Royal Wedding build up and wedding cakes

Wedding season really gets under way for me from this week onwards with weddings every week through until October. On Sunday I was at the Royal Terrace Hotel in Edinburgh for Raye and Howard’s wedding, on Saturday I’m at Norton House Hotel and the Hilton Edinburgh for engagement shoots and then next week I’m at Craighouse on Tuesday for Corinne and Stuart’s wedding and then back there again on Saturday for Morag and Alistair. So having such a busy week already booked up is the reason I can’t do the Royal wedding on Friday ;)

Royal Wedding fever is of course beginning to grip the UK as we build up to next Friday’s wedding. As you already
know I am involved in Radio Forth’s 'Win Your Wedding' competition which is now down to the final four couples. One of these couples will win their entire wedding! Norton House as their venue, wedding gown from Emma Roy, honeymoon from Bryton Travel, photography from myself and much much more including their wedding car, flowers, cake, groomswear, rings, etc. It’s one of the biggest ever prizes on local radio! However, coupled with that Scottish Television's "The Hour" program is featuring a wedding slot every day running up to the Royal Wedding next Friday and I am one of their selected wedding photographer’s being showcased on their website. So things are really exciting just now!

However, you may wonder why I’m posting a couple of wedding cake photographs. Well periodically I do a
google search of "Philip Hawkins Photography" just to see what comes up and where my images are being used. I also regularly use the search term Wedding photographer Edinburgh, wedding photographer’s in Edinburgh and Edinburgh wedding photographer, to check that my website ranks on the first two pages of google. Sometimes it can be quite surprising the places I find my photographs or the websites that quote from my articles. And that was the case this time. A well known wedding information website was running a 'Wedding cake inspiration' feature. Alongside their advice and information they were using a few photographs to illustrate the piece and also perhaps provide inspiration for other couples. I was delighted to see the majority of pictures were mine!It also got me thinking too. Yes, I know that can be dangerous! lol When I’m at weddings I do of course take a great many pictures and because I work for most of the time photo-journalistically I like to obtain photos that will capture the entire day pictorially including many elements of the day during the time for which I’m booked. The wedding cake is of course a central element and I’ve taken so many photos of wedding cakes I’ve lost count. However, when I select images to be used for promotion or advertising or when I’m asked to supply photos to the Radio and Television stations I invariably use photographs that have the bride and groom in them. Or perhaps just the bride depending on the purpose. I don’t think I’ve ever used a photo of a wedding cake. So, hmmm, I’m now thinking in future maybe I should consider it. Anyway, here’s the wedding cake photographs that were used and I’ve also included Raye and Howard’s cake from Sunday’s wedding...just to let you know I’m telling the truth, lol.

Wedding horror stories

Well if you have the latest edition of the Scottish Wedding Directory magazine you may have read about the terrible upset Carol and Nick went through when they received their wedding photographs. They were aware on their wedding day that their photographer didn’t appear to be as good as what they had originally thought when booking him but when they returned from honeymoon and actually saw their wedding photographs…well let me quote their words directly from the article..."We had no idea things were going to be so bad. When I saw the photos I cried and my husband just sat shaking his head in disbelief".
You can read the full story in the magazine but it reminded me of something similar that occurred two years ago when another disappointed couple were so upset with their wedding photographer they took him to court and sued him. Shortly after that event I wrote a blog article about it and it subsequently has become my most read article and my most searched for on google (if you type 'wedding photographer sued' into google it comes up about two thirds down the first page if you’re interested in reading it). Now I’m going to tell you a story of my own but first let me address a couple of points that I think are important.
How do you select a wedding photographer? Price? Friendliness? Likableness? Value for money? Album? Overall package? All these things come into the equation but first and foremost it has to be the quality of their photography. It doesn’t matter how likable the person is, or how reasonable their pricing or how beautiful their elegant leather albums are…if you end up with mediocre photographs all these things become irrelevant. Interestingly both Carol and Nick and the couple who sued when first meeting with their photographer instantly liked him, got on with him great, found his prices reasonable and were happy with the package he was offering. They even sat down with him before the wedding day and discussed exactly what they wanted and he promised they would get it!
So what is the answer? Well let me tell you a story...

Have you heard the saying 'don’t believe everything you read'? Of course you have, and the reason I’m telling this story is that whilst bridal and wedding magazines, as well as supposedly authoritative websites, give excellent advice to couples planning their weddings not all of it should be taken as gospel. For example, most magazines make a big thing of 'meeting your photographer face to face' and 'making sure you get on great with him' and 'seeing if you have a rapport with your photographer', etc etc.
Now don’t get me wrong this is all very nice and personally it’s a part of the job which I love, even if couples don’t book me to photograph their wedding its great chatting with them and hearing about their plans and idea’s. I love photography and love weddings, so I am always happy to meet with anyone. However, it does not tell you what your wedding photographs will turn out like. Just because you think I am the nicest guy in the world and that we have an awesome rapport, does not necessarily mean my photographs will be awesome. Ironically, the very magazines that promote the importance of these things are the ones that run the above horror stories only a few pages later in the same issue where the couples did all that. The main way of determining how good a photographer is is from
the quality of his work. And a good photographer will take good photographs no matter what, even if he has never met you or knows anything about you. Let me illustrate...

The pressures and constraints on a magazine shoot are quite often far more intense than on a wedding day. Very often you have never met the people you will be photographing nor those you will be working with. Not only can some of them be unfriendly but many don’t even want to be photographed in the first place and work hard at being as uncooperative as possible. But there is never ever any excuse for not delivering the goods. A magazine editor is not the least bit interested in how hard things were, or how limited your time was or the attitude of anyone else. All they want is to see the goods - which have to be superb images that will make the magazine stand out from the others sharing the same shelf.

A few years ago I was commissioned by a well known magazine to go down and do a shoot at a prominent castle owned by a very famous Duke. The schedule had been arranged between the dukes PR people and the magazine Editor. I had the morning to photograph the castle grounds and rooms and then an hour photo shoot with the Duke himself on the afternoon. Now unknown to me the Duke doesn’t like being photographed and when informed of the arrangements on the day in question refused to do the photo shoot. His PR team
worked hard to get him to change his mind but he wouldn’t budge. The first inkling I got that anything might be amiss was when the Dukes PA came to see me as I was photographing inside the castle and told me the session with the Duke would have to be cut from an hour to ten minutes. I said sure that would be fine. Behind the scenes frantic negotiations then got underway with the Duke in attempt to get him to agree to do ten minutes of photographs. Eventually, and to cut a long story short, lol, the Duke agreed to allowing me to do ONE photograph and that it couldn’t be published until he had seen it first and granted approval.

So this is what’s going through my mind…I have a subject who not only doesn’t want to be photographed but is also showing outward hostility to the whole arrangement. The article for the magazine was dependant upon inclusion of a photo of the Duke himself, otherwise the article wouldn’t run. Not only does the Duke not even want to be there but if he personally doesn’t like the photo for any reason whatsoever he won’t approve it, hence no publication. And all of this was going to be staked on ONE shot! Now back then we were shooting film so there was no way of being able to sneak a quick look at the back of the camera immediately after taking the shot to double check it was good. Which meant I was in for a long wait before hearing the verdict! lol

So what did I do? Well I cheated! I took THREE shots! lol. They were all done within about ten seconds so the Duke didn’t really have chance to complain and as it turned out he liked all of them. So much so that a few months later he became a client and employed me to do some work for his personal estate.
So what’s the moral of the story? Yikes, I sound like an Aesop fable! Well this story was not an isolated or rare occurrence, I have loads of stories like this (don’t worry I’m not going to be telling them forever more, lol) I’m really just trying to illustrate that 'rapport' and how you 'feel' about a photographer is not as important as assessing the photographs themselves. Above everything else you must study the images. Do they have impact? Do the people in them look good? Do they portray all the emotions and feelings of the wedding? Have they been taken from pleasing angles and with flattering light? Has the photographers timing been spot on? Can you see the texture and shape in a white brides dress or have the details been blown out? Do the couple look natural and relaxed even in posed photographs? I could go on but I’m sure you get the idea, lol.

I reiterate again, I am not belittling the importance of meeting and how you feel about a certain photographer, but this is not the most important criteria. Neither is price. The two things that often lead to disappointment. The photographs are! All the images posted in this blog are from weddings where I have never met the couple until the wedding day itself. They booked me simply from seeing the images on my website. As a wedding photographer in Edinburgh I have many clients come up from England,
across from Ireland and over the sea from America where it has not been possible for them to meet me. As a professional photographer I have an obligation to give them high quality photography and make them look great in their photos no matter who they are or what they will look like.

The two upset and unhappy couples mentioned in the horror stories both spent considerable time meeting several different photographers at wedding fairs before deciding which one they liked enough to book. At the moment we are coming to the close of the spring wedding fair season and most of the wedding photographers in Edinburgh have been busy exhibiting, myself included. If you are attending a wedding fair and have not yet booked your photographer my advice is concentrate on the albums. A good wedding photographer will have plenty of real life wedding albums displaying photographs from the entire day. Any photographer who is proud of his work will love showing it to you. They may not be the slickest sales man or have an eloquent spiel but if their photographs speak for themselves then they won’t need to be.

Wedding Fairs and Portraits

Well it’s really busy time for Edinburgh wedding photographers just now. Not only is it wedding fair season for brides and grooms but also for us photographers as well. I was down at Focus on Imaging last week where all the major manufacturers to the photography industry were exhibiting their products and services. This included the leading wedding album manufacturers which give us the chance to compare their products and pricing and decide which albums we will offer to our clients. For myself I choose to go for high quality albums rather than the cheaper versions. I feel a wedding is such an important day it not only deserves high quality photography but also the best presentation of your photographs.

When it comes to Digital Wedding Books I thought it was interesting that most manufacturers offer very similar products, the main difference being the cover choices and also their own template design systems. I do not use templates, where your photographs are dragged and dropped onto the pre-designed pages, as I prefer to do this myself and therefore starting with a blank canvas can offer exclusive, bespoke design tailored to each wedding and each couple. The other difference between the digital book manufacturers is the actual quality of their printing and pages. Again I prefer deep, rich pages rather than the thinner versions as these have much greater longevity. Similarly, I pay close attention to the build and construction, particularly the spine and binding as if this is done cheaply to reduce costs it can have a tendency to start coming apart a couple of years down the line.

So, as well as our own trade shows and events there’s also a host of local wedding fairs for brides and grooms going on just now too. I was exhibiting at Edinburgh’s largest wedding fair a couple of weeks ago at the Corn Exchange where we had a great weekend, and then this Sunday I’m at The King James Hotel in Edinburgh’s King James centre where I am one of two hand picked wedding photographers in Edinburgh (don’t know who the other one is yet lol) and the following Sunday I’m the only Edinburgh wedding photographer invited to exhibit at the Ravelston Hotel in Musselburgh.

I don’t have any weddings to photograph until April, when the wedding season really kicks off for me. Four weddings in April (one of which is Vow renewal) and then six in May, so really looking forward to those. It’s a busy month for portrait sessions where I’ve been doing mostly children, but also a few special occasions and family events. We use a mobile digital studio which is versatile enough to be set up in any room no matter how small. The two photos in this weeks blog were both taken in a small living room. Its also adaptable enough to expand for when we do special occasions and events like last week when we did a series of family portraits at the Royal Terrace Hotel for a 50th wedding anniversary. We set up in the hotel and did some photographs of the whole family and then some requested family groups and combinations for three quarters of an hour before the meal. We then put up an online proof gallery, similar to our private wedding galleries, for the family to view the photographs and order any prints. Our portrait photography is becoming more and more popular so I’ve also now got a dedicated Edinburgh Portrait Photography page on my website for it. If you know anyone who might be needing an Edinburgh portrait photographer point them to my page which lists services and pricing. If you are currently planning a wedding and looking for a wedding photographer in Edinburgh or anywhere throughout Scotland come along and have a chat at either of the above mentioned wedding fairs. I’ll look forward to seeing you!

Down the mine for Claire's Wedding

Wedding photographers in Edinburgh are spoiled for choice with such a plethora of gorgeous Hotels, Castles and Stately Homes.
But we also have some wedding venues that offer something completely different (yes, I am a Monty Python fan lol) and my first wedding of 2011 was just such a venue. I was going down a mine!

Claire and Stuart were married on Saturday at the Scottish Mining Museum on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
Claire’s grandfather used to work in the mines but sadly passed away a couple of years ago. Due to her mining connections Claire was able to arrange it so her immediate family could go down to the coal face for a couple of photographs on her wedding day in memory of her father. However, the Mining Museum had advised her that it was so dark down at the coal face they weren’t sure her photographer would actually be able to take anything so they left the decision up to me. I went out to the museum with Claire three weeks ago and we went down the lift to the coal face to check things out. Sure enough it was pretty dark!
However, I knew how important this was to Claire and I thrive on photographic challenges so I had told “Sure, it’ll be no problem”.

The wedding day itself loomed rainy and overcast. "Well it won’t be raining down the mine" I told Diane as we left home, lol. We were due to start at The Sun Inn with some getting ready photos of Claire and bridesmaids and then up to the Museum to photograph
Stuart and the groomsmen arriving. By the time we’d finished at the Inn it had stopped raining but was still very cold. I had also noted three weeks ago that it gets even colder the further and deeper you go down the mine so I’d popped a fleece in the car in readiness.

The ceremony itself is held in the large function room adjacent to the museum. It looked very atmospheric adorned in the deep rich colours Claire had chosen. It was a civil ceremony and the registrar is someone I’ve worked with many times before so she was happy enough to
allow me complete freedom as she knows I’m very unobtrusive. You will find that most Edinburgh wedding photographers are known to the registrars as well as other celebrants and their previous reputation can have a considerable influence on what parameters they will be allowed.

I got some lovely images from the two front corners of the room during the ceremony and Diane grabbed a handful too from the back with the telephoto lens. When the register had been signed the bridal procession exited the room and out into the entrance courtyard for the dove release. I was asked to advise
on the best location for the release so I suggested the top of the museum’s outside stairs as then everyone would get a good view and also the photos would look good with an upwards angle as opposed to if we had been on the same level. I wanted to shoot with a fairly wide angle lens as I know that once released the doves fly off very quickly and if you’re inexperienced they can be out of frame as soon as you’ve fired off the first shot. With the wide lens I knew I’d get three good images of the dove inflight. I also had Diane use the telephoto to get a couple of close ups as well.

When the doves were up, up and away we were all back, back and inside as it was pretty chilly. I did Claire and Stuart’s group photographs first before we went down to the coal face, which only took about twenty minutes as is my custom. The plan was to go down to the deepest point with Claire and Stuart, her two bridesmaids and immediate family. And then on the way back up I was going to stop at a couple of locations to do some photographs with the newly weds.
When we got down to the coal face I found that it was even darker than when we had been here three weeks earlier. It was so dark in fact I couldn’t see a thing when looking through the camera viewfinder. I positioned the group at the shaft entrance that Claire had wanted and then stepped back in the confined space to take the shot. With the help of Diane I was using a two light set up but found it was so dark the camera couldn’t calculate the exposure or lock onto the subject so I had to quickly switch everything to manual and rely on my experience to guestimate the settings for myself. As you can see the photograph was spot on!
I did four different combinations with Claire’s family that she had requested and then we all hurried back upwards where it was a touch warmer. The last three images shown here are ones we stopped off for on the way up in different parts of the mine. I’m not sure if I’m the only Edinburgh wedding photographer who has taken a wedding party down to the coal face but I’m pretty sure there can’t be many, lol. Anyway I was absolutely delighted with how stunning and atmospheric the images look and can’t wait to receive Claire and Stuart’s selection list so I can start on their album design.

Wedding albums & wedding fairs

Spring wedding fair season is now upon us keeping all of us professional Edinburgh wedding photographers busy. It’s a great opportunity to show off our albums and also chat with future brides and grooms about their wedding plan and idea’s. The first one for me is this Sunday at the Edinburgh Hilton Hotel and then I will be at Edinburgh’s largest wedding fair which is at the Corn Exchange beginning of March.
One thing I’ve learned as wedding photographer in Edinburgh is that you have to select which wedding fairs to exhibit at carefully. It’s impossible to do all of them even though it might be flattering to be invited. But so of them work and some don’t and some simply do not have the right atmosphere.

Its important when exhibiting at wedding fairs that as photographers we show real life weddings albums. It is quite common amongst part time wedding togs, or other photographers who don’t feel their full set of weddings photographs are too impressive, to use compilations albums. These are a mixture of photographs from several different weddings. If a photographer has photographed a number of weddings, even if he’s not too confident with his style and consistency, he can pick three or four of the best photographs from some of his weddings in order to fill an album. My personal opinion is that it is perhaps okay to have one compilationalbum if you want to say showcase your best award winning images, but the majority of albums you show to prospective clients really should be real life wedding albums to give an honest, genuine insight into the quality of your work and of course your photographic style. I am a great believer in letting the photographs speak for themselves.
Probably because I’m not much of a slick salesman, lol. But it’s really nice when couples tell me that as soon as they saw my work they knew I was the photographer for them!

I do a full range of weddings album from Traditional albums through to the latest Storybooks. One of my most popular albums is my Deluxe Image Book which sits in-between the two having a traditional wedding album look and feel but with Storybook style pages.
The vast majority of wedding photographers use popular template software to design their wedding albums. If you have visited some of the larger wedding fairs you may have noticed that many of the albums from different photographers do all look very much the same. If couples like the look and style of these then I am more than happy to do this for them, but I also like to do bespoke designed albums which are exclusive to each wedding. These are designed from a complete blank canvas and created with no templates at all, so it really is a case of creating something unique and special to each couple.

The albums come in all different shapes, sizes, looks and finishes so we are able to show quite a large product range at a wedding fair. It is also good to keep your sample albums up to date with recent weddings which is something I’ve been doing the last few weeks in preparation for the spring. I’m posting pictures of a few album pages from recent weddings I photographed last year and also a couple of my long time favourites.

I’m down the mine this Saturday as well for Claire and Stuart’s wedding. That’s the Scottish Mining Museum on the edge of Edinburgh. Claire’s father used to work in the mines here so she’s allowed to go down to the coal face for photographs. So we’ll really get something different! Hope I can clean all the coal off me in time for the Sunday wedding fair, lol.

As well as wedding fairs I’m doing quite a lot of portrait sessions at the moment, too. This is a nice off shoot from wedding photography, particularly at this time of year when the wedding season has yet to kick off fully. Many of these are clients who’s wedding I’ve photographed or perhaps family and friends so its nice to do some portrait work with them. I picked up a 'Silver' Award in the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers) a few months ago in the Children’s category so I didn’t think that was bad going for a wedding specialist, lol.

Anyway, if you currently planning a wedding, or want to book a portrait session, come along on Sunday to Hilton in Grosvenor Street and we’ll fix something up. Complimentary drinks and canapés throughout the afternoon too together with performances from the Rose Street Quartet.

Adverts, wedding recces and other stuff

Well I can’t believe its coming up to the end of January! And, yes, I’m behind on my blogging already! Some things never change eh? lol Normally January is rather a quiet month for Edinburgh wedding photographers but this year it seems I’ve never stopped. Which of course I’m delighted about!
I’ve been running several portrait promotions and they’ve proved to be very popular. I’ve also been designing and updating my marketing and advertising as well as samples and albums.

January is usually the month for this as it’s a quiet month for weddings and gives the opportunity of getting everything spruced up for the spring wedding fair season which generally kicks off towards the end of February. There is of course a great many wedding photographers in Edinburgh so one of the things you are trying to do is make your adverts stand out and get your name out there as prominently as possible (like as in the New York picture, lol). I am in the fortunate position where most of my work comes from word of mouth and referrals, but of course advertising is important not just in attracting new clients but reminding the family and friends of previous and current clients that you are still around and available for them as well as giving folks the opportunity to see my range of albums and wedding books.

I will be at several wedding fairs in the spring starting with The Hilton Edinburgh on February 20th. I’ll tell you more about the others nearer the time. In the autumn I was the only the Edinburgh wedding photographer exhibiting at the Hilton but for this event I’ve also brought in an additional photographer just so we don’t disappoint visitors who’s wedding date is one that I’m already booked for.

I’ve also been doing a few wedding venue check’s too this month (there’s another excuse for my blogging tardiness) or as we togs prefer to call them “recce’s”. A couple of days ago I went down a mine for a wedding I have in February. Claire and Stuart’s wedding is on the 19th and they
have permission to go down the mine for photographs providing it’s okay with their photographer. Well, their photographer is me so of course it’s okay! lol Anyway I met up with Claire last Thursday and we went down to the coal face to check it out. Watch out for the photos next month.

I’ve also had two of my camera’s in for servicing this month as well. A very expensive business when you are a professional photographer. £280 is what I have to pay for one camera which includes a small repair. More than I paid for having my car serviced! Although pro camera’s are the price of cars these days so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Still don’t see why I shouldn’t be allowed to complain about it, lol. Anyway I’m all set and raring to go so if you know anyone looking for a wedding photographer in Edinburgh who is happy to travel anywhere (except Budapest after watching this weeks Silent Witness lol) tell them to give me a call.

Christine and Gary's snowy wedding

Well when Christine and Gary booked me for their wedding back in January none of us imagined we were going to be doing a set of winter wonderland wedding photographs, but their wedding a fortnight ago was held amid the worst weather we have had in Scotland for a long, long time!
According to the news it was so bad that for the first time in history every single school in Edinburgh was closed at the same time. There certainly wasn’t going to be too many Edinburgh wedding photographers happy this week. I can imagine that the days running up to the wedding must have been rather worrying and stressful for both Christine and Gary and also their families. But as it happened we ended up with a glorious wedding and a fantastic set of photographs!

Because of the snow the church was rendered inaccessible so the ceremony was switched to Melville Castle.
Melville Castle itself had been virtually cut off for most of the week too but they brought a tractor come digger in on the Thursday to clear the driveway. It was also of great concern that I wouldn’t be able to get into Costa Coffee en route to the wedding, but the powers that be at Kinnaird Park arranged for the roads and car park to be cleared by tractor just in time enabling me to get in and pick up my cuppa as I drove over to Melville in the morning ;)

With the ceremony being moved to Melville Castle Christine was given a room there on the morning to get ready in which meant I could squeeze in a few pre-wedding shots of both Christine and her bridesmaids prior to going
through for the ceremony. I also did a quick session with Gary and the groomsmen too along the snow clad driveway and then a few different shots of Gary at the main entrance. The first picture posted here was one of my favourites with Gary and you can also see me (in the next pic) taking the shot too, courtesy of Christine’s sister, Jen, lol.

I got a series of images as Christine, father and bridesmaids came down the main staircase at Melville Castle on their way to the Ballroom for the ceremony. I always like to get a nice photograph of the bride with her father just before entering the ceremony room and coming down
the aisle, so as they descended I asked Christine and her father to pause briefly on the lower landing and I grabbed two nice shots before running ahead to take up position three quarters of the way down the aisle to photograph the procession.

For most of the ceremony I quietly worked in the corners of the room unobtrusively moving from one to the other to capture the facial expressions as we went through the declarations, vows and ring exchange. As the Ballroom is one of the grandest rooms at Melville Castle I always try to get a photograph right from the back at some point showing off the entire room with all the guests and families enjoying the ceremony. As I move around behind the couple
for this I take a second to silently straighten out the brides dress as it usually becomes bunched up from her walk down the aisle and the shot will look so much better if the dress is straightened and splayed out a touch over the red carpet. When I meet back up with couples after the wedding most of the brides say they didn’t notice me doing this and it’s not until seeing the photographs that they realise it. I always reply “Well you were kind of busy concentrating on something else at the time!” lol

Drinks and canapés were served in the hotel lobby following the ceremony, and after grabbing a quick shot of Gary and Christine chinking glasses I left them to mingle with their guests for a
few minutes while I cleared away the chairs and set up some lighting in the Ballroom for the group photographs. The Ballroom at Melville is perfect for group shots as it is so spacious and the light is fantastic! I use a couple of studio lights with shoot through umbrella’s which I have set to balance with the ambient light of the Ballroom. The large, ornate Ballroom windows all run along the south facing wall so if I didn’t balance out the lighting there would be a touch too much side light coming from the left handside, particularly at this time of year when the sun sets earlier in the afternoon.

When the group photographs were completed we went into the bride and groom session. Both Gary and Christine were keen to go outside for at least part of the time and get some photographs in the snow.
However, I started off with them inside the castle as I wanted to get the timing just right for outdoors. Despite being a very nice day it was still cold and I didn’t want them being outside for too long so I paced things to allow us to go outside just as the sun began to drop behind the tree line. The affect of the sun being so low in the sky was to cause a shimmering mist to ascend from the snow which gave me stunning backgrounds as it created an almost dry ice appearance rising dramatically behind them. There are two good examples shown here. In the photograph showing them walking along the snow clad track you can see how striking the angled sunlight is as it comes in from the right handside illuminating their faces and giving warmth and depth the image. The following shot is one of a sequence of head and shoulders where I asked them to look at me, then to look at each other and then to kiss. You can see the rising dry
ice affect I spoke of coming up from the snow and really giving them prominence and making them stand out from the background. Just as the sun was ready to touch the horizon I swung them around and moved in from the opposite side so the setting sun was directly behind their heads. This (the last photo) is my personal favourite image from their day. It is one from a set of four which also included them looking into camera as well.

Of course, the day didn’t end here. We also did the cake cutting, speeches, a few requests and then the first dance. So all in all, despite the concerns earlier in the week over the weather adversely affecting the wedding day it actually played a strong part in making the day more memorable and spectacular than any of us would have guessed back in January!

There are a lot of wedding photographers in Edinburgh, and indeed throughout the country, who decline to work the winter months because they say it gets dark too quickly and makes it too hard working in the difficult light conditions.
Well in my view they don’t know what they are missing out on. The shorter day light, winter months produce spectacular, atmospheric conditions that make for stunning photography and it is a delight to work at this time of year! There's certainly several photographs from this wedding that will make it into my portfolio! :)