Cathedral and Castle weddings

Well I had three back to back weddings last week, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all of which were excellent and it’s hard to decide which one to blog. However, I know a lot of my overseas visitors to my website and blog, especially the Americans and Canadians, love our historical Cathedral and castles so I thought I’d let you see some photographs from Katrina and Paul’s wedding as it involves both.

Katrina and Paul were married at St. Mary’s Cathedral at the top of Leith Walk in Edinburgh and then were going back to their reception at the Apex International Hotel in the Grassmarket. This was the middle wedding of my three.

Leith Walk is one of the oldest, widest and most well known streets in Edinburgh linking the town centre to Leith and St. Mary’s sits in prime position right at the head of Leith Walk atop a large flight of steps. There’s a narrow track at the bottom of the Cathedral steps where the wedding cars are allowed to temporarily park. Diane and I had decided to take a taxi as it would be quicker for us to simply hail one from the top of Leith Walk and get across town to the Apex after the ceremony than it would to hunt around finding a parking space at the hotel. The wedding car was a beautiful old Jaguar which looked majestic as it waited outside the Cathedral after dropping Katrina and her father. I grabbed a shot of the bride and father standing beside it before going into the Cathedral and likewise later did a set of images with Katrina and Paul after their wedding ceremony.

Inside, the Cathedral is stunningly ornate, but also cavernous! I had to use a long telephoto zoom lens for the majority of the proceedings which was a full Roman Catholic ceremony lasting almost an hour. When everything was over and the newly weds had made their way down the long, deep aisle I congregated all the guests on the Cathedral steps for a big group shot. There were about 75-80 guests altogether so it was a comfortable fit on the steps with plenty of room to spare. I’ve had 200 guests arranged on the steps here at previous weddings. The weather was glorious, as it had been the day before, with warm sunshine and clear blue skies. After the big group shot I ran through Katrina and Paul’s family groups and then spent 10 minutes with the two of them alone before we headed off for the Apex.

Getting around Edinburgh, particularly through the city centre can be fairly slow progress with all the sluggish traffic but there are priority lanes for buses and taxis so we got to the Apex ahead of the wedding car which gave me chance to shoot pictures of it arriving outside the hotel and then I paused Katrina and Paul alongside to get a shot of them and the car with the looming hotel entrance as a backdrop. I had to stand in the middle of the road for this, quiet a daring feat in the bustling Grassmarket, but it only took me a few seconds and I managed to make it back onto the pavement unscathed, lol! The Apex had laid out the red carpet for the bride and groom so I paused them for a second half way along it and grabbed a shot with the Grassmarket now as a backdrop. I knew that this image would look great when I colour touched it later retaining the colour in the bride and groom and the red carpet but converting everything else to black and white. This is the colour touched photo shown here.

Katrina and Paul were met by Duncan who was to serve as their MC for the remainder of the day. However, before mixing with the rest of their guests Duncan took us all up to the Apex Heights which is on the top floor of the hotel looking across to Edinburgh Castle. The Heights restaurant is where the wedding breakfast was to be held but before all the guests came up for it Katrina and Paul were allowed out onto the outside balcony for photographs. The balcony is fairly narrow and only the bride and groom with their photographer are permitted to go out onto it, hence the reason the hotel staff take them up ahead of their guests. I’ve photographed weddings at the Apex before so I’m familiar with the stunning views but I think this was the sunniest day I’ve ever been out here.

I started with a classic shot of Katrina and Paul chinking their champagne glasses with Edinburgh Castle sitting majestically behind them. I then ran through a set of different images that encompassed a few more classical poses, some contemporary images as well as some relaxed and fun pictures. I didn’t take too long as I was aware of the hotels timings for the meal but we got around two dozen different images in about ten minutes. Duncan asked me if I wanted photographs of a mock up of the cake cutting before the guests were brought up to the restaurant but to be honest the pictures always look far better when you shoot it live as you capture the atmosphere and vibe of the occasion which of course isn’t there if you are simply doing a fake mock up. As I was booked up until the first dance there was no need for a mock up anyway as I would be photographing the cutting of the cake as well as the speeches before and after the meal.

Lots of reportage photography for the remainder of the day right up until and including the first dance. I was recently dropped an email saying that I never state how many photographs I end up taking at the weddings I blog…so just for the record…Katrina and Paul had booked me for Level 2 coverage (full details of my packages and pricing are on the main WEDDINGS page of my website) which is up to 6 hours attendance at their wedding starting at 2pm with the first dance at 8pm. They will have a total 231 photographs on their DVD and I uploaded about 150 onto their private online gallery. I’ve just completed the initial draft of their album and we’ll meet up when they’re back off honeymoon to discuss any changes and alterations they want to make. I hope that keeps the statisticians happy!

The website for St. Mary’s Cathedral is: http://www.stmaryscathedral.co.uk/
And the Apex International Hotel is: www.apexhotels.co.uk/hotels/edinburgh-international
My website is: …oh, never mind, you should know it by now! lol