Natalie and Billy's wedding, Melville Castle

Any Edinburgh wedding photographer will tell you that one of the most invigorating sights is winding your way along the secluded, sweeping driveway of Melville Castle and then coming around a delicate bend and catching your first glimpse of the beautiful Castle. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been here and the amount of weddings I’ve photographed at Melville in recent years, but I always love that inimitable first glimpse which never fails to heighten my enthusiasm for the wedding I’m here to photograph!

Natalie and Billy’s wedding was to be in the new pavilion at Melville Castle which accommodates wedding parties too large for the main castle. However, my photography would start in the castle itself as Natalie and her twenty six bridesmaids were all getting ready there. I was booked for six hours wedding coverage, which is one of most popular choices, that would commence half an hour before the ceremony through until the cake cutting at 8pm. As I drew up at the castle entrance I could hear the fun and laughter emanating from Natalie’s room where all the girls were getting ready. No surprise really, I thought, having twenty six bridesmaids, six flower girls and six page boys!

I did a few shots with Billy and his bestman in front of the castle and also we did a walk through with him and all the groomsmen along the driveway, too. I finished up with a quick set of photos of Billy himself once again at the castle entrance. It has such great character the entrance of Melville Castle that enables you to frame the subject in the doorway at a couple of different angles and get some really classic and fashionable images. One of the tips I’ve learnt from photographing weddings at Melville Castle so often is to turn off the automatic glass lobby doors. This stops them from constantly opening and shutting as people pass the sensor and ensures a good, clear, consistent background. I always switch them off in the open position too as otherwise you will see the reflection of the photographer in the glass if you look carefully.

After doing the shots with Billy I went along to Natalie’s room. She was in the latter stages of having her dress laced up, which always makes for some nice, informal photographs. So I took a few photos from the corners of the room as the bridesmaids applied the finishing touches. We also got a couple of nice pictures of the young flower girls as well, one of whom was Natalie and Billy’s beautiful daughter. Of course, I was pulling your leg earlier when saying there was twenty six bridesmaids. There was only six. But I’m sure you get the point, eh? ;)

When everyone was ready I ran ahead for photographs of the girls coming down the Melville Castle staircase. Bridesmaids came first, as you can see in one of the photos here, followed by Natalie and her father. At the foot of the stair I quickly positioned Natalie and her dad in the main lobby between the two ornate pillars for a nice father and daughter portrait. As usual I did a full length and close up. We then all ran across to the pavilion trying not to get too wet in pouring rain.

If you read my blogging of Yvonne and Craig’s wedding you’ll know the two shots I’m after now. However, first off is photographing the bridesmaids coming up the aisle with the flower girls and page boys. In my pre-wedding discussions I already knew they were going to do it in three stages. Two bridesmaids with one flower girl and page boy, followed by two bridesmaids, and then the last two bridesmaids with two more page boys and flower girl. I positioned myself three quarters of the way up the aisle which was ideal for getting a nice set of photographs as they all came down. And then of course I took the picture that’s posted here of Natalie and her father as they came down after all the bridesmaids.

With the aisle in the Melville Castle pavilion being so long I did a bit of cheating on getting the shot of the groom looking back up the aisle and catching his first glimpse of his new bride by getting Diane to shoot from the wings with a telephoto lens. We’d arranged that she would concentrate primarily on getting the shot of Billy whilst I would concentrate on Natalie. We do this quite regularly but professional pride still makes me grab my own shot of groom too, lol. Anyway, I’m showing you one from the set Diane took as Billy and Natalie chose one of her images for their album. (Please don’t tell her as she’ll ask for a rise!)

Because it was still pouring with rain we went into the castle’s Ballroom to do the group photographs. The light in the Melville Castle Ballroom is always superb. It’s one of my favourite rooms of all the Scottish castle’s and I know several other wedding photographers in Edinburgh who agree. It took about twenty minutes to do all the different family grouping and combinations and low and behold just as we finished the rain stopped and out came some glorious sun! So after a quick session on the staircase with the newly weds I took them out for ten minutes around the castle grounds getting them back in plenty time for their wedding breakfast piped entrance.

We photographed the speeches, which occurred before the meal, and then when the wedding breakfast was over combined the photojournalistic photography with some group requests, then concluding with Natalie and Billy cutting the wedding cake. If you think Natalie’s wedding photography is now over well you might be in for a surprise. Make sure you keep checking back here regularly and you never know, perhaps you’ll see her in a new set of wedding pics complete with new dress! Now that’s got you intrigued hasn’t it? lol