When it rains on your wedding day

It poured down with rain pretty much all day for Lisa and Richard’s wedding. Quite often on rainy day weddings you get a break when you can pop out for a quick ten minute session before it starts back up again. But not so today! It just got worse and worse!
I know many brides worry about rain on their wedding day, but as a full time photographer I’m working day in day out so I’m used to photographing weddings in all conditions and all types of weather and no matter what happens on the day it’s my job to ensure that all my couples come away with a superb set of photographs from their wedding. And to be totally honest, I really don’t mind rain at all as it presents some exceptional and unique photographic opportunities. So, here’s what we do with a rainy wedding...

Most of our equipment we bring to each and every wedding anyway, especially the mobile lighting as it produces such stylish, fashionable images I like to work with it even on sunny days. But the two items we use exclusively for the rain are our wedding umbrella’s. One white, one black. Our white wedding umbrella is beautiful for wedding photographs so of course we give this to the bride and groom should they wish to go outdoors for a few shots. You may recall the shots we did by the River Tay with Nicki and Stuart at their Dunkeld House Hotel wedding a couple of months ago. It is especially made for wedding photography so not only does it look 'photogenically weddingy' (new phrase of the day lol) but it’s also made with extra strength to keep it rigid so it won’t blow inside out if it’s windy too.The black umbrella is for me. Diane will use this to keep me dry if I need to stand out in the rain for any length of time. Or, to be more accurate, to keep the camera lens dry. I use large, deep lens hoods to keep water splashes off the front of the lens but the brolly is useful in very heavy rain to ensure none of the pictures will have rain spots on them from drops of rain hitting the lens whilst taking the photographs. It’s also extra protection for the equipment which I will explain the importance off on rainy days in a couple of paragraphs.

For Lisa and Richard’s wedding I didn’t use the umbrellas as I wasn’t going to be standing in the rain for very long. I positioned them both in the Castle entrance, which is under cover, and then just ran out into the rain and fired off a few swift and smooth shots. I asked them to move into a couple of different positions for a few alternate compositions and within two to three minutes I’d shot about a dozen different photos. You can see from the two examples coming up at the end of this paragraph the diversity that I managed to achieve. Firstly we’ve got a classical, traditional wedding photograph with Lisa and Richard standing together under the entranceway. I photographed this pose full length, three quarter and close up. After a couple of quick changes of position and composition I finished with the black and white close up which is a nice contrast from how we started being very contemporary and fashionable. So despite the pouring rain we’ve still got a good selection and variety of outdoor photographs.

Okay let me bore you for a paragraph about equipment, lol. You will have heard the saying "it’s not the camera it’s the photographer that’s important". And without question that is most definitely true. However, on days where the weather is bad equipment choice can prove critical. I only use top of the range, professional camera’s and lenses. The main reason for this is that I want the ultimate image quality. However, the other reason is build quality and reliability. As you are aware water and electronics do not go together. Consumer camera’s, and even semi-pro enthusiasts equipment, are not designed to be used in inclement weather. Whilst they may initially take a few photos in the rain it’s no good when they suddenly stop working a few minutes later having got their electronics wet. I don't know if any camera can claim to be completely 100 % waterproof, which is why I have water proof camera covers and use the umbrella when needed, I knew I didn’t need to worry about working in the rain with Lisa and Richard as my gear is sufficiently sealed and water tight to withstand a few minutes of Scottish downpour. I am an Edinburgh wedding photographer after all! lol

Obviously for wet weddings a lot of the photography will be carried out inside. For this I use portable lighting. These are basically lite versions of studio lighting, more lightweight and mobile yet producing the same visual effect. Ideally I’ll fit these with what we call shoot through brollys but sometimes when the weather is wet it means all the guests have to remain indoors too and so with working in less space it may not be practical to fit a brolly so instead I have a compact soft box that takes up less space but gives the same results. This set up is what we will also use for a fashion shoot and as you can see from the two pictures on the black spread and the staircase shots (note the rimmed effect halo lighting on the photo of Lisa leaning on the banister above), it gives such a contemporary, stylish feel to the images that I will often use it for the bride and groom session even when the weather is dry. This is the type of thing that makes the difference between a nice wedding photo and an award winning photograph. At Melville Castle weddings or indeed any castle wedding it is crucial not to kill off the character and ambience and the beauty of the studio lighting is that I can move it and manipulate it at will that gives so much creative control.

Many people may say that it helps to have such a beautiful and grand venue as a Castle for wedding photos when it rains. But as a wedding in photographer in Edinburgh I’ve worked at all kind of venues in the rain, Norton House Hotel weddings, weddings at The Royal Terrace Hotel, Harburn House weddings, weddings at Craighouse, weddings at The Point Hotel, Houston House weddings, Dalhousie Castle weddings, the list goes on and on which I hope illustrates that no matter where you may be getting married please do not worry if it rains. You’ll have an amazing day and your wedding photographs will be fantastic!

An "epic" church wedding

Any wedding photographer in Edinburgh who has never photographed at the Church of the Sacred Heart is amazed when they first enter the building! From the outside the church appears very unobtrusive sitting quietly in the shadows of Lauriston Place. But walk through the doors and you are suddenly encountered with what my friend Adam, the videographer from Inspire Video, described as an "epic" interior! As regular blog readers are aware I love working in historical buildings more so than any other wedding photographer in Edinburgh, primarily due to a life long love of history and previous exciting magazine commissions. It just adds something to a wedding day when not only are you looking to capture great photographs of the bride and groom and the magical moments of their wedding but also the majesty and splendour of their venue and occasion. Although I must add that I am happy to photograph a wedding in absolutely any venue, big or small, grand or modest, and you will still get stunning photography whichever.

Whenever I’m selecting images for my blog I always try to choose about 8 or so that may fit along a particular theme or illustrate a certain point or topic that I am writing about. Of course most of my weddings have online galleries so if there is ever a wedding featured in my blog where you would like to see the entire set of photographs just drop me an email and I’d be happy to send you the link. There is also always 'Real Life' wedding galleries to see on my website, too. Choosing the first image from Susan and Michael’s wedding photographs was easy enough because straight away I picked the photograph with me in it! lol This of course was taken by Diane from the church gallery and as you can see, after getting my quick photograph of the bride and father at entrance to the church, I’ve ran ahead and taken up my usual position about three quarters of the way down the aisle for the shot of the bride and father walking up the aisle. The second photo posted is the one I took before moving off into the corners of the church to capture the rest of the proceedings.

Throughout the ceremony I’m looking to capture a good all round mix of photographs. You will always get some wonderful yet fleeting moments during a wedding ceremony. These may include solemn moments, laughter, smiles and romantic interactions between the bride and groom. Most of these are caught due to anticipation, which of course comes from experience, aswhen they actually occur you do not have time to lift the camera up to the eye and try and grab the shot. It really is a a split second, fleeting instant of time so I have to already be in place and viewing things through the camera lens in order to fire the shutter at the crucial second. And of course, as mentioned at the outset I’m wanting to include a variety of photographs that off the location and that encapsulate the majesty of the venue.

Michael’s family were all across from Ireland and being staunch Catholics a mass was incorporated into the ceremony. As you know I always work away very unobtrusively at weddings and it was very nice to have so many of the family commend me afterwards for the most unobtrusive photography they’ve experienced at a wedding. Getting superb wedding photographs is a must for me, as it is of course for any Edinburgh wedding photographer, but I feel I have to do so within the dignity of the occasion and therefore without causing any inappropriate distraction to the ceremony or any part there of.

The second to last photograph I’ve posted is a collage that illustrates Storybook style wedding photography. I had spotted one of the guests creeping up on Susan with a box of confetti so knew what they had planned, lol.
I tracked them with a telephoto lens and when they were in position locked focus on Susan and shot a sequence of six images. As you can see each photograph is good in its own right but together they convey a much more powerful statement as they tell a pictorial story of the event. That is one reason why your wedding photographs will always look best in a Storybook album because they have much more power and impact.

We finished off at the church with this posed photograph of the newly weds and then I grabbed another one of them in the back of the wedding car before we all headed off back to the hotel for some group shots and the reception. Susan and Michael had absolutely beautiful weather for their wedding day but the next wedding I will blog was the opposite! Rain, rain and more rain! Will rain on your wedding day spoil your photographs? No way! Check back next week and see some stunning photographs from a wedding with all day torrential rain.

More Norton House Hotel weddings

Last two weeks for some reason have been exceptionally busy. In addition to the fact that we are right in the middle of the wedding season, so my camera’s hardly get chance to draw breath, there’s a few wedding venues working on new brochures right now so I am at the same time trying to fill their requirements for fresh images and new photographs as well as the magazine requests I mentioned last week. I have a sneaky feeling next week will be even busier as I have back to back weddings starting Friday and through until the middle of the week which I have been looking forward to since the beginning of the year.

When it comes to weddings I am of course exceptionally fortunate that I get the most fantastic couples book me for their weddings. Last weeks wedding was yet another example. Alana and Colin first
saw my wedding albums at the Corn Exchange wedding fair. There’s always around ten Edinburgh wedding photographers at Edinburgh’s largest wedding fair and we are all slightly different, both in price, quality and style of working. For me, the main thing I want couples to do when they visit my stand at a wedding fair is look through my albums because they are what enable me to stand out as different from the other wedding photographers in Edinburgh. On the Saturday Alana and Colin visited the wedding fair I was away photographing a wedding so they had a chat with Diane and she showed them our albums. A couple of days later they were on the phone making an appointment and subsequently booked me to do their wedding photography and an Engagement Shoot.

We did the engagement session five weeks ago and had a great time! It’s a good opportunity to work together, do some coaching, and come away with a gorgeous set of photographs. As with all my Engagement Shoots Alana and Colin selected their favourite image from the session which we had printed and set into our wedding signature mount that is then put out on display on the wedding day for all the guests to sign. Check out the portrait page on my website for more details if you’re interested in booking an engagement session.

Alana and Colin wanted photography from pre-wedding 'getting ready' shots through until the first dance. So we started at Alana’s mother’s house with a few detail shots, then hair and make-up finishing with some posed photographs in the garden. For the most part I carry out the photography at the home photo-journalistically, so I like to just move around as unobtrusively as possible and capture things in a natural, relaxed way. You can see the advantage of this in the first photograph here, which is one of my favourite photos taken at the house. Alana had bought presents for her bridesmaids which she was wanting to give them once the two of them were ready. I quietly made my way to the top of stairs and without any interference took a series of photos as she handed the bridesmaids their gifts and the girls then opened them. It’s one of those lovely, natural moments that show the happiness and pleasure on all the girls faces.

We arrived at the church half an hour before the ceremony was due to start giving us plenty of time to get some photos of Colin and the groomsmen and a quick word with the minister. The bridesmaids arrived shortly after and I did a couple of posed shots of them with the flower girl on the church steps before photographing Alana arriving with her mother. Running ahead I then photographed the walk up the aisle before heading over into the area the minister had designated for the photographers at the front on the left hand side. I work with a mix of lenses that enable me to get a variety of photographs during the ceremony including wide shots showing off the grandeur of the church, mid range photographs that capture the setting and also close ups which are more intimate, particularly when going through the declarations, ring exchange and vows.

The register was signed in a small ante room and then the bridal party proceeded out of the church. Colin and Alana had requested three family group shots on the church steps as they exited, which of course didn’t take long, and then following all the congratulations we were heading off for Norton House.

As an Edinburgh wedding photographer I’m by now very familiar with Norton House as its one of the most well known wedding venues in the capital. This was my third wedding here so far this year and I am due back twice more, including the winners of Forth One’s Win Your Wedding contest. It was a mixed day with sunshine and showers and Alana and Colin’s wedding was in the Garden Suite. Norton House can accommodate two weddings at the same time using the Garden Suite and the Ballroom Suite, however, today Colin and Alana’s was the only wedding booked so we were allowed to do photographs in both sides. Whilst it was dry we quickly did their group photos on one of the lawns within the walled Garden Suite. We had a small shower following this so I used the cover of the walkway canopy for the first ten minutes of the bride and groom session and then we moved across to the main house and borrowed the staircase for a further ten minutes.

I mentioned in last weeks blog that the wedding flowers and bridal bouquets were all done by Flowers by Rhona. Rhona also did the flowers and bouquets for Alana too and being a friend of mine I deliberately colour touched the black and white shot of Alana, keeping the bouquet in colour, as I knew Rhona would love it. Not only is this a very eye catching photo but also very natural as well. I had initially posed Alana for a photograph of the dress and after taking it she thought I’d finished and looked off to smile at someone just out of shot. I was quick enough to zoom in and catch her smile, which of course is the most important element of the photograph, but at the same time I composed things so you could see her wedding band and the bouquet at the bottom of the frame.

Following the half hour of bride and groom photographs it was back into photojournalism mode as I moved around the guests as unobtrusively as possible capturing people having fun and enjoying themselves. It wasn’t long until everyone was called through to be seated for the wedding breakfast and the speeches which were to preface it. The cutting of the cake ceremony was held later in the evening prior to the first dance and I got some great atmospheric photographs of both in the low disco lights. Another great ending to a great wedding!