Melville Castle weddings, Louise and Paul

This has to be one of the most diverse wedding seasons for weather we’ve ever had. I think I’ve photographed a wedding in every possible kind of condition. But the strange thing is it has been so changeable from one day to the next. A fortnight ago I blogged about Lisa and Richard’s wedding in the rain, then last week it was glorious sunshine for Jimmy and Julie’s wedding at Auchen Castle and then Louise and Paul’s wedding at Melville Castle which is todays blog, was the day after Jimmy and Julie’s, and it was not only raining but blowing a gale too! On top of this of course are the weddings when its rained and sunshined (sunshined is this weeks new word, lol) at the same time like Alana and Colin’s Norton House wedding and Jo and Richard’s Harburn House wedding. Anyway, if you’ve wondered what I do when it rains on your wedding day (and you haven’t already done so) you can find the answer by scrolling down the page to the article When it rains on your wedding day and for now I will tell you a bit about Louise and Paul’s wedding whilst trying hard not to repeat myself.

The bridal suite at Melville Castle is room 11 located in the west wing. If you have a preference for some where else they will try to accommodate your request and there are a couple of nice alternatives up on the first floor, one overlooking the front lawn and another overlooking the rear. However, today room 11 was in operation for Louise and her four bridesmaids. It was here that I started with some detail shots of Louise’s dress, flowers, shoes and such like before running back up to the lobby to grab some pictures of Paul and his groomsmen. I was then hurrying back down to the bridal suite as Louise wanted photos of her bridesmaids lacing up the back of the wedding dress, which is always a great fun thing to photograph. I also wanted to get a quick posed photograph of Louise and the girls before they made their way along the west wing for the ceremony. Today’s registrar from the local Dalkeith office was Lyn who I’ve worked with many times before and because she knows I’m quick and unobtrusive she was happy to allow me to set the shot up in the corridor outside the room where there is a lovely large skylight providing beautiful overhead lighting even though it was time for the girls to be making their way to the Ballroom for the ceremony.

At Melville Castle when the bride uses room 11 they give her the choice of
coming along to the Ballroom either through the main lobby or taking her up in the lift to the first floor which allows her to descend the staircase. Most opt for the staircase as it is so distinguished and makes for a more dramatic entrance. Of course, descending the staircase does not take very long but I used to get a good range and diversity of photographs by sitting side saddle style on the banister at the top of the staircase and then sliding down the banister backwards whilst photographing the bridal procession as they make their way down. However, this in itself looked so spectacular that I had to stop doing it as the videographers used to end up filming me instead of the bride! (those of you whose weddings I’ve photographed at Melville Castle know this is a slightly exaggerated story but I just thought I’d throw it in to liven up the narrative)

During the ceremony there was sufficient room for me to move quietly around behind Lyn and use both corners of the room enabling me to shoot the expressions on both Louise and Paul’s faces. This is particularly nice during the declarations and vows which of course are said to each other and often produce those unique, spontaneous moments which make reportage photography so enjoyable. I know many photographers like to try and recreate these afterwards for photographs but in my opinion these never equal an authentic, unrepeatable moment of spontaneity. I’ve used three examples from the ceremony here which as you can see have captured genuine, spur of the moment emotions that are completely natural.

I know a lot of Edinburgh wedding photographers who don’t like to move from side to side during the
ceremony as the changes in light from one corner to another is so dramatically different it can upset the camera’s metering. Videographers often encounter the same difficulty and so they select a spot in advance and choose to remain there for the duration. When working from the window side of the room the camera will give a good accurate exposure reading but when moving to the opposite side where you are then facing the window the camera will usually underexpose everything. From experience I just switch the camera to manual and select my own settings which for the benefit of any other Edinburgh wedding photographer reading this are f4 and an 80th of a second when it is raining outside. If you want to know what settings to use on a sunny day please
check back next week or book yourself on one of my photography courses which start next year (plug, plug, lol).

As you can see from the second last picture I came back and used the staircase later too when I did the bride and groom session. This is one of my favourites looking straight up with that gorgeous light flooding in through the huge ornate windows on the top floor. The final shot I’m posting for today is one of the group photographs taken in the grand lobby. I love the smiles on the parents faces but most of all I just adore the expression on the baby’s face :)