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!):

The snow had turned to a freezing drizzle discouraging anyone from venturing outside but the amazing interior of Glenskirlie Castle meant that Mark was able to provide Kirsty and Melvin with a stunning set of images telling the story of their wedding day.  Kirsty looked gorgeous and reminded everyone of a Greek goddess – Melvin looked pretty good too!

Kirsty and Melvin met at work on a management assessment day. Kirsty told us, “Melvin was thrilled when they explained that part of the day would be role playing and replied ‘I’ll be Russell Crowe then!”.  After Melvin asking Kirsty’s father in a traditional manner, Melvin proposed to Kirsty on Christmas day.

They chose Glenskirlie because they said, “it was beautiful, the food was amazing, the staff were attentive and the honeymoon suite was stunning!”

Kirsty’s dress was by Ellis Bridals bought in Signature in Glasgow. It was the first one she tried on and she said, “When my bridesmaid shed a tear I knew it was the one for me!” Kirsty’s hair was done by Bensons in Lanark and her make up by Esther.  Melvin chose his outfit from Mackenzie Menswear, Glasgow

Kirsty wanted her flowers to tie everything in and the bridesmaids were in red so after one visit to Gifted in Carluke everything was sorted, “no hassle at all”, Kirsty told us.  Kirsty and Melvin’s cake was purchased from Marks and Spencer.

Kirsty and Melvin told us they booked “R4. The best band ever!! They did say our wedding was one of the best they had ever played – the dancefloor was jumping all night!”. The couple’s first dance was the Proclaimers ‘I want to spend my life with you!’ Kirsty told us, “It was a jolly, upbeat song and the words were relevant to us”.  They also had a magician who was incredible, Mick Magic – he kept the guests entertained during the bands break.

Kirsty told us, “My dad loved Mark’s work when he was searching the internet and then when we came to meet you both we were really impressed with how little time was going to be spent having photos taken – It was my idea of hell spending hours getting photos taken – I loved how natural Marks photos were”.

“I think my favourite picture”, Kirsty told us, “is the picture with my mum and I – we both look really happy!”

Kirsty’s niece also featured in their special day, Kirsty told us, “She played the piano to a lovely piece of music as I walked down the aisle.”

Melvin and I loved every moment but Kirsty confessed that she loved getting ready and feeling pampered in the morning.  Both Melvin and Kirsty told us they had experienced, “The Perfect Day.”

David and Hannah met at college when they were 18 years old; they were both studying for qualifications in photography. They kept in touch and then got chatting on Facebook in June 2009, 2 months later they got engaged.  David proposed to Hannah, just ahead of her doing the same, in the kitchen at their home after they’d been for fish and chips!

They spent a whole day scanning the internet for suitable wedding locations and were just about to give up when Hannah accidentally touched a button on the laptop and a little thumbnail of Eilean Donan appeared at the bottom of the page. They both knew that was the perfect place and were very relieved to find out that they could actually get married there. The wedding day at Eilean Donan turned out to be perfect and everything they had dreamed of.

Hannah’s dress was made by a local lady from Shardlow, called Ruth Keefe. Hannah gave her an idea of the style of dress that she liked and she worked on it until it was absolutely perfect. Hannah chose the style of dress because she very much like chinese dresses and wanted have a dress that was influenced by this style but also had a twist of something slightly fairy tale. Hannah’s shoes were made by Rachel Simpson and she chose them as they were a little more unusual than most mainstream wedding shoes. The jewellery that Hannah chose was made in South Africa buy a very talented artist, Nic Bladen.

Hannah’s mum made and decorated the wedding cake. She has been making and decorating cakes to a high standard for some years and had retired, so it meant a lot to David and Hannah to have one of her beautiful cakes for their wedding.

They chose Archibald Photography because according to Hannah “Mark’s style of photography is unusual and not mainstream in its appearance. His images have far more depth and content than most, which appealed to our artistic natures.”

When asked, Hannah and David chose their favourite images taken on the wedding day to be, firstly the one of them standing, kissing in front of the castle arch doorway and secondly the stig lid image with David grinning!

Hannah and David said, “The whole day was very special but one of our favourite moments would have to be the entrance to ‘The Chain’ by Fleetwood Mac. As we are both very much in to motor sports, it was the perfect surprise for David and made me grin from ear to ear!”

Hannah told us, “Amusingly, David had to give a speech that he really wasn’t expecting. The best man had written a poem which initially seemed to be about David’s love for me, but turned out to be all about his car!”

David and Hannah summarised their day as being, “Scary, incredible, amazing and perfect!”

Photography by Archibald Photography Ltd

Taken at Fernie Castle, Fife

Dress from The Bride in Broughty Ferry

Read Anna & Kev’s real life wedding story here

David proposed to Aika by organising a surprise weekend away in Nimes, France. The boutique hotel had old roman style colonnades and David had the staff light the lanterns along them and then got down on one knee in the colonnade next to the little central quadrangle. He’d already had the ring made in advance, and presented it there and then, and it fitted! Although he did put it on the wrong finger….

Earlier that day they had driven out to a local town and then David had been keen to see a very famous aqueduct nearby. Once they got there, Aika was surprised that David seemed to have no interest, hurried round and seemed desperate to leave. Little did she know he’d left the ring in his jacket pocket on the back seat of the car in a very public carpark!

Originally David & Aika were going to be married in the church at Melrose, but when they went back for a service, they felt it was too big and impersonal. On the back of the order of service, it said that Bowden and Melrose parishes had merged. David went to school in Melrose and remembered he went on a trip to the kirk there when he was small, and that it was very striking. They drove across and literally as they drove over the little bridge and saw it, they knew it was perfect (www.melrose-parish.fsnet.co.uk). Both Aika and David are from the countryside, Aika grew up next to a little Norman church in Kent and Bowden Kirk originates from the same period. Plus, they felt it was a very friendly little intimate church – perfect for their wedding party of a hundred people and the country wedding they both wanted.

David & Aika had a reception in a marquee in the garden of David’s house in the hills above Earlston because the views are stunning. They both had wanted a summer wedding in a marquee. Plus, this meant they could go up to the top of the Black Hill for some stunning photos courtesy of Mark!

The couple had Callanish as our band (www.callanishmusic.com) but as they were worried that all of the English guests might not want to reel, they had a big playlist drawn up. In the end they only played two non-Scottish dances as everyone just wanted to keep reeling!

The food was an essential part as Aika is a real foodie. The catering was provided by Gill Orde (www.gillordeincatering.co.uk). Much of the food was sourced locally and as one of the guests described it “It felt like coming round to Aika & David’s house for a nice dinner party, just a little larger” (and David thinks better!)

Aika’s wedding dress was from Christina K (www.christinak.co.uk) in Tunbridge Wells, who were very friendly and very patient! And Aika says they knew better than she did what she would look good in. She loved the dress as it was traditional but with a twist “it felt a little 1920s with the drop from below the hips”. Aika also wore an art deco necklace passed down from her grandmother which went perfectly.

David & Aika’s florist was Clova Reid. She produced stunning arrangements in both the church and marquee. The bouquet and buttonholes were by Evergreen in Earlston (www.evergreenflorist.info)

Aika and David chose Archibald Photography because they thought our images “were a great blend of naturalness with a strong creative process behind them”. As David said “the images on your website didn’t look staged or posed but captured the fun of each wedding. Also, when we met Mark, we thought he was fantastic!”

The weather had been terrible in the run up to David and Aika’s day. They couldn’t even get the placenames to stay on the tables in the morning because the wind was blowing so hard through the marquee. However, literally as they came out of the church, the sun burst through and they ended up walking to the car in blazing sunshine with rose petals being thrown at them.

When we asked the couple what the best bit of their day was they said “the actually-getting-married part. But also being surrounded by all your favourite people in the world wishing you well and being able to create a really brilliant day for them. It was totally overwhelming and a once in a life time day.”

So did anything go wrong? Aika forgot her engagement ring, so the wedding car had to turn round and go back to the hotel – meaning that she was 25 minutes late! This meant that David ended up wearing a line in the vestry carpet through pacing up and down in the fear she wouldn’t turn up!

There were also a few parts of the day that the couple found really funny; Aika was knocked flat by her flower girl next to the wedding car, her veil blew off and disappeared down the hillside with David in hot pursuit and the wedding cake started to keel over during the speeches and the grooms father had to hold it up with two fingers all the way through! All moments were captured by Mark!

Jodie & Rob ended up emailing back and forth a couple times and then Rob asked for her telephone number.  Jodie called him and they spoke for a few hours…about everything that newly acquainted people probably shouldn’t talk about..religion..politics..etc.  Rob ended up asking Jodie to dinner and they went out the next Saturday for sushi.  They had great conversation and after dinner, Rob didn’t know what to do because he didn’t have plans past dinner (in case it went badly)!  They ended up going to another restaurant near Jodie’s apartment for drinks and dessert. They talked another hour or so and then he took her home.  They started dating exclusively about 2 weeks later.  Jodie and Rob went to Lisbon that summer and Jodie thinks after that trip they knew they’d be together for life!

Rob and Jodie dated for eight months before Rob asked Jodie to marry him.  They were married eleven months later.  What Jodie found really funny was that at the time Rob was working from home and didn’t go to bars, so he thought online was another way to meet people.  But he said that had he read the other posts that people had, he would have never posted there…and if Jodie’s friend hadn’t been looking on there, she would have never looked there …… it was meant to be!

Rob had plans to propose in Washington, D.C. but it didn’t work out that way.  As Jodie told us “we were dressed up for a work-related meeting and we were at a nice restaurant…but they could only seat us after the meeting at the bar. I said okay but Rob didn’t want to do that. I didn’t really get it..but agreed and we tried to figure out another place to go that was close…but we couldn’t decide on anything and I was just like like…well…let’s just go home…There is no reason for us to spend the money in DC when we can eat somewhere close to home cheaper. Rob resisted a bit as he wanted us to walk afterward to the memorial or somewhere romantic…but of course I didn’t know that! We got in the car to go home and then he decided that no matter what he was going to ask me that night. He thought about pulling over and pretending that we were having car trouble to and asking me on the side of the road…but then I got a call and ended up talking to my aunt almost all the way back home. When we were close to home, Rob asked where I wanted to eat and I told him we’d just order sushi. He seemed bummed and I thought…well..we’re dressed up…do you want to go to Capital Grill (a nice restaurant in downtown Baltimore)? He agreed. We got a back room seat and there were other tables that took forever to finish and leave. He ended up getting the waiter to dim the lights a bit which I thought was kind of strange..but finally he said some really sweet things and asked me to marry him! I was totally shocked and felt terrible that I had put him through so much frustration! I was thrilled and the ring was a beautiful antique diamond and sapphire ring in white gold which was incredibly thoughtful since he knows I love antique jewelry!”

Jodie and Rob chose Dalhousie Castle near Edinburgh (www.dalhousiecastle.co.uk) because they decided that they wanted to honeymoon in Scotland – they decided to have a small ceremony there instead of a large wedding in the US.   Jodie ended up doing Google searches of places to get married to Scotland, which ended up evolving to looking at castles to get married in.  As Jodie said “I didn’t even realize that was a possibility but I loved it because it was even more romantic than getting married abroad. I stumbled upon Dalhousie and read several reviews that were pleased with their wedding day.  Their prices were reasonable for such a small ceremony and we were the only wedding of the day which was really wonderful as well.  All in all, planning went relatively well, especially since I was doing everyone online. We were thrilled with the day, the ceremony, the dinner and the treatment we received from Dalhousie and their staff. I wrote a glowing review for them and would again. They were great on the day of the wedding and the day was truly wonderful…even with the rain. Our guests told us that our wedding was the best they had ever attended because we had so much fun.”

Jodie got her wedding dress on ebay.  She wanted to save as much money as possible and bought it for $50!  It was a sample dress from a wedding boutique and they were selling it online so she got a $900 dress for $50, had it altered a bit and it was ready to go!  Jodie had it as a carry-on on the plane. She thought she could just iron it before the wedding, but Dalhousie sent it off for her and had it steamed which she really appreciated.

Jodie and Rob used Planet Flowers (www.planetflowers.co.uk)and were really pleased with them.  Jodie found them online and thought their pictures were wonderful.  They only needed a bouquet, a button flower for Rob, and flowers for my hair and the cake but they were beautiful.

Rob and Jodie chose Archibald Photography because they had read a recommendation from someone else that used Mark and had nice things to say.  Jodie said “the couple said that they wanted a natural look and that Mark made the bride feel beautiful and natural etc. Also, and probably more importantly, we had to option with Archibald to get a disk of pictures so that we could make our own album and copies for our families.  Rob is a photographer and I am very artistic so we wanted that option.  They were very flexible with choices and ultimately we decided that we wanted to work with them.   Again, scheduling everything and making all arrangements online went very smoothly as well.  On the day, Mark was wonderful.   He was fun to work with and Rob and I…and all the guests thought he was great. We even asked him to stick around and have a cigar with us before dinner!  We had a wonderful time and the pictures were gorgeous. All of our friends and family have been very impressed. We knew we had made the right choice!”

The best thing for Rob and Jodie about their day was that it was truly about the two of them and they got to share it with our friends and family.  Not only was the day about them getting married, but everything they did….where they did it..how they did it etc…was about them and their style.   Jodie and Rob didn’t compromise anything and were thrilled with everything.  And to top it off…they have a wonderful story about where they got married that doesn’t sound like everyone else’s story!

Jodie and Rob don’t think they had a bad thing to say about their day.  It rained..but they even had fun with that!  When we asked Jodie what the funniest thing was she said “probably that I was so goofy, I was just smiling from ear to ear and probably just looked goofy.  We also put the wrong hand forward when we went to put the rings on!”  However, I think you can see for yourself that Jodie only looks beautiful on her day – certainly not ‘goofy’!!!