Back at The Point Hotel for Gillian and Barry's wedding

Well I was back at The Mercure Point Hotel for the third time this year for the wedding of Gillian and Barry. I first met Gillian and Barry in February at the Scottish Wedding Show in The Royal Highland centre. They had been at the Point Hotel’s stand and fell in love with the pictures they saw of previous weddings at The Point and booked their wedding on the spot. The showcase album the hotel uses is one of mine so when Gillian and Barry enquired who the photographer was they were pointed in my direction and after looking through a couple more different albums at my stand they booked me to photograph their wedding too. By the time of the wedding day we’d met up a couple of additional times as well giving us opportunity to get to know each other better and forge a nice relationship.

For about 60-70% of the weddings I photograph I have the opportunity to do this. But being a wedding photographer in Edinburgh I also get a lot of bookings from couples coming up from England and Wales and over from Ireland, and also overseas too, who are getting married in Edinburgh but aren’t able to fit in a meeting. That’s an additional reason why I have plenty of wedding photographs in my wedding galleries on my website and also details of my pricing and packages so that it is easy for visitors to compare and assess the quality of my wedding photography. For most of these couples that book without meeting me I will still endeavor to have a pre-wedding consultation with them whenever they visit Edinburgh ahead of the wedding. However, with some couples even this doesn’t always work out and therefore the first time I actually meet them is on their wedding day. Sometimes this can throw up a pleasant surprise, like when I turned up for a wedding towards the end of last year and discovered the bride and groom were television personalities! In all our communications they had used their real names instead of stage names so I never twigged on, lol. Anyway it was a nice compliment when they said they knew as soon as they saw the images in my wedding galleries that I was the perfect photographer for them and so didn’t feel any pressing need to meet me ahead of the day.

I know most of the bridal magazines say how important it is to meet your photographer before booking to see if you gel and have a rapport, but to be perfectly honest a good photographer will take good photographs no matter what the circumstances. The bridal magazines tend to offer this advice due to the large number of Saturday photographers operating and the risks involved with booking them but if you have booked a bona fide full time professional who’s taking photographs day in day out you’ll be fine. When we are booked for something like a high end fashion shoot or a magazine shoot very often we never know who we are going to be working with until we arrive. It is part of the job to gel with and establish a rapport with whoever we are photographing. If I went back to the editor or commissioner and said “I’m sorry but the images aren’t too brilliant because we just didn’t gel on the day” I’d never get another shoot again! So if you are an engaged couple perhaps getting married some distance away from home and not able to meet with a photographer ahead of booking just make sure you do a good analysis online and get to see plenty of photographs. I strongly recommend you ask to see the online galleries of the last couple of weddings photographed which will let you assess the consistency of style and quality.

Gillian and Barry’s wedding was for 1pm with me being booked to start at 12.30. You’ll know from previous posts that my routine is always to arrive ahead of my start time so I can do a quick check round of the venue even if I have carried out a recce previously or have worked the venue many times in the past. Today was an example of why I like to do this. I’ve shot several weddings at The Point hotel and one of my favorite locations is the 4th floor corridor that runs to the Penthouse. The lighting along the corridor is very low and atmospheric making for creative and dramatic photographs. You’ll recall from my blogging of Lucie and Ryan’s wedding back in May how I love to make the most of the funky pink lighting at the far end of the corridor. However, today the lighting had all been changed! The usual overhead spot lighting normally used was not in place and therefore there was no way I was going to create the oozing pink wrap around light that I normally enjoy. I would still use the corridor for the back of the dress and a couple of quick bride and groom shots as there was some distinctive lighting at the far end, but I planned instead to work in and around the main lobby after we’d finished in the Penthouse.

The day itself ran beautifully and we ended up with about 160 photographs from the three hours I was booked for. I’ve included five pictures from Gillian and Barry’s wedding and four images from a previous wedding at the Point just so you can see the difference in the lighting. If you haven’t already done so check some of the photos from Lucie and Ryan’s wedding at The Point too from my May blog posts.

I’ll meet up again with Gillian and Barry when they are back from honeymoon and show them my initial draft design of their PhotoBook which I’ve just finished and discuss any changes and alterations before we go ahead and have it produced. Their photographs are already prepared on their DVD so they’ll get that straight away. I’m not sure if they’ve had opportunity to look at some of the pictures in their private online gallery before heading off on honeymoon but its had plenty of visitors from their family and friends so either way they’ll be eager to finalize the finishing touches to their album so we can have it sent off to print.

Queensferry Hotel for the wedding of Jenna and Casey

Queensferry Hotel sits on the north bank of the Forth Estuary overlooking the Forth Road Bridge. I’d never photographed a wedding here before and when I did my recce a week before Jenna and Casey’s wedding I was delighted at how picturesque the hotel and its gardens are with a plethora of photogenic locations I couldn’t wait to utilize. It is also close to North Queensferry pier and I knew Jenna and Casey were keen to get some photographs with the dramatic Forth Rail Bridge as a backdrop behind them.

The photography started at Jenna’s family home in South Queensferry with some bridal and family portraits. The day had dawned sunny and warm but the forecast wasn’t too promising with rain predicted for later in the afternoon. This wouldn’t affect me getting good photographs but I knew Jenna and Casey had particularly set their heart on going down to the pier as both of them grew up here and the famous Forth Bridge had always been an iconic landmark throughout their lives.

I took a selection of different images at the home including some bridal portraits and then some combinations with Jenna’s sisters who were bridesmaids, her parents and flower girl finishing up with a family shot of all of them. Diane and I then set off ahead of the wedding car and got to Queensferry Hotel about half an hour before the ceremony. I did a few pre-wedding shots with Casey and his bestman, a couple of detail shots and then had a quick word with Elaine whom I’d met on my visit last week just to double check timings and arrangements.

Jenna’s mother and bridesmaids arrived about ten minutes before the ceremony and I quickly got some pictures of them alighting from the car and then posed outside the hotel entrance adjacent to the red carpet that awaited Jenna. Jenna arrived ten minutes late, as was her prerogative, and I paused her and father for a photo in the back of the wedding Jaguar and then again on the red carpet at the hotel entrance after which I ran ahead of them to photograph their procession down the aisle. The celebrant was The Very Rev Kev Pearson who had stipulated no photography whatsoever during the ceremony, which would mean no pictorial record of the declarations, vows, exchanging of rings, etc. I always feel this is a shame but to be honest it usually occurs because the celebrant has had a bad experience in the past of photographers causing such a commotion and distraction during the ceremony they decide not to allow it ever again. There is no need for any photographer to be a distraction or take away from the dignity of such an important arrangement but sadly this is another instance of the part time Saturday photographers giving everyone a bad name. Anyway I got a nice set of three images of the two of them walking down the aisle, a wide shot of the whole room filled with all the guests as they arrived at the front, a quick grab shot inbetween of Casey and his bestman as they catch their first sight of the bride and then finally another wide shot of the whole bridal party standing at the front before retreating to the rear of the room. During the ceremony I did manage to sneak a couple of shots of the bride and groom from the back of the room, including the first kiss, by shooting unobtrusively from the hip with a telephoto lens without the Rev Kev noticing. Fortunately, a thunderbolt from heaven didn’t strike me down!

Usually I do the group photographs shortly after the ceremony but we decided to make the most of the weather and get down to the pier with Jenna and Casey before the rain came on. This proved to be a good idea as we got not only a great set of pictures by the Forth Bridges but also a few from around the hotel gardens and grounds, too. The group shots I did just before the wedding breakfast inside the conservatory, by which time it had begun to rain steadily, and then following the meal came the speeches, cake cutting ceremony and first dance. All in all I got 299 photographs from the day which was very good given there’d been no ceremony photography. A few of my favourites from the bride and groom set are shown here.

Queensferry Hotel website:

http://www.bespokehotels.com/welcome/index.htm