Wedding details - photographs

Wedding details. For many, detail shots from a wedding are never considered and certainly not given any priority. Of course there are far more important photographs on a wedding list of priorities, but if I am booked for a Level 2 or higher I will always include some detail shots as a record for the bride and groom. I had a few pre-wedding consultations this week and as we were looking through a sample album one bride commented on some of the detail shots that had been included and said I didn’t need to bother taking any pictures like that for her on the day. Now of course I’ll work in accord with whatever the couple wishes, but I am also happy to offer advice and suggestions that may be beneficial, so I asked her if there was any particular reason for her decision? Basically, she simply felt there was no need for them. However, they do have some merit that can easily be overlooked.

I’m going to run through the gist of my conversation on this subject and you can decide for yourself if you feel they’d have any worth in your wedding day photographs. But please bear in mind that even if I do take some detail shots on your day they won’t go in your album unless you select them, so in many ways you really have nothing to lose.

Your wedding photographs are your memories from what is the most important day of your life. For the most part the photographs will be the only tangible thing you retain from the day that will be brought out repeatedly over the forthcoming years. The wedding dress, shoes and all the accessories will likely not be worn again. The cake will get eaten. The flowers will be gone and the wedding car returned. Okay, I’m not going to go on and on…don’t want to depress you too much, lol! But that’s why I think its nice to have a photographic record of these items so you can remember exactly what they looked like and how much they contributed to enhancing such a special day.

Lets take one example…the wedding cake. This is a costly item if bought and perhaps even more precious if a close friend or relative has baked and decorated it for you. If you don’t have a picture for your collection will you recall exactly what it looked like in a few years time and how it was displayed as well as all those intricate details that went into the decoration? At most of the weddings I’ve attended the wedding cake is put out in a prominent position on display before the wedding breakfast. Virtually all the guests at some point will saunter over and pay admiring looks. However, for the bride and groom the wedding day unfolds so quickly they seldom get chance to even see the cake until its time for the cake cutting ceremony.

It is similar with the ceremony and dining rooms. Because I arrive ahead of the majority of attendees I get to see the ceremony room and dining rooms straight after they have been set up and before anyone enters them. They always look absolutely beautiful and I cant help but think of how much time and discussion has gone into the layout, the decorations, the placements, the settings and look of the rooms and how during these deliberations, probably between the venue manager and the bride, groom and family, every member involved has tried so hard to visualize how the room will actually look when all the details are in place. And yet, the bride will never see them at their best! When she sees the rooms for the first time they are full of guests. I’ve had so many brides express their delight when going through their photographs and then suddenly seeing how their rooms looked all adorned and set out just as they had tried so hard to imagine in the days before the wedding.

There’s another reason why I like details shots, too. And that’s because they make good supplemental page shots. Very often I may be working on a page design with say a couple of important pictures but there is an empty space that if filled would improve the page look. However, you don’t really want an additional image to detract from the two photographs already selected for that page. This is where a detail shot can be ideal. It fills the space on the page giving the spread a nice balance but because it’s a detail shot it doesn’t conflict with the two main photographs, rather it serves as a complement. This type of use can be particularly helpful with linking images in a Storybook album or Image Book.

Anyway, that’s my viewpoint on the merit of detail shots. I’ve included a few here from the last few weddings I’ve photographed. A couple of these were selected for the newly weds album but most of the images are so recent the bride and groom haven’t yet finalized their photograph selection so it will be interesting to see how many get chosen.

Cathedral and Castle weddings

Well I had three back to back weddings last week, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all of which were excellent and it’s hard to decide which one to blog. However, I know a lot of my overseas visitors to my website and blog, especially the Americans and Canadians, love our historical Cathedral and castles so I thought I’d let you see some photographs from Katrina and Paul’s wedding as it involves both.

Katrina and Paul were married at St. Mary’s Cathedral at the top of Leith Walk in Edinburgh and then were going back to their reception at the Apex International Hotel in the Grassmarket. This was the middle wedding of my three.

Leith Walk is one of the oldest, widest and most well known streets in Edinburgh linking the town centre to Leith and St. Mary’s sits in prime position right at the head of Leith Walk atop a large flight of steps. There’s a narrow track at the bottom of the Cathedral steps where the wedding cars are allowed to temporarily park. Diane and I had decided to take a taxi as it would be quicker for us to simply hail one from the top of Leith Walk and get across town to the Apex after the ceremony than it would to hunt around finding a parking space at the hotel. The wedding car was a beautiful old Jaguar which looked majestic as it waited outside the Cathedral after dropping Katrina and her father. I grabbed a shot of the bride and father standing beside it before going into the Cathedral and likewise later did a set of images with Katrina and Paul after their wedding ceremony.

Inside, the Cathedral is stunningly ornate, but also cavernous! I had to use a long telephoto zoom lens for the majority of the proceedings which was a full Roman Catholic ceremony lasting almost an hour. When everything was over and the newly weds had made their way down the long, deep aisle I congregated all the guests on the Cathedral steps for a big group shot. There were about 75-80 guests altogether so it was a comfortable fit on the steps with plenty of room to spare. I’ve had 200 guests arranged on the steps here at previous weddings. The weather was glorious, as it had been the day before, with warm sunshine and clear blue skies. After the big group shot I ran through Katrina and Paul’s family groups and then spent 10 minutes with the two of them alone before we headed off for the Apex.

Getting around Edinburgh, particularly through the city centre can be fairly slow progress with all the sluggish traffic but there are priority lanes for buses and taxis so we got to the Apex ahead of the wedding car which gave me chance to shoot pictures of it arriving outside the hotel and then I paused Katrina and Paul alongside to get a shot of them and the car with the looming hotel entrance as a backdrop. I had to stand in the middle of the road for this, quiet a daring feat in the bustling Grassmarket, but it only took me a few seconds and I managed to make it back onto the pavement unscathed, lol! The Apex had laid out the red carpet for the bride and groom so I paused them for a second half way along it and grabbed a shot with the Grassmarket now as a backdrop. I knew that this image would look great when I colour touched it later retaining the colour in the bride and groom and the red carpet but converting everything else to black and white. This is the colour touched photo shown here.

Katrina and Paul were met by Duncan who was to serve as their MC for the remainder of the day. However, before mixing with the rest of their guests Duncan took us all up to the Apex Heights which is on the top floor of the hotel looking across to Edinburgh Castle. The Heights restaurant is where the wedding breakfast was to be held but before all the guests came up for it Katrina and Paul were allowed out onto the outside balcony for photographs. The balcony is fairly narrow and only the bride and groom with their photographer are permitted to go out onto it, hence the reason the hotel staff take them up ahead of their guests. I’ve photographed weddings at the Apex before so I’m familiar with the stunning views but I think this was the sunniest day I’ve ever been out here.

I started with a classic shot of Katrina and Paul chinking their champagne glasses with Edinburgh Castle sitting majestically behind them. I then ran through a set of different images that encompassed a few more classical poses, some contemporary images as well as some relaxed and fun pictures. I didn’t take too long as I was aware of the hotels timings for the meal but we got around two dozen different images in about ten minutes. Duncan asked me if I wanted photographs of a mock up of the cake cutting before the guests were brought up to the restaurant but to be honest the pictures always look far better when you shoot it live as you capture the atmosphere and vibe of the occasion which of course isn’t there if you are simply doing a fake mock up. As I was booked up until the first dance there was no need for a mock up anyway as I would be photographing the cutting of the cake as well as the speeches before and after the meal.

Lots of reportage photography for the remainder of the day right up until and including the first dance. I was recently dropped an email saying that I never state how many photographs I end up taking at the weddings I blog…so just for the record…Katrina and Paul had booked me for Level 2 coverage (full details of my packages and pricing are on the main WEDDINGS page of my website) which is up to 6 hours attendance at their wedding starting at 2pm with the first dance at 8pm. They will have a total 231 photographs on their DVD and I uploaded about 150 onto their private online gallery. I’ve just completed the initial draft of their album and we’ll meet up when they’re back off honeymoon to discuss any changes and alterations they want to make. I hope that keeps the statisticians happy!

The website for St. Mary’s Cathedral is: http://www.stmaryscathedral.co.uk/
And the Apex International Hotel is: www.apexhotels.co.uk/hotels/edinburgh-international
My website is: …oh, never mind, you should know it by now! lol

Royal Terrace Hotel - the wedding of Amanda and Graham

I kind of figured something may be amiss when the groom came hurtling through the lobby of the Royal Terrace Hotel with the bestman hot on his heels and then dived into a waiting taxi that promptly whisked them both off at high speed!

The Royal Terrace Hotel sits on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill close to the city center but set far enough back to avoid the busy hustle and bustle of capital city life. I’m always amazed at how much peace and quietness it enjoys whilst occupying such a strategic location! I’m not the only one either. Sir Sean Connery attempted to buy a house on this street but no one wanted to vacate, not even when he offered to pay way above the valuation price! Amanda and Graham’s wedding was scheduled for 3pm in the private gardens of the Royal Terrace Hotel. I arrived at 2pm and did my usual pre-wedding look around. know it very well and I was particularly looking forward to my first outdoor wedding of the season.

After I’d checked all the locations I planned to use for The Royal Terrace Hotel is another venue where I’m a recommended photographer so I photographs I went down to Amanda’s room to say Hello and check on her preparations. I then went back up to the lobby where I’d arranged to meet Graham and his bestman at 2.30pm. However, Graham and Richard had left the rings at home which was the reason for their swift taxi departure! There was no way they’d be able to make it across town and back before 3pm so the wedding was rescheduled for 3.30pm. Amanda took this in good spirits seeing the funny side of it and we took the opportunity to do a portrait session while we awaited the guys return. I’m happy to say they made it back safely, albeit a little disheveled, and there were no further hiccups for the remainder of the day.

It was a civil ceremony that lasted around 10-15 minutes followed by a champagne reception under a glorious canopy of blue skies and warm sunshine. When everyone was ready I took the bridal party into a quiet corner of the gardens for their group shots. Amanda’s Uncle Hugh, who was standing in for Amanda’s father, was grateful that I got through them all in about 15 minutes as he had to return home for his speech which he’d left behind. I was going to do around a 15-20 minute session with Amanda and Graham which would give him sufficient time to get back before the wedding breakfast.

There are four separate enclosed gardens at the rear of the Royal Terrace Hotel so while the guests remained enjoying their drinks I took Amanda and Graham to the end two, one of which has a classical stone gazebo. We did a good mixture of relaxed, contemporary images along with some traditional, classic photographs.

The wedding breakfast seemed to go over quickly, probably because the food was so good, lol, and then I was photographing the speeches followed by table shots to ensure we had a record of all the guests. We went back out into the gardens for a few requested group shots and then I quickly took Amanda and Graham out onto Royal Terrace itself as I had suggested a shot of themselves standing on the famous street with the hotel spreading out behind them, which is the opening shot of this post. We then finished up with the cake cutting ceremony which was performed back out in the gardens as it was still such a lovely warm evening.

I only live 5 minutes away from the Royal Terrace Hotel so I was back home for 9pm giving me plenty of time to download the images which would be edited the following morning and then uploaded to Amanda and Graham’s online gallery. They included in their package a top of the range Coffee Table Book so right now I’m busy working on their design and page layouts and I’ll have an initial draft ready for their return from honeymoon.

The Royal Terrace website is: www.primahotels.co.uk/royal

Click the 'Philip Hawkins Photography website' link top right for more wedding pics.

King of The Castle

Weddings and portraits have taken up most of my time this last week but alongside these I was back at Melville Castle twice. One was for a wedding show and the other for a photo shoot with Casper and Hamish, both of which were great fun!

I arrived at Melville Castle bright and early and did my usual look around to check the lighting and that everything was as I would expect to find it, which it was. I earmarked a couple of nice spots to shoot Casper and Hamish though I was fully aware it was going to be entirely up to the two of them whether or not they wanted to pose there! Casper was going to be the main model. His owners were having their golden wedding anniversary at the weekend and we were after a nice shot of Casper which would be enlarged and mounted as an anniversary gift. Melville Castle’s weddings and events manager, Arlene, had booked me for the photography as I do a lot of work for Melville Castle as well as shooting many weddings there each year. She was friends with Casper’s owners and the pictures of him were to be a surprise present which would be presented at the anniversary party. As well as Casper, Arlene also wanted a picture of her own dog, Hamish, and also a picture of Casper and Hamish together.

Getting the two dogs to Melville secretly was a carefully organised covert and clandestine operation, lol! Anyway the two clients presently arrived and the first priority for Casper was inspecting the castle while Hamish headed off straight into the bar. Smart dog, eh? The bar eventually was to Hamish’s liking and he came back through and paused for a second or two on the stairwell that is commonly used for the cake cutting ceremony at the castle’s weddings. I managed to grab a quick shot of him as he sat there which proved to be Arlene’s favourite as she said I’d caught his usual expression perfectly.

We then took the two of them around to the front of the castle as I really wanted a shot of Casper with the castle as a backdrop behind him. Casper however wasn’t too interested in this as he was more fascinated in the castle’s fountain. However, I did manage to grab one shot of him during the nano second he paused in front of the castle! Initially we started off trying to get the two dogs to pose together for a picture but neither wanted to ‘sit’ as the extensive castle grounds were far too inviting. So, I told their handler just to leave them alone for a while and I’d try and shoot some natural images as they enjoyed themselves. Very often this approach generates the best images anyway rather than trying for formal posed shots and today was no exception. I got several good pictures as the two of them played around and then we took them both back inside and viewed the shots on my laptop.

Everyone was thrilled with the pictures and Arlene found it extremely hard to decide which one was the best and to have printed and mounted up for the anniversary gift. In the end she decided it was impossible to just pick one and instead chose three which I would have mounted in the same style and for which she would buy a special presentation box. She also had the same problem choosing a photograph for herself of Hamish and eventually narrowed it down to four. I heard later that Casper’s owners were absolutely thrilled with the photographs which have all now been framed and hung proudly on the wall!

As I left Melville Castle after the session I took a quick photo of the castles gateway. I do a lot of photography for the castle’s marketing and promotional requirements (in fact I’d just been looking though the new castles brochure that has just come out and for which I did the photography) and I noticed the large banner that sits on the walls either side of the entrance gate advertising the various events that the castle is hosting had just been changed and another one of my photographs was now advertising Sunday’s Wedding Show. There’s going to be a wedding show at Melville Castle once a month now until the end of the year so I’ll tell you more about them next time as well as all the exciting changes to Melville Castle that the new owner is in the throes of making.