A lovely moment – Kimberley had just come down the stairs and her Dad saw her in her dress for the first time.
Archive for the ‘Weddings’ Category
Theo and Kimberley | New Lanark Mill | Wedding Photography
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011Duncan + Cat | Wedding under a Yew Tree
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011Duncan and Cat met at Marischal College in Aberdeen when at Medical School; Cat met Duncan working as an anatomy model. Duncan’s proposal to Cat took place at Sign no 29 on the Point de Vue piste at the Grand Moutets ski resort in Argentiere, near Chamonix, France during a blizzard.
Duncan and Cat decided to get married under the Great Yew Tree at Ormiston which they told us is “not only a beautiful and tranquil place but one which is very special to both of us”. Duncan further explained, “It is an ancient tree that was preached under by John Knox and George Wishart during the Reformation”.
Cat’s dress was made in a small boutique in Alcester, not far from their home in Warwickshire. Cat told us “I chose my dress because it was adaptable so it wouldn’t drag on the ground at the wedding venue and I got married in my wedding wellies.” Groomswear was a kilt was from The Kilt Shop in Musselburgh. Duncan bought Cat some jewellery from Element Bespoke Jewellery in Birmingham which Cat told us “really complimented the dress without Duncan knowing it” and Cat’s hair and makeup was by Michelle Whittaker from Earlston.
One of Duncan’s colleagues piped for them and the final tune he played before Cat went under the tree was ‘Mhairi’s Wedding’. The couple’s evening reception took place at Macdonald Marine Hotel in North Berwick and the soundtrack to the evening was by ceilidh band Darloch which Cat and Duncan described as “brilliant”. Duncan told us “we chose the Gay Gordon’s as our first dance because of the name; it seemed appropriate as Cat’s first dance as a Gordon”.
Cat and Duncan explained, “There was no overall theme to the wedding but we did have some ski related things like our cake (supplied by 3D Cakes) and our tables were named after pistes at the ski resort where we got engaged.” Marie White supplied the flowers and according to Cat “we wanted something bright, colourful yet simple for the flowers and they were perfect”.
Duncan told us that “Archibald Photography came highly recommended to us by my usher” as Gareth and Marianne’s wedding had been photographed by Mark in 2007. Cat and Duncan told us, “Our favourite image is the wide angled shot of us under the tree; we are surrounded by the mass of branches showing how high it is. We also love lots of the pictures of the kids; Donnie spinning Coco (the monkey) by his tail and Juliet having run to hug Duncan”.
Duncan and Cat wanted to have a small and intimate ceremony despite having hundreds of friends and family to invite to their reception. They had just their closest friends and family at the ceremony which worked perfectly for them with such a special and unusual outdoor wedding venue. Cat told us “everything was perfect, even the weather; the rain just started as we went in for our reception. We had our ‘mad’ idea and stuck with it and had exactly the venue and ceremony we wanted. It worked perfectly.”
One aspect of Cat and Duncan’s wedding which didn’t go entirely to plan involved a succession of wedding cars. The first car broke down after their ceremony and couldn’t be restarted, they were then taken to the Macdonald Marine Hotel in a guest’s car (requiring Mark to do some pursuit driving!) and finally a replacement vintage car was brought to the hotel to be used for photos!
Cat and Duncan, we loved being part of your unique and special wedding day. You didn’t let the slightly thing faze you including the unexpected car trouble and unwell family. Here are some of our favourite images of your wedding:
Weddings featured in Real Life Weddings Magazine
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011Our postman made a very exciting delivery to us today bringing the new copy of Real Life Weddings magazine produced by the fantastic editorial team at Scottish Wedding Directory. If you haven’t seen a copy yet, I would recommend picking one up at your local newsagent (or purchasing online here) as the magazine features lots of in-depth interviews with couples about how they planned and styled their weddings. You will find lots of useful tips on things to think about or avoid on a wedding day.
Two articles in the magazine feature our photography from recent favourite weddings. Firstly Jen talks about how she found Archibald Photography through the Scottish Wedding Directory magazine and how delighted she was with the end photography result of her and Graham’s wedding at Atholl Palace in Pitlochry:
We are then featured in a fabulous 4 page spread entitled “Giving it some welly” with Susie and Paul’s relaxed, vintage inspired wedding at Mavis Hall Park. Susie and Paul’s wedding is a great example of how not to let the Scottish weather affect your wedding day plans as theirs was a beautiful wedding in the rain. You can read Susie and Paul’s full wedding story on our blog here and it was also featured on the massive bridal blog Style Me Pretty.
Dayna + Dan | Fernie Castle | Small intimate wedding
Friday, September 16th, 2011Dayna & Dan met through two mutual friends. Dan proposed to Dayna when they were at home celebrating an accomplishment of Dayna’s. Dayna told us “toasting to whatever it was, he kind of just handed me the ring. We went out to dinner afterwards to celebrate.”
Both Dayna’s engagement ring and wedding band belonged to her late Grandmother on my mother’s side. When Dayna was 11 years old, her grandparents took her on holiday from the US to Scotland. She recalls “We met my cousins in London and then all took a train up Scotland. It is probably one of my fondest memories of childhood and I thought it would be special to honour them as we exchanged their rings by choosing Scotland as the wedding location”. Fernie Castle was chosen as the wedding venue and Dayna told us “they went above and beyond my expectations. I was easy to see that weddings are their speciality and they had every last detail down to a science.”
Because Dayna was coming from overseas, she was unsure about booking professional hair and makeup without the opportunity to meet up and practice how she envisioned each to look. So as Dayna told us”the makeup was actually just some version of my daily face and for my hair I had my Mom accompany me to my regular hair dresser where we found a simple version of the hairstyle I liked that she could replicate. She did a great job and it looked exactly the way I wanted even though under stress she had to redo it a couple a times.”
Dayna bought her dress from a local shop to her in Denver called Angela’s Bridal. She told us “I chose it because it seemed simple yet unique and easy to get to Scotland (at that point we were unsure if we were going to try and carry it on the plane or ship it before the wedding). I loved the black embroidery and the lace up back.” She wore a black feather hair piece which her best friend had given her (the same friend that introduced Dan & Dayna) and an opal pin my grandmother left to me. Dayna said “Opal is my birthstone and she always wanted me to have things that represented that.”
Dan wore a tux for their wedding which he had bought in the States.
Quality pictures were one of the most important things for Dayna when she began to plan and she found Archibald Photography online. She told us “It was actually the first website I looked at when I was sort of “unofficially” google searching. The pictures on your website stood out through the whole planning process so when the time came to book a photographer, although I looked at other websites, the choice was simple.”
Dayna told us “the best thing about the day was that I got to marry my best friend. I loved how small and intimate the ceremony was. My brother married us which was special and I was able to spend time with both my parents before the ceremony (my mom did my hair and I had tea with my dad, another fond memory replicated from my childhood trip to Scotland).”
Dayna also told us “A funny, astonishing and very impressive thing that happened was Dan’s mother was going to be unable to attend but at the very last min. (as in 3 day before) she decided she could not miss her son’s wedding. She planned her entire trip in a matter two days from plane tickets and transportation to packing and her outfit for the wedding. She arrived the night before in what I considered GREAT spirits for traveling something like 15 or 16 hours straight. We were sooooooo happy to see her and her presence made for a wonderful day, trip and memories.”
Dayna would sum her day up as “Amazing!!!! The whole experience so perfectly represented us as individuals as well as us as a couple. I would not have changed a single thing about it and I am grateful to have such wonderful images to remember it by!”
A rather unusual first wedding dance | Royal College of Physicians
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011You may have read on our blog recently the story of how Tamsyn and Jamie first met. With a story like that setting their relationship off, it might not surprise you to hear that their wedding day for also a little different from the norm. Starting with Tamsyn’s dress – electric blue Angelina Colarusso gown dripping in glamour and then a rather unusual first “dance”… As a couple, Jamie and Tamsyn like to get creative and do things in their own style, and so wanted to apply the same approach to their wedding.
So first, the proposal. Tamsyn & Jamie can’t resist an adventure trip, and had loaded their kit into a canoe for a few days paddling and wild camping along the Thames river. When they reached the idyllic Temple Island at Henley, which was glinting gently in the last rays of sunshine, Jamie suggested they stop to enjoy the moment and admire it. As they pulled alongside the ‘Temple’, he scrambled up the canoe and asked if Tamsyn would be his team-mate for all of life’s adventures. Once Tamsyn had manage to compose herself after a touch of joyful blubbing, she accepted. As Tamsyn told us”it was perfect, even when the heavens later opened and we spent the first night of ‘almost married’ life in a wonky, flooded, smelly tent trying to stop the pots and pans from floating away!”
Tamsyn knew she wanted a dress that was completely different, and coloured rather than white, but found finding something that fitted the quirky criteria was surprisingly challenging. She told us “I was starting to despair when Mum and I came across Angelina Colarusso – I loved the architectural style and sculptural elegance of her designs, and was overjoyed to meet Angelina and find she was happy to apply her considerable artistic talents to creating something a little on the wild side! As an added plus, the full skirt detaches to convert the whole thing into a slinky evening dress – I may have refused to take it off at the end of the night if I thought I’d never get to wear at least part of it again!”
Tamsyn asked us for a hair stylist recommendation and we suggested contacting Lidia Attino at Volume Hair. Tamsayn told us she “did a fantastic job on our bridesmaids’, Mum’s and my hair. Vicky Cameron stepped into the breach to do our make-up after I was quavering from a disastrous trial elsewhere, and I was so pleased to have found her – she made us all feel absolutely gorgeous. Amazingly all the hair and makeup looks lasted not only all day but throughout some very warm and energetic hours of ceilidh dancing in the evening!”
Tamsyn and her Dad walked down the aisle to the Flower Duet from Lakme, played by the brilliant Cairn String Quartet, who also flawlessly accommodated their more offbeat request to perform Guns N’ Roses, Sandi Thom and Metallica for our registry signing. The guests loved their performances before and after the ceremony as well.
Buildings with history and plenty of character have always appealed to Tamsyn & Jamie They felt The Royal College of Physicians, with its classical library and vibrant Great Hall, had those in abundence. Tamsyn told us “it has an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ quality; everywhere you go a contrasting style and colour unfolds before you, and as Jamie put it, we wandered round like ‘twa bairns the night afore Christmas’. The team there were also incredibly helpful and organised, both throughout the planning and on the day, and didn’t bat an eyelid when we proposed staging a swordfight in their priceless building!” The wedding day was rainy but it didn’t matter as the interior of The Royal College of Physicians is so stunning.
The first dance was a tricky one for Jamie and Tamsyn. As they told us “neither of us are dancers, and we dreaded three minutes of awkward shuffling to something traditional. So we decided that we’d choose the mushiest tune we could think of (step forward Celine Dion’s Titanic theme), shuffle briefly – then stop the music and launch into a ‘first swordfight’ instead! As we started to practise our fight in the weeks beforehand, we did wonder if we’d bitten off more than we could chew – I used to fence internationally but had never performed, and Jamie was a professional musician so is used to stages, but had never fenced. Plus we’d be doing the whole thing in full formal dress (including enormous skirt, train and heels for me), having to remember detailed choreography on top of all the excitement of the wedding day, and trying not to run each other through, as we wouldn’t be wearing any safety gear. We kept the whole thing secret (apart from a handful of helpers), and snuck nervously away for a quick practice beforehand (which Mark also photographed). But once the swordfight music started (Pirates of the Caribbean theme tune!), and we smiled at each other across our raised blades, all the nerves melted away and the whole fight was the most immense amount of fun.”
Jamie and Tamsyn decided they needed a more ‘them’ alternative to flowers. Tamsyn’s Mum was asked if she could help with, “you know, stuff that will look cool, um, maybe with peacock feathers”. She designed and made all the ‘bouquets’, buttonholes, bridesmaids fascinators, table plans and markers, and bookmark place-settings (for which they’d chosen an individual quote for each guest) – and Tamsyn & Jamie were blown away by her imaginative ideas, and how fantastic the finished results were.
The couple also made their own centrepieces, by building stacks of books then planting artificial trees in them. Tamsyn told us “these caused a few fraught moments with midnight book-drilling and disembowelling topiary balls and trying to stuff fairy lights into them, but they were worth it in the end!” The wedding cake was blue, green, and purple cupcakes from Liggy’s Cakes described by Tamsyn as “yum!”.
Jamie hadn’t owned a full kilt outfit previously as he’d never felt comfortable in the buttoned-up traditional style, so he eagerly seized on the opportunity to put together his own style entirely. He created his own tartan, and then had his kilt made up in this newly-minted family pattern. The rest of his sleek black outfit was then designed around it.
Tamsyn told us that ceilidh band Two Left Feet were a “huge hit, and got everyone from the oldest to the youngest on their feet, with enthusiastic calling for our many novice English ceilidh-ers (bride included)! One of the best unexpected pleasures of the day was seeing all our diverse gang of family and friends dancing merrily away together.”
Other suppliers worthy of note for the couple were the Humanist celebrant Lesley who “worked with us to put together a very personal ceremony, and was a huge support and calming presence throughout” and caterers Prestige Scotland, who “not only provided fabulous food but were great in helping us plan, and in running an immaculately tight ship on the day”.
So why did Jamie and Tamsyn choose Archibald Photography? Tamsyn told us “we’re passionate about travel, and were initially captivated by Mark’s travel photography, with galleries of the sort of travel shots we’d love to have taken ourselves, if only we were that talented! Plus Archibald Photography’s ethos of reflecting the individual styles of people they work with, rather than fitting a traditional ‘wedding’ mould, really appealed. Mark is a lovely character in person as well, and we knew he’d be great at putting all our most photo-shy guests (including us occasionally!) at ease. We’re still struggling to choose favourites. There are so many beautifully dramatic ones against the RCPE’s stunning backdrops, but we also love the really personal shots that have vividly captured all our favourite moments. And there were so many of those! All the various aspects of the ceremony, including exchanging rings (and giggling as we struggle to get them on), speeches, the swordfight (and our joy and amazement afterwards that we’d actually managed to pull it off without someone losing an eye!) – and I could go on, there are countless others. Also, the way Mark’s captured all the character and personality of our wonderful families and friends. We felt carried along on a tide of their thoroughly infectious enthusiasm, and without them the day wouldn’t have been the joyful and exuberant celebration it was.”
A final note from groom Jamie who “remembers having to pinch himself throughout the day, because not only had we actually got married, but we’d done so in a way that felt entirely true to ourselves, and we and our families and friends were having a fantastic time into the bargain.”
Cheeky boy! | Wedding Photography at Fernie Castle
Monday, August 8th, 2011As I am exporting their album to send to print, I am reminded of how much I love this image of Anna and Kevin married at Fernie Castle in Fife. What a cheeky look!
Lisa & Tom’s wedding | So much love & laughter | Melville Castle
Thursday, July 21st, 2011Lisa and Tom met in a London pub and Tom proposed to Lisa two years later with a Mulberry Alexa handbag (with a ring hidden inside!) whilst on holiday in Portugal. For Lisa, that was the most perfect of proposals. The couple were married at Melville Castle as Lisa’s uncle (Robert Tait), who is a piper, had piped at Melville Castle so suggested they take a look. They just fell in love with it as “it looked so romantic” and they booked a humanist celebrant
Lisa’s dress was by Justin Alexander bought from Pretty Woman in Edinburgh. Lisa told us”it was so far from the style of dress I had in mind, I tried it on as a ‘wild card’ and felt like a princess in it. I knew it was the one when my Mum looked at me and started crying.”
Lisa’s hat was by Stephen Jones and she bought it from his shop in London. Lisa said “I wanted something really different and was inspired by one of Mark’s pictures of a bride wearing something similar. My bridesmaid, Judith, suggested I try his shop and they made it bespoke for me. They even found a brooch to pin on it to match the back of my dress. My awesome husband bought me my Jimmy Choo shoes which I adore.”
The bridesmaid dresses for the day were from Two Birds and Lisa told us “are an absolutely amazing solution to dressing your bridesmaids. They are a ‘one size fits all’ dress (really!) and can be tied in loads of different styles to suit all tastes and body shapes. I was delighted with them and thought the girls looked beautiful.”. Lisa’s friend Kari-Ann Johnston did her make-up and the bridesmaid’s make-up was by Carole Miles. Lisa’s cousin, Kirstie Tait, did all the bridesmaid’s hair.
Tom and his best man wore suits from Reiss and their usher (Lisa’s brother Callum) wore a kilt from The Kilt Centre.
Flowers for the day came from a florist (Val Easton) who is local to the village Lisa is from, Longniddry in East Lothian. Lisa’s bridesmaid Judith made the gorgeous cup cakes (the fact that she is a solicitor and not a cake baker makes this particularly amazing!)
Tom and Lisa’s ceilidh band were Ceilidh Experience who were “fantastic” and they also had a friend, Dan Gillan, sing and play on his guitar ‘One Day like This’ by Elbow for their first dance.
Tom’s cousin, Lewis Snitch, created their invitations which featured a design of thistles and roses picked out in their bridesmaid dresses colours. Lisa’s brother bought the couple a camcorder as a wedding gift and Tom’s other cousin, Leon Snitch, filmed the day for them.
Lisa told us “‘My mum came across Archibald Photography because of the awards you’ve won. We nearly discounted you because of the distance (we live in London so it was hard to organise our visits to Edinburgh) but Mark agreed to come and meet us in Edinburgh to make things easier for us. I immediately felt very comfortable with him which I felt would make all the difference on our big day. I didn’t want to have a photographer who would intrude too much on our day as I knew that our wedding would not be a formal affair. Mark fitted right in and everyone commented on how they didn’t even realise they were having their photographs taken. Even the staged, family shots do not look at all strained as Mark had us all laughing and feeling very comfortable. I honestly couldn’t choose a favourite image right now, I am just so happy with them all. He has captured our day perfectly and every time I look at them I am laughing, crying and remembering.”
Tom and Lisa’s themes for the day was ‘family and friends’ which is why so much of their wedding was personalised and ‘the joining of Scotland and England’ (invitations and flowers were thistles and roses). Lisa told us”we also seemed to end up with a bit of a ‘pubs’ theme as socialising features heavily in Tom and I’s lifestyle! Our table names were pubs in London that we’ve frequented over the years. We just wanted our wedding to be relaxed and fun and to be a celebration of life, our love and all our friends and family who are so very important to us. I think the fact that so many people were still up at 3am having a sing song with our friend Dan Gillan on his guitar speaks volumes!”
Here are some of our favourites for the day:
Jen, Graham and the gentle giants | Portrait Photography Glasgow
Thursday, July 21st, 2011Jen and Graham met on a blind date, set up by a mutual friend who thought they were “too alike not to be together”. They’ve been together for 7 years now.
Jen and Graham love Whitelees Windfarm. Graham studied renewable energy engineering at Uni and Whitelees is biggest windfarm in Europe. The couple watched the windfarm being built and were glad they opened it to the public. Graham has such a massive turbine obsession, he wanted to get one as a tattoo. And Jen loves them because they look like “gentle giants”.
As Jen said “the day was absolutely soaking, and by the end we were drenched, but I loved it. Was so glad I wore the wellies! Graham’s converse were soaked through. Mark was running about all excited, lying on the ground. His enthusiasm is really infectious. The wind farm was so quiet since it was pouring, and everyone that was there was in full waterproof weather gear. We love that wind farm, but we were so glad we could introduce it to someone new.”
Katharine + Guy | An Edinburgh elopement
Saturday, July 9th, 2011Mark loves to photograph an wedding elopement – so intimate and romantic! Katharine and Guy got in touch with us and asked Mark to photograph their day- they live in Australia and chose Scotland for their elopement because the wedding would still be legal back home. Apart from Guy and Katharine, the only other people involved in their day were the minister, two witnesses, Mark and two cab drivers.
Katharine’s dress & shoes were Wayne Cooper (an Australian designer). Katharine told us “it was nerve wracking traveling with them although I had chosen a dress designed to be crushed. I couldn’t pack it in my carry on because it was 5% metal – so I just had to hope the luggage didn’t get lost!”
Guy and Katharine emailed a few different churches and said “the people at St Cuthbert’s were just so lovely and welcoming and made everything so easy for us that it was easy to choose them!”
These guys loved the weather; it was raining and really foggy and according to them”so exotic” (think they could teach us Scots a few things on thinking positively about our climate!) For them, they come from years and years of drought so having wet weather was “really special but also made the wedding really feel Scottish; if we’d wanted sunshine and dry weather we would have stayed in Australia”.
Katharine told us after that it was great going round Edinburgh with Mark. She said “the photos were amazing but having him tell us all about the places we were seeing was like having a personal tour of the city as well. My shoes were impossibly high which meant Guy and I were holding hands in almost every shot (very romantic) but walking on the cobbles was challenging! One of my favourite moments was when, coming down from the Royal Mile, I took a few steps with my shoes off – the cold wet cobbles felt so good! We had a fabulous day exploring Edinburgh and we wanted to get funky shots of us all over Edinburgh (and that’s exactly what we got)!
Here are some of our favourite images:
Vintage inspired 1950s Wedding Dresses by Lindsay Fleming
Thursday, July 7th, 2011Our studio has a great location in our opinion. We are based in rural Lanarkshire but can be in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dumfries, Ayr, Stirling, Carlisle etc to photograph weddings, fashion or portraits in no time at all. We get lots of couples who live south of the border booking our wedding photography services as our studio is only 2 minutes from the M74 (the main road most people take to head south or north when planning their wedding) – and as we make great coffee, we are a much nicer stopping off point than the motorway services!
We have another major wedding supplier based within a few miles of us and that is Lindsay Fleming Couture. Their reputation was built originally on their stunning celtic wedding dress designs but they have been receiving huge attention in the last couple of years for their vintage inspired wedding dress designs. They have a range of weddings dresses based on wedding dress designs from the 1920s and the 1950s and as vintage is very much in vogue, they are well worth checking out.
Earlier this year, we did a fashion photography photoshoot of some of their newer 1950s inspired wedding dress designs using the awe inspiring venue, The Dome in Edinburgh (also available as a wedding venue). Hair and makeup was provided by the fabulous Sharon and Monica at Made-up.
Here are some of our favourite images from the fashion shoot:
Cilla + Larry | Two weddings on two different continents |Glasgow University
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011Cilla and Larry met while working in an Emergency Department in Oxford in 1998; Larry was a doctor and Cilla was a nurse on a European working holiday. Larry proposed to Cilla in April 2008, while driving through the Scottish countryside
This Scottish wedding was the second of two weddings for Larry and Cilla. The first was held in Australia, where they currently live, while the second celebration was held in chapel of Glasgow University. Larry went to Glasgow University, and several of their friends were married there previously. The couple’s reception was in Randolph Hall, adjacent to Glasgow University Chapel which Larry previously remembered as his University exam venue. Larry told us “our venue suited our small group perfectly, and we were pleased to have both the ceremony and the reception in the same location, so that our guests did not have to travel between the two. The staff at the University looked after us wonderfully – we could not have been more supported.”
Not only did the couple have two weddings but there were also two rings and two different wedding dresses for Cilla, both from Brisbane supplier, Anita’s Fashion. The Scottish outfit was a lace and beaded gown, with a matching off-the-shoulder jacket, to contend with the cold weather. The dress was teamed with raspberry coloured court shoes and a chapel-length, lace-edged mantilla veil. Cilla wore diamond drop earrings and matching bracelets. Larry wore his own Lindsay tartan kilt & plain leather sporran. Larry’s ring was a plain white-gold band, hand made by Boyce Jewellers, Queensland. Cilla ‘s two diamond wedding bands were made by Hofstay’s Jewellers, Brisbane, and feature a single amethyst and peridot, the couple’s birthstones.
When the veil was removed for the reception, Cilla had ivory silk flowers for her hair. Her ‘something old’ was a lace hankie that her mother had carried on her wedding day, ‘something new’ were the bracelets, ‘something borrowed’ was a diamante wrist cuff which adorned the stem of the bouquet and ‘something blue’ was a sapphire and gold pendant, which had belonged to the groom’s much loved aunt The pendant was also attached to the bouquet with ribbon.
Cilla’s hair was styled by Ruth Chalk of BeautifulYou and Cilla did her own make-up. Ruby Flowers provided bouquets of red roses to match the bride’s shoes, with tulips, lavender and red berries, bound with the groom’s family tartan ribbon. The boys and fathers wore roses, berries and eucalyptus. The mothers wore corsages of orchids to match their outfits. Eucalyptus was included in all arrangements, to represent the bride’s Australian heritage. Church and table arrangements were tall arrangments of the same flowers, with fairy-lights woven through twigs. These arrangements were tied so that the guests could take them home.
LA Wedding Cars provided a 1940′s Beardmore taxi which took the bride and her parents to the church.
The processional in both weddings was Pachelbels’s Canon in d minor – played by string quartet in Australia and on a pipe organ in Glasgow. Glasgow had been preceded by fanfare from Te Deum – played at the start of Eurovision song contest. Both Cilla’s parents walked her down the aisle.
The wedding cake was provided by Top Tier and was a triple stacked gingerbread cake (groom’s favourite) with ivory icing, silk roses and lace detail. Larry’s aunt Morag had passed away at the start of 2010 and she had always planned to provide the couple’s wedding cake. To remember her, Larry and Cilla had a framed photo of her beside the cake. The harpist booked for the wedding unfortunately had to cancel at last minute due to a family illness so the dining music was supplied by iPod with music from the couple’s Australian wedding. Larry told us “We had had a music failure in Australia, so we couldn’t come into our reception to our planned music – Sigur Rόs ‘Hopipolla’ (Theme from Planet Earth). Because our Glasgow musician couldn’t make it, we were able to come into the second reception to this music.” Later in the evening, ceilidh band Benachally provided the entertainment. Larry told us “they were concerned to see a fairly small group in a fairly small room, but everyone had a fantastic time”.
Cilla and Larry told us that they “got a copy of the Scottish Wedding Directory and checked out the websites of every single photographer. Mark of Archibald Photography was one of the first we looked at but we kept coming back to it after going through them all – we liked the look of his work.”
Larry and Cilla describe their day as “magical”. As they said “not everything went the way we planned, but everything felt just the way the way it should have been.”
Susie + Paul | Mavis Hall Park | A beautiful wedding in the rain
Friday, June 17th, 2011Many of our clients ask us “what will we do if it rains on our wedding day”and with this in mind, I’d like to show you the lovely Susie and Paul’s wedding photography from Mavis Hall Park. These images answer that question completely – if it rains, it’s all still part of the story and you’ll have just as much fun. Susie and Paul’s wedding guests donned their wellies and brollies and trekked through fields down to a marquee at the lochside through a torrential downpour – check out the smiles!
Susie and Paul originally met through Susie’s brother Matt, who was Paul’s boss at the time. They had met a few times at the pub and always got on really well, talking mostly about snowboarding! They got together over seven years ago after Susie had gone with Matt to a paintballing day organised by his work. Paul came to the pub after to meet his colleagues and when Susie headed off to a club Paul quickly followed. They spent the rest of the night in this club laughing.
Paul proposed to Susie in New York in December two and a half years ago. He had whisked her away for her 30th birthday and had already bought the ring, so it was just a case of deciding when to propose. He thought about doing it on the plane but was a little nervous that if she said no it would be an awkward 9 hours and 3 day trip. They got to New York and Paul thought about proposing at so many different points and bottled it each time, it got to day 2 and time was running out and the plan was to do a spot of shopping and then head to Central Park, so Paul thought – perfect I’ll propose in Central Park – ideally romantic albeit a little unplanned. As they walked down Susie thought he was acting strange, squeezing her hand really tight and not saying much but just thought he was distracted by how much he’d just spent on a new watch! They went and sat on the grass by the lake in Central Park and within 5 minutes Susie got restless and became a bit grumpy that they weren’t ‘achieving’ much. So she suggested they went for a wander and a coffee, but Paul was reluctant, he was determined that this was the place and was building himself up to it. And as his behavior got stranger Susie says she started to realise what was going on and thought ‘oh wow’. And then he rolled over onto both knees in the mud and said ‘you know I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, will you marry me’ and produced the beautiful ring. Through her sobs Susie said yes.
The couple chose Scotland for their wedding because Paul was born and spent his childhood in Selkirk and Susie was born in Dumfries and, although her family moved south when she was still very young she spent all her holidays in Powfoot, where her grandparents lived, until she was in her twenties. Scotland is very close to both of their hearts. They wanted a venue which felt relaxed and informal and could offer a real Scottish feel – they only looked at one venue and totally fell in love with it. Mavis Hall Park is a family run farm that has been converted for events. The couple first saw the barns and loved their character (especially the hens that greet you as you arrive) and inside they thought they were such a perfect blank canvas. Then Fiona, the owner, took them down to the loch to show them where we could get married and they were totally blown away. It was so beautiful and Susie and Paul just remember standing there in awe and all they could hear were birds.
The wedding party (family and close friends) stayed at Dalhousie Castle the day before and the night of the wedding. Dalhousie gave them the Orangery Restaurant for exclusive use for the night before the wedding, which is in a lovely conservatory overlooking the grounds. Nearly 30 of their family and friends took over the restaurant and had a lovely meal to kick start the celebrations, and according to Susie “it felt amazing having all our family and closest friends with us”.
Susie told us that “the wedding day was just amazing. Calling it the ‘best day of your life’ sounds clichéd but it was just brilliant, we had so much fun. Both Dalhousie Castle and Mavis Hall Park were perfect and were a perfect combination for us: we got to stay in a beautiful castle but we had the wedding in a character filled farm whose relaxed and intimate feel was more ‘us’ than a the formal setting of the castle. The ceremony was so lovely, really relaxed. We loved that everyone was stood, gathered around us, some with a beer in their hand, watching us make special promises to one another. Mavis Hall Park was the perfect venue, so many of our guests told us they thought it was an incredible place – they were blown away by how beautiful it was down by the loch, how cool the barns were and just how well run everything was. Fiona and her team are so professional and so lovely, they couldn’t do enough for us and they organised the day to perfection. And there were no complaints from Fiona when she received last minute emails about giant balloons and surprise guests on the day! We couldn’t recommend Mavis Hall highly enough.”
Susie’s dress was called Paris and was designed by Forget Me Not, a British design team based on the Isle of Wight. Susie said “I knew I didn’t want anything too ‘traditional’ and I tended to be drawn to material rather than shape – anything vintage looking and lacey. I had been to a few shops with my bridesmaids, including vintage wedding dress shops in London where I had tried a wide range of styles on. Then I went shopping at home with my Mum and sister and my nieces. Sophia, who was about a year old at the time came for the morning and in the afternoon my older niece, Anneliese (who was four at the time) came. Lynn, my sister and I, were looking through the dresses on a rail and pulled out this dress which was just the most beautiful material – it was a creamy, champagne gold colour and lacey. Because Lynn is almost 6 foot and I am about 5 foot 5 we couldn’t work out how long the dress was – it looked long for me but super short for Lynn. Anyway, before I tried anything on I said to Anneliese ‘just tell me if you think I look pretty, if you don’t think I do it doesn’t matter just say so but if you think I do look pretty say Aunty Susie I like this one’. So I tried three or four other dresses on and walked out the dressing room to show my Mum, Lynn and Anneliese who were sat at the end of the mirrors and Anneliese said ‘no, no, no’ to each one. Then I walked out in the dress I ended up getting and she just said ‘yes, that’s the one’ and punched the air! Then she fell asleep for the afternoon. Job done!
There is a lot of pressure to find ‘the one’ all I knew is that I loved the dress because I couldn’t stop smiling when I was wearing it. There were other dresses that I thought were gorgeous but I just felt really special in Paris. The style of the dress ‘fitted’ our venue and our plans for a day that would be fun, relaxed and informal. I loved the full skirt and the length was perfect for our day which was going to be spent on grass and walking through woods! I absolutely loved the detail too – the belt was unusual and the whole look made the dress have a vintage feel, which is what I wanted. I kept coming back to Paris and when I took my bridesmaids, Annie (my sister) and Kate (my friend), and my mother in law June they all loved it. Everywhere I tried on the dress it was almost a perfect fit, so I decided to see if I could get hold of a sample. I looked online for suppliers and phoned around shops that were within an hour of my parents house in Birmingham and my flat in London. I eventually got it from a shop in Ironbridge, near Telford, called ‘She’. Angie, the owner offered me a great deal and was just so lovely and a total perfectionist.”
Susie decided against a veil, as “it just didn’t feel very me. I wanted something again that was informal and relaxed so I found a gold flower in a haberdashery shop in London, I just used grips to put it in my hair.” Susie made her bracelet from two small pearl bracelets that she had bought when she was a bridesmaid for her best friend. She told us “I bought some small ribbon bows from a craft shop, sewed one onto the bracelets and then attached a locket that my best friend had bought for me before the wedding. I put a picture of my mum and my dad in. My parents died when I was younger so it was important to have them near to me on the day. I also wore my Mum’s engagement ring. It upset me putting it on on the day, as it was a reminder that she couldn’t be with me, but I loved having it on too knowing that my mum was wearing the same ring on her special day.”
Susie borrowed her earrings from her sister Annie. Susie’s sister had bought them in New York for her wedding. Susie said “I was blown away when I saw them, they were so beautiful and looked amazing in her photos. I was a little nervous asking but Annie was so happy to let me borrow them.”
A humanist ceremony was chosen by the couple and the celebrant was Ivan Middleton. Susie told us “when we first met Ivan we thought he was lovely and on the day our guests thought he was great, really funny. We really believed in the humanist values of love and respect and loved that we could make the ceremony really personal by writing most of it.
Susie knew she would prefer smaller heels, as she said she is “not brilliant at walking in sky scrapers, and given I would be walking on grass and cobbles I thought I had to be a bit practical. Had I known that I would wear wellies for that part of the day I wouldn’t have worried! My dress shop recommended Rachel Simpson shoes so I looked online. I ended up getting them on ebay and absolutely loved them. But I had really wanted bows on the front of my shoes to go with the whole 50’s style of the dress, so I went to an amazing vintage wedding shop in London called ‘Fur Coat No Knickers’ and they sewed gorgeous little ivory bows on the shoes for me. I loved them. As I said, I ended up wearing wellies for most of the day. To cut a long story short, it was raining we wanted to keep the ceremony outside and I was told everyone was wearing wellies down at the loch so I thought ‘well if they are I probably should’. Luckily my friend works for Hunters and, as a wedding gift, bought me a gorgeous pair of pink wellies. They looked great against the cream of the dress. Lots of people since have commented on how much they liked the welly look. At least it meant my feet didn’t hurt and I could dance in my heels all night.”
Susie and Paul’s adult bridesmaids wore cornflower blue dresses from Coast. As soon as Susie saw the colour, she knew it would be perfect. They chose their own gold shoes and jewellery and both looked gorgeous. The couple also had 3 flowergirls – Susie’s niece, Anneliese, and Paul’s niece Amelia both wore cream and Susie’s little niece Sophia wore pink. They were all brilliant and very cute.
Lynne Deherdt did Susie’s make up and her and a lovely lady called Agneshka did the make up for the bridesmaids, the mothers and my sister. Agneshka also did our nails. Susie did her own hair. She told us “I was a little nervous about it as I hadn’t really had much time to practice. But it was fine, I just curled it with straighteners and my sister, Annie, helped me get it right.”
Susie had a meeting with her florist, Fiona Cumming at her home in Edinburgh and they talked about what she wanted. They settled on blue hydrangeas and large cream roses for Susie and bright pink peonies and cream roses for the older bridesmaids. Susie then wanted lots of petals to put into little baskets she had bought for the little bridesmaids. Susie told us “The table centres were jugs, that I had bought from a market local to me, with jam jars dotted around. I asked Fiona to use any flowers that looked relaxed, bright and pretty. These placed in the jugs and then individual stems were put into the jam jars. It looked so pretty when they were all together on the day.”
Paul wore a grey spirit kilt, but with a relaxed approach and socks down. Black and grey kilt, black shirt, black waistcoat and grey jacket. Susie gave Paul some cufflinks on the morning of the wedding, which were steering wheels – he loves cars. Paul’s best man and the ushers all wore the same as Paul – even Paul’s English friends were made to wear a kilt and no pants were allowed.
The couple chose not to have a cake as there wasn’t anything they wanted. Similarly, they chose not to have favours as Susie said “we didn’t want to do them for the sake of it when we couldn’t think of anything interesting or relevant to do for them.” Susie and Paul hired a Bentley GTC for 5 days and drove it from London to their venue and back again which they summed up as an “amazing experience”. A friend had recommended Premier Velocity in Ware, England.
The couple had Scottish slang as the table names, like “Merrit”, “Haud yer weesht” and “blootered” and bird cages hanging from the old beams in the barns. Susie and her new mother in law decorated the bird cages with ivy (from the florist), paper flower garlands and small sequined birds. Ivy and fairy lights were wrapped around the pillars in the barn.
Susie and Paul bought the rings from Dominic Carr of London, again recommended by a friend They would recommend him to anyone buying rings in London as he provided “a very individual personal experience”.
The couple’s piper (Kenny Patterson) piped Susie down the aisle and then stood behind the marquee playing relaxed bag pipe tunes. Then after the ceremony, they had highland games for all our guests including games for the kids. This was organised by Mavis Hall and was “brilliant fun”. Luckily the sunshine came out just in time for them.
Susie and Paul asked friends and family to video the day, and they told us “they have produced an amazing record of the day for us. We asked some good friends to walk round and take Polaroid shots of everyone, which we have since stuck onto the frame we used as a table plan on the day. We also set up a video camera in a room upstairs in the barns, and we asked all our guests to make a little speech giving 3 words about Paul and 3 words about Susie and a message to send us on our way. This after a couple of drinks was highly amusing and a lovely keepsake. We intended to do one too but didn’t get the time.” Susie and Paul hired a live band called Wildcard which they said “were great. They played lots of up to date music and some old classics. They also included some Scottish dancing sporadically throughout the night. It got everyone up on the dance floor, and the choice to have it in between the other songs was a good call, as it was tiring for some of the older guests (and us!). Our first dance was a song called State of mind by Goldie, a nice relaxed drum and bass tune with heart felt lyrics are really relevant to us. We asked the band to play ‘500 miles’ by The Proclaimers as soon as our first dance was finished to get everyone jumping around on the dance floor. It worked!”
Susie and Paul told us that they first saw Archibald Photography online and “just thought their photos were amazing. We then made a swift trip to a wedding fair and met Donna and Mark there. We were really impressed with their work and really liked Mark which is something people always say is important for your photographer. We have so many favourite images, we can’t choose one! We love the one of the two of us holding hands, where you can’t see our heads! We also love the ones in the woods, with Paul holding the balloon the colours are amazing. And the picture of us in the distance holding hands in front of the cool house and large tree. And also the one of us kissing with Susie holding the umbrella under the trees. Oh and the one of the little girls holding the baskets. And the ones of the boys in front of the castle and the ones of Susie with her bridesmaids. There really are too many.”
When we asked Susie and Paul about the best part of their day, they told us “everything! The relaxed ceremony, amazing Mavis Hall venue, the friendly staff, the lochside wedding, the highland games, the spit hog roast, the live band. Weirdly the rain made the day, we loved that our guests were happy to take their shoes/stiletto’s off and put on wellies to walk down to the loch side under their umbrellas, which they have since told us felt cosy. It also meant that the ceremony felt intimate because everyone was huddled round, although we were pleased to see the sunshine coming out just after we were married. Oh and one other thing – the last dance! The band surprised us with ‘you take the high road’ and Paul and I danced and jumped around in the middle of a circle of all our family and friends holding hands – it felt so amazing, a very happy ‘moment’.
We had so many worries before the wedding about the weather and checked forecast hour by hour as we thought it was so important it to be dry so we could have the ceremony down by the loch. On the day it was raining and that actually made it. It certainly made it different, not many people have been to a wedding where everyone (including the bride) is wearing wellies. Everyone raved about it. So our advice is: don’t worry about the weather it definitely won’t spoil your day.”
Susie and Paul would sum their day up as “just the most fantastic day: relaxed, fun and filled with love.”
Jane and Neil | Chatelherault Country Park | Portrait Photography
Friday, June 10th, 2011Like a lot of couples I photograph Jane & Neil were a bit nervous about having their picture taken. No need. They did a great job of just being themselves and very quickly relaxed in front of the camera when they realised it was actually good fun! I had a great laugh with them. They are such nice people and I can’t wait for the main event!
Here are some of our favourites:
Lisa and Keith | Western House | Ayrshire Wedding Photographer
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011Keith and Lisa met at secondary school where they were good friends throughout. However, they never got together until they had both started university and as Lisa laughed and told us she “finally gave in to his pestering!”
For Lisa’s birthday in January 2010, Keith had arranged a long weekend in Paris. Lots of people automatically assumed that after being together for almost 7 years he was planning the romantic trip to pop the question and several asked Lisa if she thought that was the case. Her response was always the same “no chance would he be able to have something up his sleeve without me knowing about it!”.
On their last night after having visited the sterotypical romantic Parisian hotspots with no proposal, Lisa figured that she was correct. She told us “we must’ve walked half way around Paris trying to find a restaurant that had been recommended to us to no avail. It was a Friday night and everywhere was packed and unbeknown to me Keith was starting to panic that with my aching feet and rumbling tummy, tonight would not be the best time to ask. Eventually we found a lovely restaurant, had a delicious meal and shared a bottle of wine (I still maintain he needed this Dutch courage to take the plunge!). We were on a street that ran parallel to the river Seine so after dinner decided to go for a walk. Keith was thinking that it might be romantic to propose on the banks of the river however when we got there he soon realised that the row of tramps who had pitched their tents there may ruin the mood! We were not far from Notre Dame which was beautifully lit with the Christmas tree still at the front of it. We sauntered over and once we reached it I was busy snapping away with our camera when I turned round to find Keith down on one knee. My surprise grew when I opened the ring box to find the tackiest ever looking huge “diamond” ring. Keith kept a straight face as I told him I loved it before he finally burst out laughing and admitted it cost £20 from Argos! Nonetheless I wore my Elizabeth Duke ring with pride as we went out for drinks to celebrate…..only to realise later that night that the stone had fallen out it! Thankfully I was able to pick a more tasteful ring on our return to Glasgow the next day….and the stone remains in it!”
Lisa and Keith got married at the Western House Hotel in Ayr which they found when looking online. They had visited about 4 or 5 venues at that point without much luck and were keen to get something booked. Lisa loved the look of the main house building which she says was “full of character”. The house also appealed to them because as Lisa recalled “you could hold a fairly big wedding there and it still felt intimate because you can pretty much take over the hotel. The number of rooms was also a bonus for us because none of our guests were local to Ayr. On visiting the hotel we were certain it was for us when we met the friendly staff who all seemed laid back but efficient. Exactly what we were after!”
Lisa found her dress in a bridal shop in Glasgow and fell in love with it although she said “I struggled with the price tag!” After a bit of research she found that a shop in Doune called Charlotte Grace also stocked Sassi Holford‘s dresses and after speaking with the owner, Carol, she knew that she would be getting her dress from her shop. Lisa told us “the difference in customer service was huge, Carol made everything so much more personal and went out of her way to suggest accessories and possible hairstyles and the added bonus was that the price was slightly less because she doesn’t have the same overheads as city centre stores. Cannot recommend her highly enough!”
Lisa’s full length veil was also Sassi Holford so it matched the tulle of her skirt perfectly. Lisa absolutely loved it even though it did cause no end of problems on the dancefloor as it kept getting tangled round Keith’s ankles!
Lisa’s shoes were from online store called Perdita’s Wedding Shoes and she added the embellishment to jazz them up a bit. Lisa said “they were so comfy that I’m having them dyed for when I’m bridesmaid to my bridesmaid Jacqueline later this year.”
Lisa’s hair was done by her hairdresser Lisa from James Hughes Hairdressers in Glasgow who came out to her Dad’s house the morning of the wedding as did Laura Dawson who did the make up. Lisa found Laura from searching online and had left it pretty last minute so was lucky that she had their date free!
Lisa’s friend Dawn works at Ruby Flowers on Hyndland Road in Glasgow and Lisa said “I knew she would come up with original flowers that I would love. All I asked was for bright, colourful, seasonal flowers that didn’t look too structured. My only other request was that some peacock feathers were randomly and discreetly tucked into the flowers because I love the colours in them. I was thrilled on the morning of the wedding when I saw what she had come up with. Our bouquets were set off by some photo charms which I had asked Dawn to hang from the stems of the flowers. My Mum passed away 18 months before our wedding and I wanted to include her in a subtle way so that she would be with us. I found the photo charms on the Etsy website and was delighted with how they turned out. My bouquet together with those of my two bridesmaids had a photograph of my Mum with each of us hanging from it so that she was with each of us in some way on the day of the wedding.”
The couple got their cake from Marks & Spencer and had 3 different tiers – one chocolate, one sponge and one fruit.
Keith already had his kilt before the wedding but decided that he would like a different jacket for the wedding. Lisa told us” I suspect he felt left out because I had a new dress!” The couple got the ‘Crail’ jackets for Keith and his best man, brother Alistair from Slanj in Glasgow.
Lisa and Keith hired a pianist called Alex Graham to play as their guests arrived, throughout the ceremony and at their drinks reception. Lisa told us “Alex also played in the background throughout our meal which was a real talking point for our guests. He plays by ear so he was taking requests from our guests throughout the day which proved highly entertaining….everything from Daft Punk to the Home and Away theme tune was played!” Lisa walked down the aisle to Pachebel’s Canon played by Alex.
Keith and Lisa found Archibald Photography from searching online and told us they “loved the informal shots on the website. It was important for us to have minimal time spent away from our guests having ‘posed’ photos taken and after meeting with Mark we were confident that would not be the case. Mark was fantastic on the day and not at all intrusive. When we got to see our photos we couldn’t believe how many there was as we really weren’t aware of them being taken. I think we were away from our guests for a total of 15 minutes on the day and yet there are so many great photos that you wouldn’t think so!”
Lisa also added “I love the photos of me getting ready at the hotel with the girls and was great to see photos of Keith pretending to be calm before I arrived. The photos of the two of us under the tree having a giggle are favourites as are the sequence of pics on the dancefloor with Keith tripping up over my veil….comedy gold! Some cracking shots of the dancing as the night goes on and the drinks are flowing….we definitely have plenty material for blackmailing now!”
Lisa said as corny as it sounds, it’s difficult for them to say what the best thing about their day was….they loved it all! As she recalled “It was great just to see all our friends and family in the one room having a good time. I think after the ceremony was over and the formalities had been dealt with we both loved having a chance to chat to everyone and throw some shapes!”
Lisa continued “I almost wish something had gone wrong just so that my answers made for a better read but everything went like clockwork….annoyingly! Oh in fact, both of our Dads in their infinite wisdom rearranged the place settings at the top table before everyone took their seats for the meal. The wedding coordinator was lining the wedding party up in the correct order before entering the ballroom when the confusion set in! So I suppose if you can call the wedding party getting the wrong favours something that didn’t work out as planned, that’s as scandalous as it got!”
Lisa and Keith’s band were a 3 piece called “Franco” and they found them through the Music for Scotland website. They provisionally booked the band and then went to one of the wedding band showcases that Music for Scotland had arranged at the Classic Grand in Glasgow which they said was a great night! Lisa told us”they sounded just as they did online and we loved the fact that they had a bit of banter with the crowd. Although they played a wide range of tunes, we loved their rockier stuff which was up our street so we booked them that night. Franco were playing at a friend’s wedding the month before our big day and thankfully we enjoyed them just as much as we did the first time we heard them. Our dancefloor was full the entire night and everyone commented on how good the band were. Loved them, loved them, loved them!”
Franco played a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls “Slide” for Lisa and Keith’s first dance. It was a song which was around when the couple were at school; they both loved it and still do. Lisa told us “we have seen the Goo Goo Dolls several times in recent years and the song always reminds us of when we were young pups at school nervously chatting about what songs we liked!”
Lisa and Keith would summarise their day as “surreal yet awesome!”
For Mark, he enjoying providing Lisa and Keith with fun and chilled feel to their photography. His favourite part of the day was watching Lisa and Keith really let their hair down in the evening and made for some great images. There are some lovely sequences in this wedding…dancing between the tables into the first dance for example. As the night moved on, the music got louder, the dancefloor got wilder and Keith found it increasingly difficult to stop stepping on Lisa’s veil…
Barbara and Bob’s wedding photojournalism | Dalmunzie Castle | Wedding Photography Perthshire
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011When I photograph an event with only a handful of guests I like to spend some time talking and getting to know the people I’m taking pictures of. I want people to always be comfortable with me. This makes them easier to photograph and I get to meet some really cool people into the bargain! Barbara and Bob and every single one of their guests were the coolest, most interesting people I could ever have spent a day with. I enjoyed documenting their day as a story. The minutes without laughter were few and far between. The ceremony had laughter, tears and tears of laughter. These were genuinely funny people with a real passion for Scottish scones. You can’t find a decent scone in the whole of California apparently.
I went to the pub with them after the ceremony at Dalmunzie Castle and had a riotous meal at the Strathardle Inn. We changed into comfy clothes (I took off my jacket). A special single cask, numbered bottle of Edradour later and all the stories flooded out. These guys are rocket scientists. No, really! Bob was designer on the Space Shuttle engine. Then a walk and sad goodbye. Keep in touch guys.
For me the purest form of wedding photography is photojournalism. Documentary, storytelling photography where the photographer is an observer capturing real moments rather than setting them up. Don’t get me wrong, I get a real kick out of directing a shot you know is going to make them go ‘wow’ when they see it. The most affecting pictures for me are just a still frame in the movie of the wedding. Expressions of emotion between people can be impossibly beautiful because they are so real. A really good documentary photograph should make you hear the laughter or taste the whisky. And if it is good enough it will still make them go ‘wow’.
Here’s a slideshow of our favourites (turn down the volume if your boss is near!):
Photodocumentary of Nuala Kennedy’s rehearsal | Music Photography Scotland
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011A recent project for Mark was documenting a rehearsal of Nuala Kennedy and her band at Banana Row. For Mark, it was a real treat to be in the company of such talented musicians and a privilege to be allowed to melt into the background and document them rehearsing and working on new material.
This slideshow is set to Nuala’s music (so turn down the volume if at work!)
Slideshow to “The Waves of the Silvery Tide” by Nuala Kennedy (with vocals also by Bonnie Prince Billy)
Scottish Master Photographer Association Awards 2011
Monday, May 9th, 2011We have just returned from the Scottish Master Photographer Association Awards at Dunblane Hydro. The day began with an awe inspiring seminar by Andy Earl who has had a hugely successful career within the international music business shooting cover images for over 120 sleeves and videos for musicians such as The Rolling Stones.
Then Mark was bobbing up and down from his seat fairly regularly collecting four Certificate of Merits and two Awards of Excellence across various categories. Here are the images which were awarded:
Certificate of Merit in Fashion & Glamour:
(Dress by Lindsay Fleming)
Certificate of Merit – Classical Wedding:
Certificate of Merit – Monochrome:
Certificate of Merit – Complete Wedding:
Award of Excellence – Fashion & Glamour:
(Dress by Lindsay Fleming)
Award of Excellence – Reportage Wedding:
Lucy and Martyn | Pre Wedding Portrait Photography | Edinburgh
Thursday, May 5th, 2011Lucy and Martyn get married next month; a lovely couple very much in love. Their wedding promises to be very cool with the stunning Dirleton Castle and some utterly gorgeous Papakata tents. Mark is struggling to wait for this wedding to come around.
He met up with Lucy and Martyn to discuss the wedding plans and take a few images of them on a beach which is very special to them both. Shortly after these photographs were taken, the heavens opened and they had to run to shelter in their cars. But not to worry, Mark had managed to get some great shots – here are some of our favourites:
Gillian and David | The Cruin | Wedding Photography at Loch Lomond
Friday, April 15th, 2011Gillian and David are the loveliest of couples and we loved spending time with them. David and Mark particularly hit it off with lots of shared interests – in fact, planning meetings tended to involve more chat about travel and cycling than about the actual wedding!
Gillian and David met through friends while ice skating at the Time Capsule! They had actually been at quite a few of the same events but that was where they finally met. David proposed to Gill on Christmas day 2008 when they were together in their first flat. He bought a ‘To my Wife’ card and wrote the proposal inside. David had wanted to propose at the top of a mountain in Glencoe but he decided he didn’t want to wait until summer.
The couple chose Baldernock Church because Gill grew up in the parish. She went to the local school which she recalls “is so small that they had to have our services in the church as we didn’t have an assembly hall! Its the only church I have connections with and is also a very picturesque wee church (although not the easiest to photograph I’ve been told!)” Gill walked in to Caledonia (piped by the very talented John McSorland) and we were piped out to Mairi’s Wedding.
The wedding flowers were organised by a friend of the family. Gill chose the the flowers because she had a bit of a daisy theme going on. As she recalled “I told Carol the kind of thing I was after and was delighted with what she did in all the flowers – church, bouquets etc! I really wanted bright flowers for the girls. They were gorgeous!”
Gill wore a Suzanne Neville dress called ‘Fontaines’. She told us “I got my dress in the Perfect Bridal Rooms in Aberdeen (my mum lives there). I liked the dress mainly because it was simple and elegant. I tried on lots of different dresses and quickly decided that sparkles etc weren’t for me. I’m very much a jeans and t-shirt girl so I had to feel comfortable. The assistant, Fleur actually picked the dress out and I didn’t feel it had much hanger appeal but tried it on to be polite – I put it on and loved it!”
Gill also had a chapel length veil with lace trim and loved it! She said “My friend is using it as her something borrowed and I’m so proud! I got it in Perfect Bridal Rooms too but not sure of the make. I wore Emmy shoes (when I didn’t have my trainers on!) which were very comfy, a simple hair clasp and a single pearl necklace/earrings.” Gill’s good friend Nikki (Hair by Nicola) did her hair and another friend Victoria, who is a beautician, did her make up.
David’s kilt was from Slanj in Glasgow
Gill and David chose the stunning location of The Cruin because they wanted somewhere on Loch Lomond. Loch Lomond is somewhere David spent a lot of time growing up and they have spent much time together as a couple there too. Gill told us “The Cruin was perfect for us. They were so laid back, there was no agenda it was just as we wanted it. Loads of guests commented on how relaxed it was. It was perfect.”
And the cake supplier? Well, that was Gill’s mum. Gill told us “Mum used to do it professionally so was an obvious choice! She does wedding cupcakes now – My Sweet Memories.”
The couple felt they were really lucky with their suppliers, as they were all really good. Gill told us “The jewellers we used were great. My ring was made by Lava Jewellery, Dave’s ring was made by Rab Gordon and his cufflinks were made by Islay Spalding. All of them had beautiful and different stuff and their service was fantastic. Corrine Smith Design made the bridesmaids hair accessories – they were lovely and again the service was excellent.”
Gill said she chose Archibald Photography because she liked Mark! She said “There were lots of good photographers and I spoke to three that really caught my eye (one being Mark). I just thought Mark was nice and laid back and I thought Dave would get on well with him which would make him more comfortable. I looked on his website and saw that he had been to some countries Dave had been to and thought his photos were interesting and original. Additionally, my friend told me she had been at a wedding mark had photographed and said that he worked really quickly and her friends album was gorgeous. That really appealed to me – I didn’t want to spend hours being photographed, I wanted to spend the time with our guests!”
I asked Gill what her favourite image taken on the day was but she hated the question! She told me “I love so many! I love the photo of me with Rupert (Gill’s horse), the ones of Dave and I at the end of the pier (especially the one with my veil blowing) and the one just as we were going into the church and Kirsty, Pamela and I are looking up at Mark – I love the colours in that one. My mum likes the one of me through the back window of the car. I love the confetti ones too. I’m ranting now – next question!!”
House Band were the couple’s evening entertainment and as Gill said “as far as I know they went down a storm! Dance floor seemed busy anyway!”. The couple’s first dance was ‘Baby I’m Yours’ by the Arctic Monkeys. Gill told us “We chose this cos we liked it and it was short (Dave has 2 left feet), although it backfired cos the band did an extended version!”
There is usually something on a wedding day that doesn’t go 100% to plan and on Gill and Dave’s day, something pretty funny happened. The hotel they were booked to stay at on their wedding night allocated them a twin room! Gill laughed and recalled “They were pretty mortified and put us in the most beautiful suite the following night! It wasn’t their fault – just a misunderstanding because there were so many rooms booked! I thought it was hilarious!”
Dave and Gill told us that the best thing about their day was having all their friends and family together but also according to Gill “doing things our way, wearing my trainers when I wanted, taking the dog out and getting 5 mins time out in the morning to contemplate the day, and obviously getting married.” They would sum up the day as “fun, fun, fun!”
Niccie and David | Hoscote House | Edinburgh Wedding Photography
Thursday, April 7th, 2011In February this year, Mark had the lovely experience of photographing Niccie and David’s wedding. A gorgeous, friendly couple; Mark came home and said it was more like being a guest at their wedding than a photographer. He even got to join them for a pint of beer as they had brought a keg of their local brew with them for their guests.
Niccie and David met at a 1974 themed fancy dress party for a friend’s 30th. Niccie was wearing a ‘Margot from the Good Life’ inspired maxi dress and David was dressed in a kilt (as apparently they wore them in 1974 too)!
David proposed in Mount Cook national park in New Zealand. The couple had been on a helicopter trip around the summit of Mount Cook and landed on the Tasman Glacier. Niccie was petrified (not being the best flyer) and when they landed David proposed. Still in shock at having survived the journey and a detour by the pilot to show David a “close up” of the route to the summit, she asked him three times if he was joking!
Niccie’s paternal grandmother was a Dunbar before she married and her dad had purchased a kilt in the family tartan many years before. As David and Niccie wanted a small wedding, they decided to incorporate Niccie’s Scottish heritage and search around Dunbar and the borders. Having narrowed the choice down to 4 venues, the couple spent a weekend in Scotland looking around them. They went to Hoscote House for their first appointment and after meeting Lindsey, Lonnie and Maureen and taking in the stunning house and grounds, they didn’t really want to see any of the other venues; they both fell in love with the location straight away.
David and Niccie had a couple of days relaxing at the house before their guests joined us – the whole weekend was a great success with 18 guests in total. Guests arrived on the Friday night so that those who didn’t already know each other could get chatting. By the Saturday everyone was very relaxed and the day went to plan. Niccie and David were provided with a wedding planner by Hoscote House and would recommend Lindsey Hunter to any couple planning their wedding. According to Niccie, “She was amazing. From start to finish she helped us through the whole planning process and was always at the end of the phone or an e-mail with advice or suggestions. Her attention to detail and organisational skills are something else! The whole weekend went so well and had such a relaxed feel because of all the planning that she made sure went into it beforehand.”
Niccie wore a Cymbeline Dubai dress. which she purchased from The Wedding Shop in Alderley Edge, Cheshire. Niccie tried on lots of dresses but knew she hadn’t found ‘the one’. She knew the style she wanted and when she tried this dress, she fell in love with it. As Niccie told us “The ladies at the shop were all so helpful and they had a wonderful dress fitter who altered my dress slightly from the original and also made a bolero jacket for the ceremony and having photos outside as I knew February in Scotland was going to be cold! It was a vintage style dress and made of very delicate Parisian lace. There were a few tiny sequins dotted around it which gave it a little sparkle which I thought was nice for a winter wedding.”
Niccie and David gave Niccie’s Dad a gift of a gorgeous pocket watch. He was completely delighted.
Niccie’s shoes were from Bourne; she saw them in an old wedding magazine and managed to track them down on the internet. They were lace too which carried on the theme from the dress.
Niccie had bought 12 small clips to go into her hair but as she told us “when Katherine did my hair trial she said as I had so much hair I needed a statement piece in there too so I bought a large vintage pearl hair clip too. My necklace was a pearl from Tiffany which David bought a few Christmases ago and so was my something old too. He also bought me earrings and a bracelet which he gave me on the day to go with the necklace and they were my something new. I borrowed a lace handkerchief off my mum with her initial in blue and that covered the something borrowed and something blue.”
Niccie did her own make up and she, Emma and her Mum had our hair done by Katherine Milby. Niccie said “She did a terrific job and was a massive help on the day fetching glasses of water and opening windows to calm nerves!”
Lindsey Hunter from Get Knotted (who was also the couple’s wedding planner through Hoscote) did the flowers too. Niccie had lots of ideas for a winter themed wedding and knew she wanted dark reds and oranges with berries for a winter feel. Niccie left the ideas with Lindsey and she took it from there. Niccie said “Lindsey prepared 2 large displays for the entrance hall which were stunning. We took 5 large glass cubes up to her months before and she filled these with a display exactly as I had seen in a magazine. I wanted people to be able to see each other around the flowers when they were sat at the table! My bouquet had diamantes in each rose and she added a bit of sparkle to the mum’s button holes too. She did a particularly fantastic job of finding red roses on budget so close to Valentines Day!”
The couple’s cake was from The Cake Partnership. They saw exactly what they wanted on their website and Lindsey arranged fresh flowers on the cake for them. David and Niccie knew they wanted a fruit cake and as David is partial to the odd whisky they asked for whisky to be added to it. The Cake Partnership delivered the cake to Hoscote House on the Friday evening before the wedding.
Niccie and David also used the services of Meldon Catering who prepared sandwiches at midday, canapés and the wedding breakfast and also a buffet later on. They also provided the waitress service. Niccie reported that “the food and was fantastic, especially the sticky toffee pudding for dessert.
David hired his suit and suits for the Ushers from John Douglas in Macclesfield who were very accommodating as one of the Ushers needed to travel across from North Wales for his fitting. David’s cravat was burgundy similar to Emma’s bridesmaid dress and the Ushers both had cream as a contrast.
The couple arranged a piper (Roddie) recommended by Hoscote to play for 30 minutes before the ceremony and he also piped Niccie into the ceremony to Scottish Cathedral. David had quite a long chat with him about the state of Scottish rugby!
The couple had the rings delivered by an owl. Funnily, in the practice he behaved perfectly but during their ceremony, the owl flew into the room and then threw the rings at the couple, which hit the floor with quite a whollop making everyone laugh. Niccie also recalled that “In the madness of packing up on the Sunday, we also managed to leave our wedding cake in the fridge. We had to make a detour on our way back from Aviemore to collect it and fortunately the staff at Hoscote hadn’t eaten it!”
The hunt for a photographer began for the couple when a friend of Niccie’s, who had married in Scotland a couple of years before, gave them details of some Scottish photographers. According to Niccie “We looked at a few websites but they weren’t the kind of images we wanted. We both loved Mark’s website and after e-mailing Donna and then meeting up we didn’t entertain anyone else. Mark was more than happy to discuss various photographic styles and techniques to ensure we got the pictures we wanted. He also had the approach we wanted to the day too. We didn’t want the guests being commanded to line up or corralled with a whistle as some photographers do!! All our guests commented on Mark’s relaxed approach to photographing the day afterwards and how great he had been. Most of the time we weren’t even aware that the pictures were being taken.
This next shot is one of the couple’s favourites as it captures the overall feel of the weekend. It shows the relaxed nature of the weekend and the humour.
Niccie and David are unable to isolate a particular element of the day as a favourite part. They told us “The whole day was exactly what we had hoped for. David had been hoping for snow and it snowed on the morning of the wedding. Something that caused the caterers, hairdresser and Mark a bit of a problem getting to the venue! We wanted a relaxed and informal feel to the weekend and this was achieved with the help of the quiet professionalism of the suppliers and the staff at Hoscote.
Brian Kelly through Freak Music provided the live entertainment at night. The couple had travelled up to see him play in Bowness. Niccie recalled “He did a brilliant job, everyone danced all night and a couple of our guests joined in as backing singers for Mustang Sally!” The couple’s first dance was to ‘Come Rain or Come Shine’ (Don Henley version). Niccie told us that “Brian didn’t have this in his set list and so he kindly learnt it for us and did a brilliant job. When choosing the song we didn’t want something current that may date and the lyrics of the song sum up how we feel about each other.”
In summary, according to David and Niccie the day was “Relaxed and enjoyable in a fantastic setting, small, informal and focused enough to make the best weekend we’ve ever had.”
