Priscilla and Stewart at The Lodge on Loch Goil

As I expected, a very busy wedding season had paid a toll on the regularity of my blog posts but I will do my best to keep up!

Back in June I photographed a very vibrant and fun wedding at the Lodge on Loch Goil. A venue I had been to several times in the past but one which still never fails to impress me with it's incredibly beautiful location, offering a multitude of photographic opportunities, and the facilities it offers. I can also testify that the food is some of the best I have ever had at any wedding! If you are looking for a lochside venue then I really do believe that you'd be hard pushed to beat this place.

The first interesting thing I couldn't help noticing when I arrived was the very colourful Rangoli sat on a table. One of Priscilla and Stewart's guests had made it on-site just the day before and it was quite amazing. The problem was, it was quite large, was based upon two pieces of cardboard and had to be moved outside to the front of the Lodge. It was also raining a little bit (no surprise there then) and it certainly couldn't get wet! The manouvres were very entertaining, from where I was stood at least, but it made it safely into it's final resting place on the front lawn.

Priscilla was justifiably very excited about her dress and nobody (except me, of course) was allowed to see it until just before the ceremony. It had been especially made for her by the very talented seamstress Sharon Alexander (07558 232033) and was, I have to say, absolutely amazing. If, like me, you are thinking that you couldn't possibly afford a bespoke dress then think again. I was very surprised when I found out the cost. Although the dress was undeniably very nice it was the after-sales care that really was the icing on the cake. All too often I witness bridesmaids struggling with complicated lacing-up of dresses and generally making a real mince of dressing the bride - Sharon herself was the one to dress Priscilla. Who better to fit the dress to the bride than the very person who made it in the first place!

I would have given Priscilla a rating of only 2 out of 5 on the Bridezilla scale but she was keen on one thing in particular - the ceremony had to be outside. It was raining a bit in the morning but the forecast was predicting a miraculous break in the weather just in time for the ceremony. Having been photographing weddings in Scotland for over ten years I was very sceptical myself but, perhaps because of the lucky Rangoli, it did stop raining almost exactly when it was supposed to.

Of course, once the rain stopped on this warm, humid Scottish June day a whole load of other guests arrived just in time for the ceremony. A few million in fact. Luckily I keep a little can of Jungle Formula in the car for such occasions and escaped relatively unscathed but most of the other guests had to make room for the midges while the ceremony was conducted. Nobody seemed to mind too much as it was a small price to pay to stand under the magnificent copper beech tree literally a few meters from the shore of the loch in the Scottish mountains watching a very nice wedding service indeed.

One of the features of the Lodge is the large tree-house - albeit a very luxurious one. Not like the ones I used to build myself out of an old pallet and some string. This one even has a wood-burning stove in the corner. Some of the weddings I have photographed here in the past have been a bit smaller and the actual ceremonies have been held up in the branches of a tree but, today, we used it for the signing of the register.

The dressmaker's feet. Great dresses, unusual choice of footwear.

After a very tasty dinner courtesy of the bride and groom (thanks again guys!), which included space-dust ice-cream, the evening began with the first dance. After the usual romantic, but, let's face it, not hugely exciting, first dance I witnessed the best coreographed Scottish Bhangra Bollywood fusion dance I had ever seen. I had heard rumours that some of the guests had been practicing since as far back as the day before and the dancing skills witnessed were just phenomenal. Well done guys! Of course, not everybody could join in as some were simply too exhausted.

Write-up of one of my weddings on another blog

Back in April I photographed the wedding of Gillian and Gavin at Glenbervie House Hotel. My own post about it is here: http://trevorwilsonphotography.blogspot.com/2011/06/gillian-and-gavins-wedding-at.html

The Humanist Celebrant, Tim Maguire, has written a post about it for his own blog and you can read all about it here: http://humanistweddingsinscotland.blogspot.com/2011/08/gillian-gavins-humanist-wedding-at.html