pted for a large Coffee Table Book so I’ve been busy working on their album and page designs. Usually what I do is an initial design of all their pages and then we discuss from there any changes and alterations. The albums and books are never sent to print until the couple are totally happy with how their album looks. I must confess I love designing albums and Image Books and so I’m almost as happy as when I’m actually shooting the wedding. Once again all the weddings have been fairly local in and around Edinburgh, with Saturdays wedding being in the zoo.This was the first time I’d photographed a wedding at the zoo so I was really looking forward to it. Carol and Ben and their families were all coming up from England and I had arranged to meet them the Friday afternoon before the wedding day. Around 30-40% of couples book me without a meeting beforehand, particularly those coming in from oversea’s or up from England, Wales or across from Ireland. That is an additional reason why I make sure I have a good selection
of photographs on my website as referred to in my last blog post. Anyway, I realized Saturday’s wedding was going to be fun quite early in our conversation when I was told the most important shot of the whole day had to be Carol’s mother, Barbara, next to the penguin enclosure. Apparently, she has this ‘thing’ for penguins!Weddings in Edinburgh zoo are conducted in the Mansion House that sits in the middle of the Park. The weather forecast was for sunshine and showers and that’s how it proved to be on the day. I was booked to start at 2.30pm, half an hour before the ceremony, and began with a couple of portraits of Ben, then some shots with him and his bestman and then a few informal pictures as he chatted and greeted arriving guests. Barbara and the bridesmaids were due to arrive in the main wedding car at the main front entrance of the Mansion House about ten minutes before the ceremony but they surprised everyone by suddenly appearing at the back and walking in via the graveled pathway. The official explanation was that the driver took a wrong turn and missed the Mansion House entrance but as the penguin parade had begun a little earlier at 2.15pm many of us suspected Barbara had requested a quick detour!
Carol arrived just about on time and we did a few quick shots of her and her father and then with her bridesmaids before we went into the ceremony. The Humanist ceremony lasted about half an hour up in the MacMillan Lounge and then the newly weds and their guests went down through to the Mansion Bar for their drinks. As it was raining fairly heavily by now I took the bridal party back up into the spacious MacMillan Lounge for their group shots and used the large and elegant bay window as a backdrop. It took me half an hour for the formal group shots, a little longer than my usual twenty minutes as Carol had presented me with a twenty three page list of all the different groups and combinations she wanted (ok, that’s maybe a slight exagge
ration, lol) and then we did about 10 minutes inside the house with Carol and Ben. As soon as the rain stopped it was time for the key moment…Barbara and the penguins!Carol, Ben and myself and Diane made our way down the ornate spiral staircase and out into the main park. Barbara was moving so fast we could hardly keep up with her but I managed to stay ahead of the bride and groom and grab some informal pictures as they made their way through the park towards the penguin enclosure.
I took two images of Barbara, a full length and a close up, beside the main penguin enclosure and that was her happy for the rest of the day! I also got a couple of shots of Carol and Ben with the penguins and then Carol, Ben and Barbara followed by Carol, Ben, Barbara and David (Barbara’s husband who had been forced to come along too!). It now started raining again so we gave Carol and Ben our big white wedding umbrella and hurried back to the Mansion House with me once again running ahead and shooting some candid images on the way.
We made it back in plenty time for the wedding breakfast line up which was scheduled for 5pm and then the wedding speeches provided some fun and laughter between the starters and the main course. Once again we got another break between showers at the end of the meal so we managed to get everyone outside for a big group shot. There was plenty of laughter and frivolity too, especially surrounding Barbara’s hat which had been ‘borrowed’ from her head, to keep me busy capturing those spontaneous candid moments.
Just after 8.15pm the wedding cake was set up in the middle of the dance floor for the cutting of the cake which all the guests crowded in to observe. And then afterwards the floor was cleared and Carol and Ben went straight into their first dance at 8.30. I’d been booked up until the first dance so I was back home for just after 9pm and downloaded the photographs onto my main computer making sure the shots of Barbara at the penguin enclosure were backed up and triple checked and labeled high priority!Edinburgh zoo website: http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/
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