of weeks ago I enjoyed the most entertaining bestmans speech I’ve ever seen! Its always exciting on a wedding day when something completely unexpected happens and Danny’s bestman really made sure of that! He was so brilliant he even out shone the professional wedding entertainer!As a photographer its great when something dramatic happens particularly when your style of wedding photography is predominantly reportage or photojournalistic. However, it can also prove to be challenging too which, for me, is something I revel in!
As Vicky and Daniel’s guests were getting organised for the line up myself and the videography team were scoping out the marquis in readiness for the wedding speeches. Much of the marquis was quite dark but the top table was positioned in front of a row of windows which meant the backlighting was very strong. From a technical point of view because everyones faces will be looking into the room this can cause the problem of them appearing too dark against the very bright background. To get around this the videography crew decided to set up external lighting positioned slightly in front of the top table and providing illumination from
within the room. Usually I will do likewise in this type of situation however for today it was easy enough for me to simply utilise the lighting from the video set up.When we set up external lighting it is operated by an infra red transmitter attached to the cameras, so when we fire the shutter this triggers the lights. This allows us to move around the room and shoot from the best angles and vantage points knowing that our preset lighting is going to give us excellent
results without us worrying about it. From experience though I never connect all the camera’s into the system as I like to have at least one or two camera’s fixed with their own dedicated flash gun which allows for greater manoeuvrability. The problem with using external lights is that once they are set up in the optimum position you cannot really move them until the speeches are over. I learnt this lesson a long time ago from one of my first weddings at Norton House Hotel wedding where during the speeches the bestman had arranged for a friend dressed in a gorilla suit to come charging into the room, scaring all the guests half to death and then uplifting the bride from the top table and whisking her 
off into the night. This of course had been organised as a surprise so nobody had been expecting it and, has had been hoped, it did indeed cause great hilarity! Back then I didn’t have mobile lighting so it was no problem to simply run after the galloping gorilla and shoot him as he carried out his gorillaring. Although nowadays I have much more equipment at my disposal I nevertheless remember that occurrence and I’m mindful of the fact that if I had been relying on external lighting alone, albeit far more effective than a camera speedlite, it would have been impossible to manouver it to keep up with the swift moving proceedings and I would have lost a lot of potential photographs. As an Edinburgh wedding photographer it’s not just gorilla’s 
I’ve had to shoot over the years. I recall a rather large penguin at a Harburn House wedding, a bouncing bunny at a wedding at Houston House, a roomful of popping balloons at a Royal Terrace Hotel wedding, a mad monk at a Craighouse wedding and a vampire bat at Barony Castle! So Danny’s bestman began his speech and he really was a great orator! We got some excellent photos as he stood at the top of the marquis making everyone laugh. But then as he came to the end of his speech he requested that everyone remain seated and allow him 60 seconds to set something up.
He left the top table and made his way to the opposite end of the marquis and over to the sound system. A flick of a switch and suddenly a soundtrack burst into life. Although no one knew what was coming I had noted that he had carried the microphone used for the speeches with him all the way to the back of the room so I had a feeling something unusual was on the cards. Sure enough as the music started up he announced he’d like to perform a special song he’d written just for Vicky and Danny.I immediately ran to the back of the marquis and started photographing him as he launched into a most hilarious song. I have to say he had an amazing voice and the lyrics were side-splitting! He also had some great moves too
and as he sang he danced and weaved his way between all the wedding tables as the guests tried their hardest not to fall off their seats from laughing. He eventually made his way to the front again and concluded his song right in front of the bride and groom at the head of the room. A standing ovation ensued! Vicky’s mum told Diane later that if they had known how good he was they could have saved a fortune on the entertainment! lol
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