The Point Hotel for the wedding of Lucie and Ryan

The Point Hotel is acclaimed as one of the most chic and stylish hotels in Edinburgh and has the awards to back this up. It’s also a popular choice of many visiting celebrities too, as Lucie and Ryan’s guests discovered during their wedding breakfast when they spotted a couple of well known television stars booking in at reception, lol. Lying in the shadow of Castle Rock the Point Hotel certainly makes a dramatic wedding venue. I’ve been involved with weddings at The Point right from the get go, exhibiting at their very first wedding show (and all the ones since) and shooting and designing showcase wedding albums for them. I met Lucie and Ryan at the Point Hotel’s wedding fair back in January and after seeing photographs from the previous weddings I’ve shot at The Point Hotel they booked me on the spot. On Saturday their wedding day had finally arrived!

Being the Point Hotel’s main recommended wedding photographer ensures I’m at the venue regularly so I know it extremely well. To get a stunning set of photographs from any wedding at the Point Hotel entails exploiting the spectacular view of Edinburgh Castle from the penthouse suite and then making the most of all the fashionable nooks and crannies that I’ve discovered around the lesser frequented parts of the building.

I was booked from 1pm - 9pm, with the ceremony being at 2pm. I started in Lucie’s room with a few detail shots including the brides, bridesmaids and flower girls dresses. Then a set of relaxed, informal pre-wedding preparation shots of Lucie and the girls. I then whisked down to the hotel lobby for some pre-wedding shots of Ryan and his bestmen and ushers then back up to Lucie’s room for some contemporary bridal portraits. After a couple of quick photographs of Lucie and her father I then kept in the wings as much as possible and simply photographed the ceremony as it unfolded.

Most weddings that I shoot are a mixture of photojournalistic photography and then posed or classic photography. Both styles require their own separate skills. With photojournalism I’m endeavoring to capture all those magic, spontaneous moments and therefore tell the story of the day in pictures. Much of this is dependant upon being in the right place at the right time (which I’ve discussed before in my ‘wedding recce’ post) but coupled with this is anticipating when the magic moments will occur. An example of this is the shot of Lucie and Ryan immediately after being pronounced husband and wife. The couples first kiss is always a key shot, and of course I have to ensure I’m in the right place at the right time to capture it. However, from experience I’ve noticed that in the few seconds following the couples first kiss they often will share a moment of intimacy, which may be some whispered words, a look or an intimate smile. Very often this can be a moment more special and intimate than the kiss itself and I think the shot of Lucie and Ryan shown here illustrates that so well. These are the images that really capture the warmth, feelings and emotions of such a special day.

With classic or posed photography a different set of skills are required. Personally, I don’t like the word ‘posed’ as it’s rather square and conjures up images of the old fashioned ‘stand to attention’ type of photographer. I prefer instead to use the word ‘set’, as in ‘set up’ but most people are more familiar with ‘posed’ so that’s why I’m saying that instead, lol. Classic photography, particularly creating romantic and contemporary images, is all about getting your subject to look good, or au courant. To accomplish this I need to get them feeling relaxed and confident and comfortable in the poses (grrr, that word again) I place them in. Now every person is different so its no good simply running rigidly through a set of pre-planned poses with every bride and/or groom. The skill is tuning in to them and establishing first of all a comfortable rapport, but also a knowledge of styles and shots that will suit them and their personality and show them off to their full potential. With Lucie and Ryan I was able to quickly get them looking relaxed and natural as we ran through a set in the penthouse with Edinburgh Castle as our backdrop and then a few minutes after down in the Point Hotel’s lobby. I was also able to set up a number of shots that I would do on a fashion shoot utilizing the funky lighting in one of the hotel corridors. I knew both Lucie and Ryan would suit this style and the resulting images were striking enough to grace the cover of a glossy magazine.

Between the wedding breakfast and the first dance I was kept busy with requests for different group shots, which is always good fun, and then we quickly grabbed 5 minutes before the dancing for some shots of the newly weds before the castle as the sunset. The first dance got under way about 8.30pm and an hour later I was downloading the photographs onto the computer with a well earned bottle of beer!

The Point Hotel’s website is: http://www.mercure.com/