Wedding planning and photography

2011 looks set to be another busy year for weddings going by the level of enquiries and meetings I have coming in and being arranged. I had consultations with five couples this week currently planning weddings for next year, and out of the six couples I’d met up with last week four of those had dates for the summer of 2011. It’s nice meeting up with brides and grooms and discussing their wedding plans well in advance.

As well as discussing the wedding photography I’m also happy to assist with anything else if I possibly can. Probably the most oft requested advice is for other wedding vendors. Like most wedding photographers in Edinburgh I have a number of contacts with suppliers I’ve worked with many times before and would happily recommend knowing they provide good quality products and just as importantly excellent personal service.

Three of the five couples I met with this week have booked me for their wedding photography and the remaining two will make a decision by the weekend. One of the things I always enjoy observing as couples browse through my sample albums is how interested they are in each and every wedding. Of course, they pick up idea’s for their own wedding as they see the different dresses, colour schemes, accessories and trimmings of recent weddings. This is one reason I like to keep my sample albums up to date with fresh weddings, so the photographs are very current. Although I have very extensive wedding galleries on my website featuring complete real life weddings there is nothing like seeing a beautiful wedding album or Storybook! The images just leap off the pages and you’re able to see their outstanding quality far more thoroughly than when viewing on a computer monitor.

Photography is of course the main topic of conversation. I always listen carefully to each couple as every wedding is different and its important to me to photograph the wedding exactly as the bride and groom wish. We discuss all the fundamentals from style of photographs through to wedding package and pricing options and I’ll then custom quote a bespoke package tailored to fit. I’m always happy to provide contact details of recent brides whose wedding I’ve photographed for a reference, but I find that the majority of the time my work speaks for itself. I do however keep the wedding testimonials page of my website up to date with comments from recent Thank You cards.

It seems everyone is also fascinated by the plethora of different venue’s in Scotland, too. I have been fortunate to photograph weddings all over Scotland and the North of England in some of the countries most magnificent and beautiful venue’s. Many of these have ended up being featured in magazines and brochures. There’s a couple of photographs shown here that some may recognize. The little shop that you see Sharon and David standing beside was used for many years in the famous Scottish soap 'Take the High Road'. Sharon and David were married at the Lodge on Loch Lomond, and as well as having pictures taken alongside the famous loch we of course had to pause for a shot of them by Glendarroch village store.

Tracey and Mark were married in St Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh Castle. Not only one of the smallest chapels in Edinburgh but also the oldest surviving building in the Scottish capital dating back to 1130AD. Looking at their photo you may wonder how that many people managed to fit inside? Well the answer is they didn’t! Most of them are tourists who were so thrilled at seeing a wedding in Edinburgh Castle they tagged along with the bridal party as we moved from the Chapel across to the gardens for photographs. I lost count of the amount of times Tracey was stopped by tourists and asked if they could have a photograph taken standing alongside her, lol.

The Church of the Sacred Heart is another historically important building in Edinburgh with magnificent characteristics and splendour. It sits quietly in an ill frequented street and from its outward appearance you would never guess how splendid it is on the inside. Every time someone see’s my photographs from weddings held here they are amazed when I tell them they are from that unobtrusive church in Lauriston Street! Beautiful gardens and grounds are always popular with any wedding venue. Not only making for great backgrounds but as I take newly weds for a stroll around them I’ll take candid photographs as we walk between locations catching them naturally and informally like the example of Wendy and David in the first image.

This weekend I’m down in the north east of England as I also provide wedding photography in Newcastle. I have a few consultations and a Photo Noir session on the Saturday afternoon. Check back next week for the photos.