Castle weddings

Castle weddings have become extremely popular in recent years and with literally hundreds of majestic and idyllic fortresses in Scotland we have families coming from all quarters of the globe for their wedding day. Castle weddings have always been popular amongst the Scots but I personally have found a large increase in couples coming up from England, across the sea from Ireland and over the Atlantic from the States and Canada since Madonna got married in a Scottish Castle in the North East Highlands. I think all the media attention surrounding it just showcased to the world what a thoroughly enchanting and magnificent setting a Scottish castle makes for a wedding.

I’ve spent a lot of this week visiting some of the castles that use me as their recommended wedding photographer. The wedding season really gets under way next month so I like to take the opportunity to keep in touch and chat with some of the castle wedding planners and managers before we both get too busy to do so. I love castle weddings, and not just because they make for stunning wedding photographs. Whether you love history or not you cannot fail to acknowledge the fact that our history has played a huge part in shaping the present, both our lifestyle and our culture, and it is nowhere more evident than in some of these huge bastions that adorn and decorate our land. I’ve photographed weddings and done fashion and magazine shoots in some of our oldest and most splendid castles and with a plethora of ancient nooks and crannies and glorious, striking backdrops it really is a delight!

One of the questions I often get asked is, “Which is the grandest castle you’ve worked in?” or “Which was the best?”. I know this isn’t the answer they are looking for but it really is impossible to say. They all have their own individual character and atmosphere that makes each one unique for different reasons. On the one hand you have imposing, prodigious castles like Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle, Dundas Castle, Carbisdale Castle, etc and then on the other hand there is the quintessential fairytale castles like Fernie Castle, Eilean Donan, Castle Venlaw, to name but a few. There are also a number of castles that kind of sit between these two groups too, such as Glamis Castle, Dalhousie, Melville and offer a warm intimacy as well as a sophisticated elegance. There are also a number of ruined fortresses registered to hold wedding ceremonies too if you were looking for something different and don’t mind not having a roof over your head.

Castle weddings aren’t just about the exterior, although this is probably the first thing to catch your eye and draw you to a particular venue. Often the character of the place lies on the inside and is manifest in the graceful décor, the palatial rooms, the works of art and luxurious fixture and fittings, and the ambience that is generated. Some places are charming, others imposing and others simply awesome!

The first castle I ever photographed was Edinburgh Castle when I was 12 years old. I had an old Zenit E camera which was quite a sophisticated piece of kit for a young boy and I remember shooting the castle from virtually every conceivable vantage point in Princes Street gardens down below and feeling rather aggrieved that I couldn’t afford the entrance fee to shoots pictures inside. Twenty years later I was being paid by magazine Editors to photograph inside the castle and the castles management waived the entrance fee for me in favour of the publicity and promotional value! Weddings in Edinburgh Castle are always good fun too, especially in the tourist season. Every wedding I’ve photographed in Edinburgh Castle has the tourists lining up for shots of the happy couple but last summer at one of the weddings in the castle a Japanese couple came up and asked if they could take a photograph of the bride on their own camera. Tracey said she didn’t mind and was ready to pose for them when we discovered they didn’t actually mean just a photograph of her, they wanted one with each of them beside the bride! So they each took a turn standing proudly with the bride while the other took a photograph and then gave us all a bow and sped off to show their friends the shot on the back of the camera!

I’ve now lost count of the amount of castles I’ve photographed and also the number of castle weddings I’ve shot but I’m pleased to say there’s plenty more still to come. Next week, however, I’m moving from castles to skyscrapers as I have a shoot in New York so check back for a rather different set of pics.

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(Castles featured here are Glamis Castle, Dundas Castle, Fernie Castle and Dalhousie castle)