Wednesday, August 27, 2008

TRIPLE HEADER blog post coming up......soon!!

Phew, I survived!

Three weddings in three days and one of them in London! INSANE!
And now another long distance wedding in Arran coming up this weekend, and no time to blog this past weekend!

So in the meantime, here is a sneak peak from my crazy weekend; come back soon for more!



It was worth all the craziness..........................

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Matt & Kathy's "Back Again" session

It is always very nerve-racking to have other photographers contact you to take images of them, but this one turnedinto an exciting and fun job!

Kathy & Matt came to Scotland for their honeymoon after their NYC wedding. We made arrangements for them to bring their wedding gear with them, and thanks to the team at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews, we had open access to some amazing spots around the hotel one Friday night.

Here are some of the results.





I hope these images bring back many amazing memories of your time in Scotland! My thanks to Matt for also helping me out as an assistant on two weddings recently; a working honeymoon!
And after today's meeting with Phyllis and Lisa at the Old Course, I am hoping that some of these images will be appearing in the new Wedding Brochure for THE 5 star hotel in St Andrews!!
"Back Again" sessions are open to any newlywed couple who fancy a relaxed, fun and funky post wedding session, just give me a shout!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

TRIPLE HEADER!

I am asking for forgiveness in advance of this weekend, in case I don't blog till at least mid-week of next.

Why?

Only the fact that I have THREE weddings to shoot this weekend, and one of them happens to be in the London suburbs!

So think of me as I die quietly in my bed on Monday, the answermachine will take your calls and if I am lucky, I might answer my emails from my bed via iPhone!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Steph & Stuart's wedding - St Salvatore's Chapel and the Golf Hotel, St Andrews

Somebody was looking down on Steph & Stuart this past weekend - the forecast was for continuing rain........ it didn't touch the glorious town of St Andrews giving Steph & Stuart the day of their dreams!
Granted, the build-up to the wedding was a bit stressful for the bride; one thing being her dog Murray decided to have a little swim in a burn and got swept away, and Steph jumped in after him! Luckily both were fine, if a little wet and soggy.....
And on the day the dogs nearly stole the show.... with custom designed dog coat kilts (and this blog is apparently to blame for that, as she saw a previous wedding had featured dogs in kilts!)
Steph was..............stunning, and just my kinda bride; cathedral length veil in the wind, and very relaxed in front of the camera!And her man was no bad either!Steph kept us all waiting, and arrived smiling, on her father's arm.Cute moments during the ceremony. I am a blubberer, I know that, I cry at anything these days but I was really worrying that my images were going to be in focus during this ceremony - why? The beautiful singing by Abigail & Nuala, the groom's cousins from the chapel balcony had me not being able to see anything through the tears; their wonderful singing would have moved everyone below.
And soon, it was time for the newlyweds to depart as husband and wife...ready to greet their guests in the Quadrangle. And some of the younger guests were definately stealing the show!
Soon it was time for piper John to take the guests to the hotel, while the couple stayed in the Quadrangle for the start of an amazing couples session. I was totally blessed to be given an hour to "play" with them, and the sun shone all the way through.
Soon it was time to move onto the Castle.
And it was definately all about Steph on the day! I had so many favourite shots on the day; the one above and this one below, I just LOVE long veils!
And just before we returned to the party, we made a quick detour to the Swilken Bridge allowing me to repeat my favourite shot from last year's top wedding of Jen and Jon.
The party was in full swing at the Golf Hotel, and the cake has got to be the BEST I have seen yet. A story of the newlywed's time together; from buying houses and having to borrow their mum's work van to move their stuff in, from purchasing Murray, to the engagement, to the wedding day. All designed by the bride herself!
After a lovely meal, and some hilarious speeches, I stole the couple away again for a quick session as the sun went down!
As I left the newlyweds enjoying the sunset, I couldn't imagine a more perfect day from my point of view, and I am sure everyone else there that day thought the same!
Enjoy your whistlestop tour of the States guys, I can't wait to show you the full results when you return! And if you want to see the results too, email me on nikki@nikkimcleodphotography.com with the bride's maiden name, and the groom's surname. When the password is released on the couple's return, I shall email you back with the information!

Vendor’s information;
Wedding venue; St. Salvators Chapel, University of St Andrews, St Andrews
Wedding reception venue; The Golf Hotel, The Scores, St AndrewsHotel coordinater; Dreich
Cake; Special Days, Uddingston – designed by the bride
Flowers; The Ladybirds Florist, St Andrews
Transport; Ian Cargill Cars, Newport on Tay
Band; The Copycats
Bride’s dress; “Shanesa” designed by Rosetta Nicolini, bought at the Bridal Room in House of Fraser, Glasgow
Bridesmaids dresses; designed and made by Maggie McAllister dressmaker, Cumbernauld
Boys outfits; MacKenzie Menswear, Glasgow
Hair; Charlie Taylor Hair, St Andrews
Stationery: handmade by bride
Favours; Mrs Tilly’s, TillicoutryPiper; John McIntosh, Edinburgh
Balloons; Arty Party, Glasgow
Seat Covers at Reception; Love is in the air, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.

Gillian & Peter's "Bling" session

Gillian and Peter are getting married this weekend, I will be on the Red Bull by the time it comes to their wedding, as their's is the THIRD wedding I will shoot this weekend..........

I met up with the couple last month when we recce'ed their venue, which was......... interesting; horizontal rain, gales and winds, and we were on a boat in the Forth!! Because of the terrible weather, the "Bling" session Gillian and Peter booked me to do on the same day had to be postponed - photographing drowned rats was just not on!

As they both live in Yorkshire, meeting up again before the wedding was always going to be difficult, until they realised that I would be back in the country when they were travelling up to Northumberland for a friend's wedding. So they commissioned me to travel down to the beautiful Alnmouth for images on the Northumberland coastline, and this time we were far luckier with the weather!

My favourite image of the day.....The Alnmouth area was absolutely gorgeous, and we all enjoyed a walk along the golden sands.
What was different about this session, is I had a little assistant with me.....my 3 year old son, Jack! While we were away on holiday in Canada, I let him run loose with my smaller back up camera, and I was gobsmacked by some of the images he was coming out with. So at this session I let him have a little shot and he did not bad at all! I have still to download his images but when I do, I will be blogging "Jack's Portfolio"! Nothing like starting them early huh?!He had a blast on the beach as well; he introduced himself to some people who were digging holes in the sand and within minutes he was down to his bare feet!He also took a total shine to Gillian!
Thought I don't think Peter was too chuffed about him muscling in on his gal! We all had a great laugh! And Jack sneaked in cuddles whenever he could!
But by the time we were back at Alnmouth train station, it was all getting too much for my young assistant.........

I am thoroughly looking forward to your wedding this weekend, guys; a triple header is not something I take on a lot; in fact in 8 years this is my first triple header. But having met you when you wanted to book and loved you both, and having wanted to shoot at your wedding venues for years, it was too good to turn down! Here's hoping there is no horizontal rain this time! ;-)

Nikki McLeod Photography

Nikki McLeod Photography
tel 01383 821498