Natalie and Billy's wedding, Melville Castle

Any Edinburgh wedding photographer will tell you that one of the most invigorating sights is winding your way along the secluded, sweeping driveway of Melville Castle and then coming around a delicate bend and catching your first glimpse of the beautiful Castle. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been here and the amount of weddings I’ve photographed at Melville in recent years, but I always love that inimitable first glimpse which never fails to heighten my enthusiasm for the wedding I’m here to photograph!

Natalie and Billy’s wedding was to be in the new pavilion at Melville Castle which accommodates wedding parties too large for the main castle. However, my photography would start in the castle itself as Natalie and her twenty six bridesmaids were all getting ready there. I was booked for six hours wedding coverage, which is one of most popular choices, that would commence half an hour before the ceremony through until the cake cutting at 8pm. As I drew up at the castle entrance I could hear the fun and laughter emanating from Natalie’s room where all the girls were getting ready. No surprise really, I thought, having twenty six bridesmaids, six flower girls and six page boys!

I did a few shots with Billy and his bestman in front of the castle and also we did a walk through with him and all the groomsmen along the driveway, too. I finished up with a quick set of photos of Billy himself once again at the castle entrance. It has such great character the entrance of Melville Castle that enables you to frame the subject in the doorway at a couple of different angles and get some really classic and fashionable images. One of the tips I’ve learnt from photographing weddings at Melville Castle so often is to turn off the automatic glass lobby doors. This stops them from constantly opening and shutting as people pass the sensor and ensures a good, clear, consistent background. I always switch them off in the open position too as otherwise you will see the reflection of the photographer in the glass if you look carefully.

After doing the shots with Billy I went along to Natalie’s room. She was in the latter stages of having her dress laced up, which always makes for some nice, informal photographs. So I took a few photos from the corners of the room as the bridesmaids applied the finishing touches. We also got a couple of nice pictures of the young flower girls as well, one of whom was Natalie and Billy’s beautiful daughter. Of course, I was pulling your leg earlier when saying there was twenty six bridesmaids. There was only six. But I’m sure you get the point, eh? ;)

When everyone was ready I ran ahead for photographs of the girls coming down the Melville Castle staircase. Bridesmaids came first, as you can see in one of the photos here, followed by Natalie and her father. At the foot of the stair I quickly positioned Natalie and her dad in the main lobby between the two ornate pillars for a nice father and daughter portrait. As usual I did a full length and close up. We then all ran across to the pavilion trying not to get too wet in pouring rain.

If you read my blogging of Yvonne and Craig’s wedding you’ll know the two shots I’m after now. However, first off is photographing the bridesmaids coming up the aisle with the flower girls and page boys. In my pre-wedding discussions I already knew they were going to do it in three stages. Two bridesmaids with one flower girl and page boy, followed by two bridesmaids, and then the last two bridesmaids with two more page boys and flower girl. I positioned myself three quarters of the way up the aisle which was ideal for getting a nice set of photographs as they all came down. And then of course I took the picture that’s posted here of Natalie and her father as they came down after all the bridesmaids.

With the aisle in the Melville Castle pavilion being so long I did a bit of cheating on getting the shot of the groom looking back up the aisle and catching his first glimpse of his new bride by getting Diane to shoot from the wings with a telephoto lens. We’d arranged that she would concentrate primarily on getting the shot of Billy whilst I would concentrate on Natalie. We do this quite regularly but professional pride still makes me grab my own shot of groom too, lol. Anyway, I’m showing you one from the set Diane took as Billy and Natalie chose one of her images for their album. (Please don’t tell her as she’ll ask for a rise!)

Because it was still pouring with rain we went into the castle’s Ballroom to do the group photographs. The light in the Melville Castle Ballroom is always superb. It’s one of my favourite rooms of all the Scottish castle’s and I know several other wedding photographers in Edinburgh who agree. It took about twenty minutes to do all the different family grouping and combinations and low and behold just as we finished the rain stopped and out came some glorious sun! So after a quick session on the staircase with the newly weds I took them out for ten minutes around the castle grounds getting them back in plenty time for their wedding breakfast piped entrance.

We photographed the speeches, which occurred before the meal, and then when the wedding breakfast was over combined the photojournalistic photography with some group requests, then concluding with Natalie and Billy cutting the wedding cake. If you think Natalie’s wedding photography is now over well you might be in for a surprise. Make sure you keep checking back here regularly and you never know, perhaps you’ll see her in a new set of wedding pics complete with new dress! Now that’s got you intrigued hasn’t it? lol

Back at Auchen Castle for the smallest wedding ever!

A couple of years ago I had my smallest ever wedding at Airth Castle. This was Jo and Julian who had come up from England with their two witnesses and this was the sum total of their wedding party. At the time I thought it was the smallest wedding party I would ever photograph as every bride and groom by law require two witnesses, hence a minimum requirement of four people. But, not so! I was back at Auchen Castle, for the second time in two months, for Alisha and Michael’s wedding. Total number in wedding party - two! Bride and groom only!

Now you are probably wondering then what about their two witnesses? Well, they abducted a member of staff from Auchen Castle and the second one was me! As it was just the two of them they only required about two hours of photography so at least that meant I wouldn’t have to do a speech! lol

Alisha and Michael were over from Texas and not only was it my smallest ever wedding but also the shortest notice ever I’d had. They arrived in Scotland on Monday and not having any local knowledge simply asked Auchen Castle to recommend a photographer, who after seeing the photographs from the wedding I shot here a few weeks ago, passed on my number to them. I got a call fairly soon afterwards asking me if I would photograph their wedding on Wednesday! Being mid-week I was able to re-arrange a couple of things and was delighted to be travelling down on Wednesday morning.

I’ve mentioned many times before that every wedding is different, and that is one of the reasons why I enjoy my work so much. And it was an absolute pleasure to share the day with this lovely couple. On arrival at Auchen Castle we initially spent some time chatting and doing the paperwork and then we started with some very relaxed and informal photographs, which of course fitted the type of wedding perfectly. When they were just about ready Michael went down to meet the local minister and I took the opportunity to do a few bridal portraits with Alisha. I then accompanied her down into the ceremony room photographing as we went along.

Throughout the ceremony I photographed in my usual reportage style from the corners of the room. The last wedding I photographed here was Kate and Dave’s wedding and the room had been quite full so it was a rare luxury on this occasion to have the entire room at my disposal. Of course, I was unable to get a photograph of myself signing the register though! lol

As an Edinburgh wedding photographer I’ve worked at some of the finest Scottish Castle’s and venue’s throughout Scotland and it was excellent being back at Auchen Castle. And having the entire place to ourselves was just amazing! We basically took a nice relaxing walk around the grounds, enjoying our idyllic surroundings, and I shot a mix of posed and informal photographs as we did so.

Alisha and Michael were going to have their wedding reception with family and friends upon their return to the States. They are planning to show all their wedding photographs at the reception by way of a slideshow on a large screen. All my wedding photography packages include the photographs on DVD copyright free. I know many wedding photographers in Edinburgh don’t like to do this but it is something I’ve always done as I believe it offers great value for money. As Alisha and Michael would be travelling around on their last few days in Scotland I’ll be sending their photographs directly to Texas so they should coincide with their arrival home.

My next wedding is going to be something completely different! From my smallest wedding ever I’m going to one of the largest! This is Natalie and Billy’s wedding at Melville Castle. Six bridesmaids, six flower girls, six page boys and six hundred guests. If you think I’m exaggerating be sure to check back next week ;)

Yvonne and Craig's wedding, Minto Hotel

Well I was back at the Minto Hotel in Edinburgh for the second time this year for the wedding of Yvonne and Craig. You’ll recall I was here back in March for Fiona and Keith’s wedding. Please note this was a different Fiona and Keith to the Fiona and Keith I blogged about at the beginning of August who were married at Melville Castle. Yes, I know, having two Fiona and Keith’s could easily get confusing, lol. However, both Fiona and Keith’s weddings were such great fun I would love to have a third so I tell you what I’ll do - if you are a Fiona and Keith shortly to be requiring an awesome Edinburgh wedding photographer specializing in Fiona and Keith’s I’ll give you a £150 discount off your wedding photography package if you book me to photograph your wedding! Now that’s a pretty cool offer isn’t it? lol Anyway, getting back to Yvonne and Craig.

The Minto Hotel sits in the heart of Edinburgh in Minto Street (wow, another amazing coincidence!) not too far from my home (Yay!). When Fiona and Keith came here in March they came for their reception having been married in a nearby church, but for Yvonne and Craig the whole event was to be held at the Minto itself, and if the weather held up we’d have an outdoor ceremony. I was booked for 6 hours photography, which is one of my most popular wedding photography attendances, which would cover the ceremony and into the evening reception up until the first dance. Yvonne was getting ready at the Hotel but we’d arranged to do a little cheating and sneak her out to Craig’s wedding car for a couple of photos with her father before going through for the ceremony.

The weather did indeed hold good and everything was set up in the private Minto Hotel rear garden. I took Craig and his bestman out to the main entrance and front garden for their pre-wedding pictures and shortly thereafter they were taken through with all the wedding guests and seated. This allowed Yvonne and her father to come out for the photographs with the wedding car. I also did a couple with all the bridesmaids and flower girl too. And then…well regular blog readers know the routine by now, lol…everything’s photojournalism photography from here on until the formal group photographs.

At any wedding the bride walking down the aisle with her father is an important and lovely image to capture. However, as this happens there is also an another shot that can be equally as nice, and also complement the bridal photograph perfectly, but is seldom captured by many wedding photographers. The image I’m talking about is the groom looking back up the aisle and seeing his bride for the first time. You can see how this is an extremely difficult shot to get as both incidents are happening simultaneously. But photojournalism photography is all about telling the story of the day and these two pictures are not only a complementary set but also capture an unrepeatable split second moment of time that is of equivalent importance to both the bride and groom. The way I do this is to position myself about three quarters way down the aisle in a spot where I can watch the bride through the zoom lens of the camera with my right eye and at the same time observe the groom with my left. With experience I’ve managed to hone the timing so I can swivel between the two of them, zooming in and out, and shoot both pictures. I am often asked when photographing weddings why I work with two camera’s. Well the answer is that both camera’s have a different lens. One is a wide angle lens and the other is a mid range zoom lens (or I will switch this for a long range zoom depending on the size of the venue) which also allows me to work swiftly and smoothly yet at the same time unobtrusively.

The benefits of a two camera set up can be seen here by way of example. The longer zoom lens was used to shoot Yvonne coming down the aisle with her father and also Craig getting his first look at his bride as she does so. I then very quickly stepped back, switching camera’s for the wide angle lens which enabled me to photograph the traditional hand over of the bride from father to groom. Then as we go through the ceremony I continually switch between the two camera’s depending on what is happening at any given time. You can see in the second image posted how the wide angle lens has allowed me to include some of the faces of the guests behind Craig as a funny moment is enjoyed during the ceremony and also in the third photograph I zoom in on Yvonne but also include the faces of her father and bridesmaid which also reflect the happiness of another enjoyable moment.

You can also see that the weather did indeed hold good for the entire day and a lovely, fun filled wedding was enjoyed by all. I don’t think Yvonne stopped smiling all day! And as you can see from one of the group shots neither did anyone else! In fact, it was such a fantastic wedding day and Yvonne and Craig such an enjoyable couple to photograph I wouldn’t mind having a second Yvonne and Craig. So, I tell you what, here’s what I’ll do…If you are a couple called Yvonne and Craig looking for a wedding photographer in Edinburgh I’ll give you a £150 discount off your wedding photography package if you book me to photograph your wedding! Now that’s a pretty cool offer isn’t it? Yikes! I’ll probably now find I get about twenty Fiona and Keith’s and Yvonne and Craig’s all phoning me! lol