Wedding recce

Yesterday I was at The Hub in Edinburgh doing a recce for next weekends wedding. I do this to prep for every wedding and it’s one of the reasons I’m able to work so quickly and smoothly on the wedding day itself as I can plan out where and when I want to be so as not to use up more time than necessary on the formal group shots and bride and groom sets. With the photojournalism coverage half the secret is being in the right place at the right time, and this doesn’t happen by accident. So I have a chat with the venue wedding co-ordinator, which was Louise at The Hub, so I get a good idea of how the day will unfold, what the bridal party’s timings are, and can therefore select the most advantageous vantage points I want to be in at certain times of the day. Most of my bride and grooms select a mix of photojournalistic and classic photography, so the advance recce assists with both.

The Hub is a converted 19th Church of Scotland Assembly Hall and sits at the top of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile just a stones throw from the Castle. It is very impressive and atmospheric, both inside and out and I’m already looking forward to shooting some fantastic pictures next week.
I’m booked to start half an hour before the ceremony with a few shots of the groom, him and his bestman and ushers. I’ll do these in and around the main entrance. I really like the dramatic view looking up the spire into the sky and I’m probably going to shoot a similar one to what you see here but with the groom positioned right under the door archway. I may come back later after the ceremony and take another version with the newly married couple too.

After the pre wedding shots with the groom I’m awaiting the arrival of the mother of bride, bridesmaids and then the bride herself. Most of these will be taken reportage style as there isn’t going to be a lot of room for the bridal car to maneuver outside the church and I don’t want to hold up the process. I’ll try and grab a quick shot of the bride and her farther in the back of the car and then I’ll get them to pause for a second in the entrance for another before we proceed up the staircase onto the gallery. The Hub’s Main Hall is so large that the ceremony will be held up in the gallery, the north wing of the gallery providing a unique, spectacular aisle for the bride to walk along with her father. From here on in I won’t interrupt the proceedings at all but shoot everything reportage style, capturing the spontaneity of the day and all the key moments; the vows, declarations, ring exchange, first kiss, etc.

Following the ceremony everyone will proceed down to the Dunard Library for drinks and then we’ll do all the formal group shots. I’m going to do these at the foot of the rear staircase and utilize the character and atmospheric lighting. I’m happy to shoot unlimited amount of formals, but even so, it shouldn’t take me much more than 20 minutes to get through them all and then we’ll take the bride and groom away for about half an hour having them back for their wedding breakfast.

I have a number of spots earmarked for the bride and groom set which will allow me to make the most of the spectacular backdrops and produce a set of natural, relaxed, contemporary images which is one of my trademarks. Following the bride and groom shoot the rest of the evening is all photojournalism coverage all the way up to the first dance. Check back next week to see how they come out.

The Hub in Edinburgh: http://www.thehub-edinburgh.co.uk/