A deck on the Tay, with Telford's bridge in view.
The spot where I stood at Tay House is at the bottom of its car park, right on the riverbank: a two-level deck over the River Tay, with Thomas Telford's seven-arch bridge of 1809 in full view. I married a couple there on a bright afternoon in May 2026. The house itself is a sporting lodge on the Boat Road in Dunkeld, with eight en-suite bedrooms, two apartments and open fires in the lounge and residents' bar, and it's now part of the Atholl Arms Hotel & Residence.
The deck, and its new name
Tay House's own site still calls it the Boathouse, a riverbank venue open to the public and available for private hire, weddings included. In April 2026 it reopened as Azura, a beach-club style bar and restaurant run by the people behind the Atholl Arms, after a refit of the inside and the two-tier outdoor area. The Courier reported that it now seats around 65 across inside and out, and that the outside can be covered if it rains. Older listings quote bigger numbers, so check the current figures before you build your guest list around them.
One thing to ask about straight away: Azura runs as an adults-only bar day to day. If there are children on your list, find out how that works for a private hire before you fall for the view.
What it was like at the front
For our ceremony the lower deck was set with rows of chairs facing the rail, with a wooden lectern and an arch of white flowers at the front. I stood with my back to the water and the bridge over my shoulder, which is about as Perthshire as a view gets. It was a handfasting, with a unity candle as well, and I'd say the same to anyone planning candles on a riverbank: put them in a lantern or a deep glass, and keep a lighter in your pocket.
A big river moves the air as well as the water, and an open deck has no walls for your voices to bounce off. Keep the rows close together and ask whether there's a microphone. I've only married one couple here, outside, on a good day. I haven't seen the covered version or a ceremony indoors, so if you're booking for October, go and look at the wet-weather plan with your own eyes.
Where everyone sleeps
This is where Tay House earns its place. Its wedding page pitches the house as a base for the wedding party in the village, and offers to help coordinate bookings across Dunkeld once you've narrowed down a date. It also suggests the car park, which runs down to the river's edge with views of the bridge, as a spot for a marquee if your numbers outgrow the deck. A small wedding where the ceremony, the drinks and the beds are all a few steps apart takes a lot of worry out of the day.
The legal bit, handled
A humanist wedding in Scotland is legally binding, and as a Humanist Society Scotland celebrant I look after every legal word of it: the declarations, the schedule, the witnesses. I write every ceremony from scratch, around your story and nobody else's. I'm based in Glasgow's West End, and I'm a humanist wedding celebrant covering Perthshire, from Dunkeld down to the Carse of Gowrie. If you're planning to marry by the water, my practical guide to outdoor humanist weddings covers the weather, the sound and the plan B.
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More Perthshire, Trossachs and Argyll venues I know inside out: Guardswell Farm · Altskeith Country House · Kilmartin Castle · Kinlochard Village Hall · Isles of Glencoe · Ross Priory