Another beautiful Auchen Castle wedding

Auchen Castle weddings are always a delight! A beautiful, idyllic Scottish castle set within its own glorious grounds and surrounded by gorgeous woodland and the Dumfries hills. It’s no wonder this wedding photographer in Edinburgh enjoys the trip down here so much! Since my last Auchen castle wedding the venue has had a change of ownership but the same high standards of customer service remain and it’s a delight to work with the staff here!

I’ve photographed several I photographed the smallest wedding possible where there was only a bride and groom and the two witnesses ended up being myself and a member of weddings at Auchen Castle but you may recall I set a record last year whenthe Auchen Castle wedding team! However, for this wedding the guests numbers were considerably higher as Julie-ann and Jimmy’s families had all come across from Ireland. As you can imagine with the strong links and close proximity of the two countries its always a great day when the Irish come over to Scotland for a wedding, so I was really looking forward to photographing things.

I was booked to start about an hour before the ceremony through until the guests were to go for their wedding breakfast. As usual I arrived in plenty time and was able to have a good look around the castle and grounds just to double check if anything had changed since last time and also ascertain the lighting. The first photograph here shows how the day was shaping up to be warm and sunny which would be perfect for the outdoor ceremony. I also double checked the lighting for the group photographs as this is critical on bright sunny days as you cannot have people screwing up their faces and squinting into the camera. What I look for is a nice location where the group will be backlit. I know if the sun is particularly strong doing this can pose technical problems for some photographers but as from the beginning of next year I am teaming up with a couple of premier venues who have asked me to run photography courses and workshops, so feel free to book yourself onto one and I’ll happily show you how it’s done (just had to insert a free advert there, lol).

Many wedding photographers in Edinburgh and throughout the country have their own style and format for carrying out the group shots. For myself I prefer to keep things nice and relaxed and use the style you will see in the likes of Hello or OK magazine wedding. This is a nice and smooth formula and generally allows me to complete all the formal group photographs in around twenty minutes. With Julie-ann and Jimmy this all went perfectly and following the family group photographs I finished with a Big Group shot of all the guests on the Auchen Castle lawn.

For the bride and groom session we did my usual mix of classical, romantic, fun and contemporary photos. At such an elegant venue as
Auchen castle it’s nice to get some classical wedding images utilising the grandeur of the castle itself as such a gorgeous backdrop. Although these photos are posed, or directed, my aim is still to get the couple looking relaxed and natural as you can see from the images here. This is especially important as my style of working is for most of the day primarily reportage photography and it means both the formal group photographs and those from the bride and groom session will blend perfectly
with the whole days sequence. If you tend to over pose people or spend a lot of time on creating elaborate, sophisticated scenes it is very difficult to then marry these images into a finished album or Storybook.

Jimmy and Julie-ann asked us to finish up with some photographs of the Dining Room set up before everyone came in and sat down to eat and we also did a mock cake cutting with the great Auchen Castle ceremonial sword whilst we were there.

When it rains on your wedding day

It poured down with rain pretty much all day for Lisa and Richard’s wedding. Quite often on rainy day weddings you get a break when you can pop out for a quick ten minute session before it starts back up again. But not so today! It just got worse and worse!
I know many brides worry about rain on their wedding day, but as a full time photographer I’m working day in day out so I’m used to photographing weddings in all conditions and all types of weather and no matter what happens on the day it’s my job to ensure that all my couples come away with a superb set of photographs from their wedding. And to be totally honest, I really don’t mind rain at all as it presents some exceptional and unique photographic opportunities. So, here’s what we do with a rainy wedding...

Most of our equipment we bring to each and every wedding anyway, especially the mobile lighting as it produces such stylish, fashionable images I like to work with it even on sunny days. But the two items we use exclusively for the rain are our wedding umbrella’s. One white, one black. Our white wedding umbrella is beautiful for wedding photographs so of course we give this to the bride and groom should they wish to go outdoors for a few shots. You may recall the shots we did by the River Tay with Nicki and Stuart at their Dunkeld House Hotel wedding a couple of months ago. It is especially made for wedding photography so not only does it look 'photogenically weddingy' (new phrase of the day lol) but it’s also made with extra strength to keep it rigid so it won’t blow inside out if it’s windy too.The black umbrella is for me. Diane will use this to keep me dry if I need to stand out in the rain for any length of time. Or, to be more accurate, to keep the camera lens dry. I use large, deep lens hoods to keep water splashes off the front of the lens but the brolly is useful in very heavy rain to ensure none of the pictures will have rain spots on them from drops of rain hitting the lens whilst taking the photographs. It’s also extra protection for the equipment which I will explain the importance off on rainy days in a couple of paragraphs.

For Lisa and Richard’s wedding I didn’t use the umbrellas as I wasn’t going to be standing in the rain for very long. I positioned them both in the Castle entrance, which is under cover, and then just ran out into the rain and fired off a few swift and smooth shots. I asked them to move into a couple of different positions for a few alternate compositions and within two to three minutes I’d shot about a dozen different photos. You can see from the two examples coming up at the end of this paragraph the diversity that I managed to achieve. Firstly we’ve got a classical, traditional wedding photograph with Lisa and Richard standing together under the entranceway. I photographed this pose full length, three quarter and close up. After a couple of quick changes of position and composition I finished with the black and white close up which is a nice contrast from how we started being very contemporary and fashionable. So despite the pouring rain we’ve still got a good selection and variety of outdoor photographs.

Okay let me bore you for a paragraph about equipment, lol. You will have heard the saying "it’s not the camera it’s the photographer that’s important". And without question that is most definitely true. However, on days where the weather is bad equipment choice can prove critical. I only use top of the range, professional camera’s and lenses. The main reason for this is that I want the ultimate image quality. However, the other reason is build quality and reliability. As you are aware water and electronics do not go together. Consumer camera’s, and even semi-pro enthusiasts equipment, are not designed to be used in inclement weather. Whilst they may initially take a few photos in the rain it’s no good when they suddenly stop working a few minutes later having got their electronics wet. I don't know if any camera can claim to be completely 100 % waterproof, which is why I have water proof camera covers and use the umbrella when needed, I knew I didn’t need to worry about working in the rain with Lisa and Richard as my gear is sufficiently sealed and water tight to withstand a few minutes of Scottish downpour. I am an Edinburgh wedding photographer after all! lol

Obviously for wet weddings a lot of the photography will be carried out inside. For this I use portable lighting. These are basically lite versions of studio lighting, more lightweight and mobile yet producing the same visual effect. Ideally I’ll fit these with what we call shoot through brollys but sometimes when the weather is wet it means all the guests have to remain indoors too and so with working in less space it may not be practical to fit a brolly so instead I have a compact soft box that takes up less space but gives the same results. This set up is what we will also use for a fashion shoot and as you can see from the two pictures on the black spread and the staircase shots (note the rimmed effect halo lighting on the photo of Lisa leaning on the banister above), it gives such a contemporary, stylish feel to the images that I will often use it for the bride and groom session even when the weather is dry. This is the type of thing that makes the difference between a nice wedding photo and an award winning photograph. At Melville Castle weddings or indeed any castle wedding it is crucial not to kill off the character and ambience and the beauty of the studio lighting is that I can move it and manipulate it at will that gives so much creative control.

Many people may say that it helps to have such a beautiful and grand venue as a Castle for wedding photos when it rains. But as a wedding in photographer in Edinburgh I’ve worked at all kind of venues in the rain, Norton House Hotel weddings, weddings at The Royal Terrace Hotel, Harburn House weddings, weddings at Craighouse, weddings at The Point Hotel, Houston House weddings, Dalhousie Castle weddings, the list goes on and on which I hope illustrates that no matter where you may be getting married please do not worry if it rains. You’ll have an amazing day and your wedding photographs will be fantastic!

An "epic" church wedding

Any wedding photographer in Edinburgh who has never photographed at the Church of the Sacred Heart is amazed when they first enter the building! From the outside the church appears very unobtrusive sitting quietly in the shadows of Lauriston Place. But walk through the doors and you are suddenly encountered with what my friend Adam, the videographer from Inspire Video, described as an "epic" interior! As regular blog readers are aware I love working in historical buildings more so than any other wedding photographer in Edinburgh, primarily due to a life long love of history and previous exciting magazine commissions. It just adds something to a wedding day when not only are you looking to capture great photographs of the bride and groom and the magical moments of their wedding but also the majesty and splendour of their venue and occasion. Although I must add that I am happy to photograph a wedding in absolutely any venue, big or small, grand or modest, and you will still get stunning photography whichever.

Whenever I’m selecting images for my blog I always try to choose about 8 or so that may fit along a particular theme or illustrate a certain point or topic that I am writing about. Of course most of my weddings have online galleries so if there is ever a wedding featured in my blog where you would like to see the entire set of photographs just drop me an email and I’d be happy to send you the link. There is also always 'Real Life' wedding galleries to see on my website, too. Choosing the first image from Susan and Michael’s wedding photographs was easy enough because straight away I picked the photograph with me in it! lol This of course was taken by Diane from the church gallery and as you can see, after getting my quick photograph of the bride and father at entrance to the church, I’ve ran ahead and taken up my usual position about three quarters of the way down the aisle for the shot of the bride and father walking up the aisle. The second photo posted is the one I took before moving off into the corners of the church to capture the rest of the proceedings.

Throughout the ceremony I’m looking to capture a good all round mix of photographs. You will always get some wonderful yet fleeting moments during a wedding ceremony. These may include solemn moments, laughter, smiles and romantic interactions between the bride and groom. Most of these are caught due to anticipation, which of course comes from experience, aswhen they actually occur you do not have time to lift the camera up to the eye and try and grab the shot. It really is a a split second, fleeting instant of time so I have to already be in place and viewing things through the camera lens in order to fire the shutter at the crucial second. And of course, as mentioned at the outset I’m wanting to include a variety of photographs that off the location and that encapsulate the majesty of the venue.

Michael’s family were all across from Ireland and being staunch Catholics a mass was incorporated into the ceremony. As you know I always work away very unobtrusively at weddings and it was very nice to have so many of the family commend me afterwards for the most unobtrusive photography they’ve experienced at a wedding. Getting superb wedding photographs is a must for me, as it is of course for any Edinburgh wedding photographer, but I feel I have to do so within the dignity of the occasion and therefore without causing any inappropriate distraction to the ceremony or any part there of.

The second to last photograph I’ve posted is a collage that illustrates Storybook style wedding photography. I had spotted one of the guests creeping up on Susan with a box of confetti so knew what they had planned, lol.
I tracked them with a telephoto lens and when they were in position locked focus on Susan and shot a sequence of six images. As you can see each photograph is good in its own right but together they convey a much more powerful statement as they tell a pictorial story of the event. That is one reason why your wedding photographs will always look best in a Storybook album because they have much more power and impact.

We finished off at the church with this posed photograph of the newly weds and then I grabbed another one of them in the back of the wedding car before we all headed off back to the hotel for some group shots and the reception. Susan and Michael had absolutely beautiful weather for their wedding day but the next wedding I will blog was the opposite! Rain, rain and more rain! Will rain on your wedding day spoil your photographs? No way! Check back next week and see some stunning photographs from a wedding with all day torrential rain.

More Norton House Hotel weddings

Last two weeks for some reason have been exceptionally busy. In addition to the fact that we are right in the middle of the wedding season, so my camera’s hardly get chance to draw breath, there’s a few wedding venues working on new brochures right now so I am at the same time trying to fill their requirements for fresh images and new photographs as well as the magazine requests I mentioned last week. I have a sneaky feeling next week will be even busier as I have back to back weddings starting Friday and through until the middle of the week which I have been looking forward to since the beginning of the year.

When it comes to weddings I am of course exceptionally fortunate that I get the most fantastic couples book me for their weddings. Last weeks wedding was yet another example. Alana and Colin first
saw my wedding albums at the Corn Exchange wedding fair. There’s always around ten Edinburgh wedding photographers at Edinburgh’s largest wedding fair and we are all slightly different, both in price, quality and style of working. For me, the main thing I want couples to do when they visit my stand at a wedding fair is look through my albums because they are what enable me to stand out as different from the other wedding photographers in Edinburgh. On the Saturday Alana and Colin visited the wedding fair I was away photographing a wedding so they had a chat with Diane and she showed them our albums. A couple of days later they were on the phone making an appointment and subsequently booked me to do their wedding photography and an Engagement Shoot.

We did the engagement session five weeks ago and had a great time! It’s a good opportunity to work together, do some coaching, and come away with a gorgeous set of photographs. As with all my Engagement Shoots Alana and Colin selected their favourite image from the session which we had printed and set into our wedding signature mount that is then put out on display on the wedding day for all the guests to sign. Check out the portrait page on my website for more details if you’re interested in booking an engagement session.

Alana and Colin wanted photography from pre-wedding 'getting ready' shots through until the first dance. So we started at Alana’s mother’s house with a few detail shots, then hair and make-up finishing with some posed photographs in the garden. For the most part I carry out the photography at the home photo-journalistically, so I like to just move around as unobtrusively as possible and capture things in a natural, relaxed way. You can see the advantage of this in the first photograph here, which is one of my favourite photos taken at the house. Alana had bought presents for her bridesmaids which she was wanting to give them once the two of them were ready. I quietly made my way to the top of stairs and without any interference took a series of photos as she handed the bridesmaids their gifts and the girls then opened them. It’s one of those lovely, natural moments that show the happiness and pleasure on all the girls faces.

We arrived at the church half an hour before the ceremony was due to start giving us plenty of time to get some photos of Colin and the groomsmen and a quick word with the minister. The bridesmaids arrived shortly after and I did a couple of posed shots of them with the flower girl on the church steps before photographing Alana arriving with her mother. Running ahead I then photographed the walk up the aisle before heading over into the area the minister had designated for the photographers at the front on the left hand side. I work with a mix of lenses that enable me to get a variety of photographs during the ceremony including wide shots showing off the grandeur of the church, mid range photographs that capture the setting and also close ups which are more intimate, particularly when going through the declarations, ring exchange and vows.

The register was signed in a small ante room and then the bridal party proceeded out of the church. Colin and Alana had requested three family group shots on the church steps as they exited, which of course didn’t take long, and then following all the congratulations we were heading off for Norton House.

As an Edinburgh wedding photographer I’m by now very familiar with Norton House as its one of the most well known wedding venues in the capital. This was my third wedding here so far this year and I am due back twice more, including the winners of Forth One’s Win Your Wedding contest. It was a mixed day with sunshine and showers and Alana and Colin’s wedding was in the Garden Suite. Norton House can accommodate two weddings at the same time using the Garden Suite and the Ballroom Suite, however, today Colin and Alana’s was the only wedding booked so we were allowed to do photographs in both sides. Whilst it was dry we quickly did their group photos on one of the lawns within the walled Garden Suite. We had a small shower following this so I used the cover of the walkway canopy for the first ten minutes of the bride and groom session and then we moved across to the main house and borrowed the staircase for a further ten minutes.

I mentioned in last weeks blog that the wedding flowers and bridal bouquets were all done by Flowers by Rhona. Rhona also did the flowers and bouquets for Alana too and being a friend of mine I deliberately colour touched the black and white shot of Alana, keeping the bouquet in colour, as I knew Rhona would love it. Not only is this a very eye catching photo but also very natural as well. I had initially posed Alana for a photograph of the dress and after taking it she thought I’d finished and looked off to smile at someone just out of shot. I was quick enough to zoom in and catch her smile, which of course is the most important element of the photograph, but at the same time I composed things so you could see her wedding band and the bouquet at the bottom of the frame.

Following the half hour of bride and groom photographs it was back into photojournalism mode as I moved around the guests as unobtrusively as possible capturing people having fun and enjoying themselves. It wasn’t long until everyone was called through to be seated for the wedding breakfast and the speeches which were to preface it. The cutting of the cake ceremony was held later in the evening prior to the first dance and I got some great atmospheric photographs of both in the low disco lights. Another great ending to a great wedding!

More Melville Castle weddings

Now as you know Melville Castle is one of my favourite wedding venues and as I’ve photographed more weddings here than any other Edinburgh wedding photographer it does feature in my blog quite a lot. So this week, in an attempt to avoid boring you all, I am going to tell you something about Melville Castle that you will never find recorded on the blog of any other wedding photographer in Edinburgh. In fact, you will be hard pressed to find this little detail anywhere at all.

I came across this several years ago long before I had photographed any weddings at Melville Castle. I had been commissioned by a publishing house to do a series of magazine articles on historical castles in and around Edinburgh. This included not just the photography but also doing the writing as well. Although it’s the photography that I love above all else I was pretty cool about doing the writing too as it doubles up the fee ;) Anyway, I had started off with Tantallon Castle across on the coast and then worked back towards Edinburgh photographing and researching Craigmillar Castle, Crichton Castle, Craigcrook Castle, and Edinburgh Castle. The next two on my list were Lennoxlove House and Melville Castle.

When I was making the arrangements for the shoot at Lennoxlove House I was very surprised to get a phone call from the Duke of Hamilton himself. If you are not aware of it the Duke of Hamilton is Scotland’s highest ranked peer, and if Scotland were ever to become an independent sovereign it would be the Duke of Hamilton that becomes King. The Duke owns the Lennoxlove Estate and is a very keen photographer and said he would welcome the opportunity to give me a personal tour of Lennoxlove allowing him the opportunity to pick up some photography tips from me. Well, as you can imagine I felt very honoured, albeit a little nervous, too. Anyway, to cut a long story short, and because I realise I have strayed completely away from the subject of my wedding at Melville Castle, lol, I went through to Lennoxlove and spent a very nice afternoon with the Duke of Hamilton. The Duke is of course closely related to, or maybe to be more accurate, a family descendant of Mary Queen of Scots, and hence his home literally teems with items and details about Scotland’s most famous monarch. I have always loved history and so lapped up as much as I could possibly take in, and the Duke, after giving me a personal tour and answering all my questions, very kindly gave me free run of the house as well which allowed me to examine all of Queen Mary’s belongings that have been passed down through the family and many documents and personal items. I think I learnt more about Mary Queen of Scots in that one day than in all the subsequent days of research and reading. And (at last we come to the point of this extemporaneous ramble lol) amongst my findings was a little snippet of intriguing information relating to Melville Castle. I only noticed it because Melville Castle was the next historical place on my list.

Okay, I will now get back onto the wedding theme and slip in my Mary Queen of Scots tid bit. There are many, many reasons why I like Melville Castle weddings. Amongst them is the fact that it is the perfect distance from Kinnaird Park’s Costa Coffee. I can therefore pick up my coffee, pop it in my cars specially designed Costa Coffee cup holder, and by the time I arrive at Melville Castle it has cooled to the perfect temperature. (I bet you thought last weeks comment about me being the only Edinburgh wedding photographer who gets free coffee from Costa by giving them a name drop in my blog was a joke, eh? lol) As I always get to my weddings early I usually have time to enjoy my coffee before we start work. Now as I am a person who likes to visit Melville Castle regularly I am among good company because this was also a favourite occupation of Mary Queen of Scots!

In Mary’s day Melville Castle wasn’t quite as grand as it is today because back then there was no Costa Coffee near it and it only had hunting lodge status. However, Queen Mary used to ride through the Melville Castle grounds often, and she had an ill frequented little spot not too far from the river bank where she used to enjoy sitting quietly and savouring her surroundings. You can find it approximately half way between the gatehouse and the castle itself. If you know where to look you can push back the over grown foliage and still see the small indentation in the ground from her little royal bottom. It is here that I like to pause too and enjoy my coffee. As not many people know of its existence it is always nice and peaceful and very easy to imagine how it must have been very similar on the occasions Queen Mary sat here. It was here that Mary contemplated where exactly she should plant her tree. She picked a spot mid way between where she sat and the Castle, and her tree is still here down to this day.

A couple of centuries after Mary planted her tree Melville Castle passed to Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount of Melville who went on to become Duke of Lauderdale. It was around this time that the castle was demolished and subsequently rebuilt at the end of the 18th century. The new castle was designed by James Playfair and it is this building that you see today. The photos in todays blog are from Pauline and David’s wedding who married here a couple of weeks ago and are not long back from honeymoon. The beautiful floral decorations and bridal bouquets were done by Flowers by Rhona. I don’t have any new information on possible new ownership of the castle at the minute but I still have several weddings coming up between now and the end of autumn so will keep you informed. Maybe I should take it over myself, eh???

Morag and Alastair's wedding at Craighouse

Going to do something slightly different today. Usually every time I blog I choose which photographs I am going to publish to illustrate whatever wedding or topic I’m writing about. I have to tell you this is always a very hard process. I spend ages poring over a set of wedding photographs trying to decide on around 8 or 9 to use. Its doubly hard this week as at the same time I’ve been asked to select 5 weddings from all those I’ve photographed within the last 12 months to send through to a magazine Editor who's currently planning a future wedding article. Only one of these weddings will actually go on to be used in the magazine but by that stage it’s down to the editorial team not me, lol. Anyway, as I’ve just completed the album design for Morag and Alastair as well as the Parent Album, I’m going to use 8 of the main photographs they selected for their wedding album on this weeks blog.

It was a breezy and sunny day for Morag and Alastair’s wedding in Edinburgh. The ceremony was at the Greenbank church then we were back to Craighouse for the reception. I arrived at the church nice and early as I knew the narrow street can be difficult for parking. I had of course brought along my customary Costa coffee so I was quite content to sit and sip and enjoy the warm breeze. Did you know that I’m the only wedding photographer in Edinburgh who gets free coffee from Costa by giving them
a name drop in my blog? If Aston Martin are reading this I would just like to add that I’d be happy to come to a similar arrangement with them. ;)

Alastair arrived about half an hour prior to the ceremony and I did a few photographs
with him and his ushers and bestman before nipping inside for a quick word with the minister. The minister requested that we only work from the back of the church, which was fine as the church was incredibly spacious and also had a rear balcony that would be a great vantage point. I love the first shot here with Morag and her father proceeding up the aisle with the
bridesmaids in her trail. You will notice that Alastair has turned to look up the aisle thus catching his first sight of his bride. Immediately after I shot this image Diane handed me our second camera which has the telephoto lens and I also grabbed a close up of the expression of pleasure on Alastair’s face as he see’s Morag approaching.

Readings in a wedding ceremony are an important element and I always endeavour to get a photograph of the reader. Morag’s sister Rona carried out one of the readings. I shot a close up of her and also the image you see here which I like for the fact that it also shows Morag and Alastair listening and enjoying her reading. The second image of the set here was Alastair and Morag’s exchange of rings. The album they selected is an upright 8" x 6" Image Book and this photograph is one they chose to feature as a full page.
The following image too, signing the register has also been used as a full page. As you can see I had come down to the front of the church to get photographs of the register signing. Most ministers allow me to come forward and set up a couple of photos at this point which of course doesn’t take me long anyway.

We then exited the church, had a quick pause in the doorway for a photo and then I moved the fringes as the guests came out of the church and swarmed up
to offer their congratulations. There’s always a great buzz at this point in the day and I just move around capturing things quite informally. When the bridal party were ready to head off to Craighouse I jumped in the front of the wedding car for a second to get a shot of the newly weds in the back seat and then I was off back to my own car to scoot around to Craighouse.

The wedding car arrived at Craighouse before the coach with all the guests so I took advantage of the
situation by getting the driver to stop right at the entrance and got a few images of the bride and groom with their wedding car whilst the background was uncluttered. All Edinburgh wedding photographers and all wedding photographers in Newcastle and up and down the country love fancy cars! Cool cars, magnificent venues and gorgeous dresses...what more could one ask for?

The last three photographs here are from our bride and groom set a little later in the afternoon. I was especially pleased with all the photos from our half hour bride and groom session because Morag’s parents, Valerie and Duncan, when looking through the wedding photographs for their
Parent Album complimented me on capturing Morag and Alastair looking so natural and relaxed when in reality neither of them like having their photograph taken. My personal favourite from the wedding is the last one shown here in which not only do they look great but I think captures there personalities brilliantly!