Royal Wedding at Dalhousie Castle

I’d never met Rachel and Paul until their wedding day. They were coming over from the USA with a small party of twelve to marry
in a quintessential Scottish Castle. This is quite a popular occurrence in Scotland and the north of England with the Americans particularly since Madonna did it. In fact, it was the best thing Madonna’s ever done! lol I didn’t actually get Madonna’s gig but I have done a number of weddings up along the far flung northern Sutherland coast in some idyllic Highland strongholds. Dalhousie Castle is much closer to home sitting on the edge of Midlothian. I’ve photographed many Dalhousie Castle weddings and they are always a delight!

In looking for a wedding photographer Paul had done what many do and started an online search. There was plenty to choose from as here in the UK we were right in the middle of Royal Wedding fever with the build up to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s big day. On the run up to the Royal Wedding ITV had been running a ten minute wedding slot each day just before the 6 o’clock news and I was fortunate enough to have been one of the top twelve weddings photographers featured by them.
Paul had found me on their associated website which was suitably impressive to lead him to booking me directly. The power of television, eh? lol

I met Paul on the wedding morning in the Dalhousie Castle Library and after introductions and a chat I did a couple of relaxed photographs with him, one of which is the first one posted here.
I then made my way to the bottom of the staircase for Rachel to come down with her two young bridesmaids and after a quick posed shot I ran ahead to photograph the ceremony proceedings in my usual reportage style. Civil ceremonies generally don’t take much more than 15 minutes or so and then when the register had been signed the newly weds and their twelve guests went back up to the grand lobby for drinks and canapés. Dalhousie Castle were a bit worried that with only twelve guests they may have made too many canapés and
so they asked me to help out with the eating of them. Having been brought up with impeccable politeness and good manners I was duty bound to assist ;)

This was the first ever wedding at Dalhousie Castle that I’ve been too where there has been no cars parked right at the entrance. So never one to pass up a golden opportunity we did a group photograph of Rachel and Paul and all the guests outside the main doorway. For the bride and groom session I took Paul and Rachel for a walk around the castle grounds. For the most part the photographs with the bride and groom are set up or directed. However, as my
photographic style is reportage or photojournalistic I am looking to take images that will fit in with this natural and relaxed feel. Therefore, I direct or ask my couples to do things that are natural, fun or romantic. Modern wedding photography is predominantly about good pictorial storytelling. If you start asking couples or guests to do strange or bizarre things that are not natural elements of a wedding day it will throw the whole sequence of photographs out of synch. From experience of working for so many magazines I can tell you that the editor will be looking fora set of pictures that tell the story of what has happened on the day and/or captured the essence of the event. Any images that do not fit in with this harmony are immediately 'spiked' (rejected). This of course includes the shots that you have directed or set up. They need to marry with the overall feel of the day itself and require a classy, fashionable look even if they are traditionally posed. Magazine and publishing housing editors have unbelievably high standards and in my opinion its important the same standards are applied to a wedding day.

I finished up with Paul and Rachel back in the grand Dalhousie Castle lobby. Rachel wanted a photograph of herself sitting on the throne so we did this before they went in for their wedding breakfast. I had been booked to photograph from the ceremony arrivals up until going for their wedding breakfast, a total of three hours. We ended up with just under 200 beautiful photographs. Rachel and Paul have opted to add on to theirpackage the award winning Bellissimo Perfetto album (recently voted wedding album of the year 2011). It is rumoured (top secret this, from an insider source) that this the album Prince William and Kate Middleton have ordered for their Royal Wedding photographs, so they are in good company! If you currently planning a wedding and interested in having a Bellissimo album yourself get in touch and I will be happy to show you some samples. I do a 40 page album which holds up to 100 photographs for £695. It really is the finest wedding album in the world!