirkwall no later than June 1st to ensure you don’t miss the ceremony. The weather in Orkney is very changeable, so our schedule is going to have to be flexible. Kirkwall airport is TINY, but you can catch a cab into town which is only a 10 – 15 min ride. They’ll call one for you at the information desk. If you plan on spending time in Scotland before or after the wedding, we highly recommend Edinburgh. It’s our favorite city! Kirkwall Hotel Recommendations Here are some hotel options we’ve selected based on proximity to the reception/where we’ll be staying: The Storehouse Restaurant with Rooms This is where we’ll be staying, and it’s also the location for the reception! Link: https://www.thestorehouserestaurantwithrooms.co.uk/ The Kirkwall Hotel The Kirkwall gets good reviews and is on the waterfront. It has a cute pub attached that we visited during our first trip to Orkney. Link: https://www.kirkwallhotel.com/ The Ayre Hotel We stayed here when we visited Orkney in 2017. Very clean, no fuss, and on the waterfront. Link: https://www.ayrehotel.co.uk/ The Shore This hotel gets great reviews and also has a view of the harbor. Link: https://www.theshore.co.uk/ We selected these hotels so you can enjoy the medieval streets, cathedral, castle, shops, and pubs. Feel free to explore other options, but aim to book lodging in the general location of these hotels in Kirkwall. 5 We are both very excited and hope you can make it to our big day! Lots of Love, Lizzie and Kathen 6
Enter the password to open this PDF file:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-