Outdoor Wedding at Melville Castle

I love outdoor weddings! Especially when they are in the grounds of a magnificent Scottish Castle. And particularly when I have a wonderful couple who I know will make for great photographs. I did an engagement session at Melville Castle back in February with Karen and Daniel which was excellent so we were all ready to now get a set of superb photographs from their wedding. As a photographer it is always a delight to have a beautiful bride who you know is going to be wearing an absolutely stunning dress! But when you have a bride with two dazzling dresses lined up, well that’s just bliss! If only there was going to be two wedding cakes! ;)

We arrived at Melville Castle at 1pm and the first thing I did was have my usual walk around to check how everything was set up and arranged. The ceremony was going to be on the main lawn in front of the castle with the guests facing south which meant I could use the castle as a backdrop for some of the photos. I had a chat with the minister and the videographer about how we’d work during the ceremony and then I headed up to Karen’s room to start some pre-wedding preparation photographs.

Karen and her family were over from the USA whilst Daniel’s family were up from Reading, so I knew how hard they had all worked in arranging a Scottish Castle wedding from afar. Over the last year or so since they booked me for their photography Karen and myself have been keeping up-to-date with each others blogs so despite her living so far away we’d already got to know each other well. We’d also got some good photographs from the engagement session and planned to re-stage Karen and Daniel’s favourite image on the wedding day as a complement to the engagement print.

On the run up to the ceremony I was back and forth between Karen and Daniel’s room as well as recording some detail shots too such as the cake, flowers, rings, decorations, etc. Young Harrison, the page boy, was an absolute star! Wearing a kilt for the very first time he looked fantastic and whenever I pointed a camera at him throughout the day, no matter how tired he was, he instantly popped a beaming a smile on his face. He did take a couple of minutes for a time-out during the ceremony to re-charge his batteries as you can see from one of the images here, lol.

The ceremony went off beautifully with the piper, harpist and soloist all performing superbly! I had Diane situated up in one of the castle rooms to get a couple of high level shots, particularly of Karen going down the aisle. I’ve posted my favourite here. I have to confess, its probably my favourite because I’m in it! lol

As a wedding photographer in Edinburgh I’m privileged to photograph at many beautiful venue’s in the capital, and as you can see from the shot I’ve used to illustrate, Melville Castle really does make for a gorgeous backdrop to an outdoor wedding!

After drinks and canopes we had a Big Group photograph of all the guests taken from one of the upper windows. This was a shot Karen really wanted as she had seen it in one of my albums at Melville Castle and said you don’t get this type of photograph from weddings in the States. There was also another photograph I often do at Melville Castle which she’d requested, too and that is the one in front of the huge ornate window of the Ante Room with the dress splayed out before the gold drapes (we call them curtains here in Scotland lol).

The formal group photographs followed the Big Group and then I took the newly weds for a half hour bride and groom set. As most of the guests were enjoying the sunshine outside we went back inside the castle initially and took advantage of it being so quiet. I did a couple of images in the main lobby before re-creating the shot from the engagement session they had liked so much. I positioned one of the white leather chairs centrally in the lobby and then ran to the top of the staircase and photographed from above with a telephoto lens. I’ve put the two photos side by side so you can see them both.

Ten minutes inside the castle and then twenty minutes outside. I did my Melville Castle signature image with the bride and groom positioned on the south-east corner with the castle rising up behind them. First photograph I have them looking straight at me and then I ask them to kiss. The kissing version I’ve coloured touched.

Cutting of the cake (the first cake lol) was on the staircase just before all the guests go in for the wedding banquet which I always like to photograph live as it captures the mood and ambience much better than having this shot mocked up. Speeches came after the main course which we photographed with Diane using a long telephoto from the back of the room and myself working a little closer into the top table. After enjoying some wedding cake and grabbing some informal photos of the guests enjoying themselves and relaxing we were then into the first dance. Karen was still in dress number 1 as we wanted to utilize the cathedral train in the low light for some creative slow synch lighting images. And then afterwards she went off to change into dress number 2. By now the castle’s exterior lights were coming on so we did a quick ten minute shoot outside to get some night shots and then we were back into the Ballroom awaiting cake number two. You can tell I’m enjoying this wedding can’t you, lol!

Cake number two was a surprise for Daniel. As he’s a huge Liverpool fan Karen had had a special cake created and decorated with the Liverpool football club badge and a small Liverpool player sat on the top. It was brought out and presented to him on the dance floor after which the DJ launched "You’ll Never Walk Alone" to which everyone sang along. It was great fun! It also prompted a second cake cutting ceremony, too! :)

I concluded the evening with a few more dance shots. Some of the American visitors had never ceilidh danced before so Tom, of Technet101, had them up doing the Gaygordons which everyone loved! All in all this was an action packed, fun filled day, and it couldn’t have gone better! We ended up with over 500 photographs from the day which are now edited and on DVD awaiting Daniel and Karen’s return from honeymoon. Then they have the hard task of selecting 100-150 for their album.