Emily and Mark's Wedding Photographs, Fingask Castle

Emily and Mark gave me permission to put their wedding on here ages ago but I have been so busy designing wedding albums in the run up to Christmas (why does everybody wait all year before sending their album orders in, and then give them to me in November with a request that they are done in time for Xmas?.. Humph) that I haven't had the time to write anything.

Mark and Emily's ceremony was the the beautiful Perth Monastery, which was somewhere I hadn't been before. When I managed to find the right entrance I discovered that it was a lovely place and it is somewhere I quite fancy going back to! Unusually I was asked to start at the Monastery rather than Emily's house but that was, of course, perfectly fine by me. I think it can be a great opportunity for some fun and atmospheric pictures when I am with the bride and bridesmaids in the morning but the last thing I want to do is to add more stress to what it already a busy time of the day and will just start at the ceremony venue if asked, although I might sulk just a little.

After the ceremony we all made the 20 minute drive over towards Dundee to Fingask Castle which is somewhere I have been several times before and always look forward to the return trip. There is something about Fingask that always feels very homely and relaxed. The setting really couldn't be more beautiful, especially when the weather was as sunny as it was for Mark and Emily! People often come up to me at weddings, on very sunny days, and tell me that it is a nightmare and that other photographers had told them that it is the hardest time to take pictures - I LOVE the sun! As a photographer my sole job is to capture light and the more light there is the better as far as I am concerned. My advice if you are finding it hard to get good results - use the lens-hood that came with your camera instead of leaving it at home or, more amusingly for me, having it on the lens, back-to-front...

Emily had thought of some wonderful little design ideas for her wedding but one in particular that I thought was very inspired was the use of 'found' vases and jugs for the flowers on the tables. Apparently it took quite a while to accumulate enough but it looked great!

Another difference was that there was no cake as such - instead they had stack of tasty looking (I didn't get to try any...) cheese. It looked great and I am sure it tasted good too but it looked very tricky to cut with a sword and made for some interesting pictures.

Emily and Mark sent this kind email,

"Thanks so much, we absolutely LOVE them! Just what we were after and it really made a difference on the day not having to go off for long periods of time to have photos taken, more time for canapes! You captured everything I hoped you would including my vases, so big thanks."

Wedding Featured in RLW Magazine

Back in April I mentioned that I had another wedding featured in the Real Life Weddings magazine but, back then, you had to pay to view the article online (or buy the magazine, obviously!). Well, you can now download a PDF file of the whole spread for free here: http://www.reallifeweddings.co.uk/PDFs/RLWs10/090_RLWs10.pdf

Liz and John's Wedding Photographs at Pollokshields Burgh Hall

Since the weather outside could barely be much more wintry I thought I would post a few pictures from a beautiful wedding at the end of the summer this year as a reminder that it can actually be quite warm in Scotland. I had been looking forward to Liz and John's wedding for a while - I already knew them since I photographed Liz's sister's wedding and I knew that Liz had put a lot of thought into the details of their day. There was a dragonfly theme to the day and Liz went for a lovely 50's look with a wonderful vintage dress and hair and makeup.

Liz actually asked me to suggest a venue in Glasgow that I thought might suit and straight away I thought of Pollokshields Burgh Hall (try to look past the dodgy pictures on their website...). It is, I think, a great venue for a wedding and all of the weddings I have done there before have all been really nice. It provides some lovely rooms inside and Maxwell Park is right at the back door - what could be better! I needn't have worried about arriving on time from taking pictures with Liz just before the ceremony - she was apparently in no rush to arrive and I could have popped into Glasgow for a coffee and still made it back in time to capture pictures of her in the car...

To make the most of the park there were a pair of Clydesdale horses from Glasgow to give people a ride around in the sunshine. It did make the photography trickier because, as the guests were so keen to get a ride on the horses, there weren't very many people left behind to photograph. Of course, the only solution was for me to ride around with them in the sun - ah the life of a wedding photographer!

All in all I think everyone had a super day and I truly enjoyed photographing the wedding for them. It was very relaxed and Liz and John didn't want to have to fuss around having pictures taken so I was left to record their wedding as I wanted to. I even did a deal with them whereby I could sit down with their guests afternoon tea (which consisted of incredible sandwiches and cakes) in exchange for staying later to photograph some of the dancing in the evening.