Marguerite and Gordon’s wedding was the last of my “five in a row at Melville Castle” that I was telling you about previously. Marguerite’s family had come over from southern Ireland and Gordon’s had come down from the Outer Hebrides, so I was pretty sure it was going to be an exciting and fun affair! I was booked from 1.30pm through to 7.30pm with the ceremony at 2pm. I arrived about 1pm and spent a few minutes catching up with Geoff from Watchthebirdie, which is the company I always recommend for videography. There was going to be a string quartet in one corner of the ceremony room and an enormous floral display in the other, so things were fairly tight. Good job I’m slim, eh? lol. Anyway, Geoff got his tripods positioned and we worked out how we’d work things to ensure neither of us got in the others way.
I popped along to Marguerite’s room at quarter past one just to say “Hello” and check she was alright. Marguerite had been feeling rather nervous on the run up to wedding day and was particularly concerned about the photography as she hates being photographed.
This is not uncommon at all. I would say well over half the brides I photograph tell me this. I’d done quite a bit of coaching with Marguerite prior to the wedding and I was confident she’d look fantastic in her photographs, which proved to be the case!I met Gordon in the lobby at half past one and we got a few quick photographs of him by himself and then with his bestman. Marguerite’s father had recently been very ill and was not able to attend the wedding so her two brothers were going to fill in for him. So Marguerite was escorted down the staircase by the oldest brother and then up the aisle by the youngest.
I discreetly ducked and dodged my way around the string quartet, Geoff’s tripods and the flowers through the ceremony and then as well as shooting the signing of the register ‘live’ I also was able to have a couple of minutes to set up half a dozen different shots too. I ran to the back of the room to photograph the newly weds coming back up the aisle, making sure I was down on one knee so Geoff could film it too, and then we were back out into the foyer for the champers. I nipped out to check the weather while everyone was enjoying their drinks as it had been raining all morning. Fortunately it had stopped and the sun had even come out so we decided we’d make the most of it and have a Big Group shot outside in front of the fountain.
It didn’t take long to get everyone in place and positioned, much to Marguerite‘s surprise as she thought it would take all afternoon getting her side of the family organised., lol. And then we ran through their bridal and family group shots. I don’t mind either way whether the couple give me a list of group shots they’ve worked up or want to leave it to me on the day. For this wedding Marguerite and Gordon were happy to leave it all down to me, so I did all the usual groupings that are important to have on the wedding day and then a few different combinations of friends and family that would complement the main photographs.And then we came to the part of the day Marguerite was dreading - the main bride and groom photographs! Now I had promised Marguerite that she would look fantastic in all the photographs.
I’m not 100% sure she believed me because she replied that if I really did do that she would tell every single engaged girl in Ireland to get married in Scotland and book me for their photography, lol. Anyway, I told her that it was a deal! So, now I’m looking forward to the many, many Irish brides I’ve got coming my way in the next few years! :DI spent around 20 minutes or so on their bride and groom set. I use flow posing techniques as well as my charming personality (don’t laugh!) to run through quite a number of different shots and poses in a relatively short space of time.
This helps them relax and look natural in the pictures rather than the ’rigidly standing to attention’ type of photographs. I get a mix of classic and contemporary photographs, as well as some informal fun pictures too, and I’ll even do a few fashion shots depending on individual personalities. There’s also a couple of photographs I have to take at every wedding I photograph here because they’ve kind of become my Melville Castle signature images. Melville has one of my showcase wedding albums which is often out on display here during the week and which prospective bride and grooms looking to book the castle for their venue can browse through which helps them to visualise how good their own wedding photographs will look at such a beautiful venue as Melville.
Well there’s a few photographs in the album that couples have never before seen from Melville Castle weddings and when they book me for their photography they beg me to do “Ante-room window” shot or my display print shot, which refers to a large Gallery Print I take to all the Melville Castle wedding fairs and put up on display. This is the first photo you see in this blog post and I’ve posted Marguerite and Gordon’s version at the end so you can compare them. 
For this image I position the couple on the south east corner with the Castle looming up right behind them. The most dramatic picture is created by moving in close and laying prone on the floor so that the low angle accentuates the castle backdrop. I now take three versions of this, one at head height, one at knee height and the one lying on the floor. The Ante-room window image refers to the huge ornate window of the Castle’s ante room. This is a very technical image as the large window has so much light streaming through it that a normal photograph will throw the couple into silhouette, much to the consternation of the many amateur photographers I get standing behind me trying to obtain the same picture.
The secret of course is simply hitting the perfect balance of natural light and fill light from the camera‘s speedlite. With Marguerite and Gordon I shot this one quickly while all the guests were being escorted into the Dining Room for the wedding breakfast. After this the remainder of the day was all photojournalism photography which included the cutting of the cake, a big Irish/Gaelic sing song and a few informal fun shots of everyone enjoying themselves.I’ve mentioned in previous blogs this year how Melville Castle has taken on a new lease of life under its new ownership, which a beautiful venue such as this definitely deserves. But the next big thing on the Castle’s calendar is the Wedding Show on November 21st and 22nd to profile the new pavilion and all the refurbishments.
This is going to be one huge wedding weekend and it’s a must for anyone interested or planning a wedding in the future. All the top wedding service providers are clamouring to be involved , although I believe its only going to be a carefully selected few who will get opportunity to exhibit, which at least means you wont get bamboozled by dozens of Edinburgh wedding photographers all under the same roof, lol! Anyway, if you get chance to come along you’ll definitely have a great time.
I should be set up in the new pavilion so go into the Castle first, because you want to make sure you don’t miss out on your free glass of champagne ;), and then pop across and see me for a chat and a look through some albums and books. I’ll have the above mentioned showcase album with me too so you can to see the images I’ve been talking about, which always look far better displayed in a high quality album than what they do on a computer monitor. If any of you are going to be coming from the direction of Kinnaird Park and want to bring me a latte from Costa Coffee (medium with six sugars please) I’ll do you a free engagement session! :D
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