A Matter of Wedding Photography Scotland » Wedding

Duncan and Pauline at Cromlix house hotel – Part 1

fiona — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:47:21 +0000

This was a Gold Package wedding (see our packages for full details) so I first cover the bridal preparations. Luckily for me the bride, groom and many of the guests had stayed at Cromlix house the night before. It’s always a bit easier to have everything on one site.

Cromlix house itself is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a fabulous building, which even has its own chapel dating from 1874. The wedding day weather was stunning. I believe it was 10 degrees above average and the whole place was just idyllic.

I firstly went to see the bride – who was a bit busy having her hair professionaly put up. The hairdo was lovely and was done by Leeanne Ross of Lumia hair salon at the bridge of Allan. Various parts of her hair curled up and into other parts in a very implausible but aesthetically pleasing way.

The bridal suite at Cromlix was amazing. There was a sitting room, huge bathroom with separate toilet and a massive bedroom. I initially took some pictures of the wedding dress in the bedroom before running off to take pictures of it and the bridesmaid’s dresses in front of a fabulous wardrobe in the sitting room. The bedroom however had the best light. Which was handy as that was where everyone was getting ready. I took pictures of the preparation until 1pm when I had arranged to go and meet the groom. I left with promises that no one was going to put on their dresses before I got back.

The rings were sewn onto a lovely cushion as a small child was going to be the ring bearer. I took pictures of the rings and some of the groom and his best man indoors and then went on a quick tour of the grounds taking pictures.

When I arrived back with the girls they were ready to put on the dresses. Pauline’s dress had a corset back and so took quite a while to put on. It did look lovely once it was finished however. For once we were still on time so I managed to get some images before we left for the ceremony.

Then it was simply down a few stairs to the ceremony.

Which will be in the next part.

Sabrina and Craig’s wedding at St Paul’s and St George’s

fiona — Fri, 28 May 2010 19:20:14 +0000

Sabrina and Craig’s wedding was unusually close for me – not only was it in Edinburgh (I am after all an Edinburgh Wedding Photographer – even though around 70% of my work so far this year has been over an hour away), but it was on the east side of Edinburgh around Leith, the top of Leith walk and the Bridges. All areas I know well from university and from where I live now.

Sabrina and Craig were unfortunately hit by the recent ash cloud problems as many of her family were coming across from Ireland. Luckily and due to some heroic travelling on the part of relatives only two people didn’t make it in the end.

This was a Gold Package wedding (see our packages for full details) so I first travelled to where Sabrina was getting ready. Due to the amount of family she had over they had rented a lovely flat in Leith. This was ideal as the rooms were bright and airy, just perfect for photography. I took images of the dress (which was a lovely number from just down the road from me – Pretty Woman in Leith), shoes and flowers. I absolutely love their choice of flowers. I love sunflowers. Probably second only to daffodils, which I am still waiting for someone to use as their wedding flowers. Unfortunately my wedding was too late in the year.

After the still life photos I took pictures of the bride getting into her dress assisted by the bridesmaid and then some pictures of her family.

It was then quickly off the the ceremony venue to get some pictures of the groom and best man as well as the rings and guests arrivals.

For this wedding the celebrant was a friend of the family from the Salvation Army. Luckily I was able to take as many photos as I wanted from wherever I wanted. Which was a nice change from the wedding in Dumfries.

St Paul’s and St George’s is a huge church that has recently been refurbished inside and is now very modern. Unfortunately the dreaded tram works were still going on in Edinburgh and were just outside the door. The good point of this was that the celebrant and I managed to convince the tram workers to make a tunnel with their spade’s up for the bride! I’m sure that it was quite unusual.

It was a lovely ceremony, the minister was fantastic and I particularly liked the unity candle ceremony. During this the mother’s of the bride and groom each light a separate candle which the bride and groom then use to light the central candle. They then blow out the parent’s candle and are left with a single burning candle. Lovely.

After the ceremony I took pictures of everyone together in the church.

It was then off to the botanics for some family group shots and images of the couple. On the way back out I spotted the most gorgeous tree in full blossom which I had to have some pictures of. Trees in blossom are just fabulous.

The reception was being held in the Carlton hotel on North Bridge – this hotel has the most fabulous enterance stairway. It is just wonderful and dominates the enterance hall. Many pictures were taken here.

The speaches were after the meal – which is getting less popular these days although it is the traditional way round. The most memorable points was the presentation of a See You Jimmy hat and the bride’s heartfelt and tearful thanks to everyone for making such efforts to get to the wedding.

Finally came the cutting the cake and the first dance. The cake was gorgeous and suited their colour palette perfectly. Particularly impressive as it was made by a friend.

Emma and Rob’s wedding in Dumfries

fiona — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 21:34:02 +0000

I photographed a lovely wedding in Dumfries on Thursday. A long drive – 2 hours from Edinburgh. However very scenic countryside with lots of little lambs and the venue made up for it.

Just look at that church! It’s just fantastic. It’s even set in beautiful grounds.

The wedding was between Emma and Rob, a really friendly and welcoming couple who were a joy to work with. Being a Wedding Photographer based in Edinburgh I get to shoot both Scottish and English wedding styles. This was more of an English style with morning suits and pinstripes rather than kilts.

The first thing I like to do when I arrive at a wedding is take a picture of the two rings. I like to get it out of the way quickly and it would be a bit of a waste to whisk a ring off the married couple as soon as they had given them to each other. Probably bad luck.

The bride’s ring is an unusual shape – this is to fit her antique engagement ring – which you will see later on.

After that I went straight up to the bride’s room. Unfortunately there wasn’t much space or light – and what little space there was was covered with the getting ready debris of a number of women. Cosmetics, clothes and bags of bits and pieces covered every available surface. I tidied up what I could and got to work on some photography.

The wedding dress was just gorgeous. A lovely floaty number.

The flowers were calia lilies – here they are with the bride’s amazing shoes. Look at the heels on those!

Next came the putting on of the dress. Always a big moment. This wedding dress had a corset back which takes a bit longer than other styles.

Doesn’t she just look gorgeous?

Unfortunately the minister was camera shy. He originally wanted no photography at all during the ceremony. Luckily I managed to talk him round to photography at the back of the church. As you can see I was a long way back.

All celebrants have different views on photography during the ceremony. Particularly if they are conducting a religious ceremony. If photographs are important to you please do not just take it as read that these will be allowed and confirm this with whoever will be conducting the ceremony.

Luckily modern professional photographic equipment is pretty amazing. So I did manage to get some close up shots – including that all important kiss.

Next came the legal part – the signing of the register.

The newly married couple leaving the church.

We then set up a fair number of group and posed shots in front of the fantastic church entrance.

As well as a shot of confetti being thrown over the bride and groom. A slightly uncomfortable experience apparently.

I’m pleased with the posed shots. A combination of a beautiful setting, a gorgeous happy couple and a fabulous dress.

Finally a very relieved couple reached the reception.

I do love the back of this dress. Here’s a close up as it’s tricky to see in the wide shots (as ever click on any photo for a larger view).

Some interesting shots of her family!

A very elegant wedding cake. I do love iced flowers. They have always fascinated me for some reason.

They had candles as table centrepieces.

Here are the engagement and wedding ring together as promised. As you can see the wedding ring fits round the engagement ring perfectly.

The speeches were before dinner. Very popular these days – leads to better delivered speeches as well as a much more relaxed top table.

I actually really enjoy speeches. These were all great and as ever led to some very natural photos.

This was actually the bride and groom’s idea. As I say a great fun couple. The bride in particular was so vivacious.

The fake cutting of the cake became the actual cutting of the cake, as – well they wanted to. Although I do have to admit to encouraging them a little.

Just before I left I noticed that the weather had cleared up and the sky was now much more “photogenic”. So I took a few exterior shots.

Edinburgh Wedding Photography – Sonja and Billy – 22/8/09

fiona — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:59:03 +0000

We had a wedding at the king’s manor hotel this weekend.

It was quite a simple wedding and was all at the one venue.

It was a lovely wedding and we had glorious sunshine. Not always the best for photography and we had to fight against the back garden which seemed to be full of gas canisters, mesh fences and rubbish. So we had to find something with a good background which didn’t cause everyone to squint too much.