Fiona & Jonathan's wedding - George Heriot's School & MacDonald Holyrood Hotel, Edinburgh

Okay this past weekend's wedding definately wins the wettest wedding ever!! But it was no less beautiful than it could have been with good weather, thanks to stunning venues, a beautiful dress and a couple with great personalities!

Past pupils of the school, and they met at their 10 year reunion, George Heriot's was THE venue for the wedding of Fiona and Jonathan. It is a stunning venue, I was so excited to be shooting there after viewing it with the groom the week before. Fortunately as with all recces, we made a wet weather plan..... just in case...... it was needed!

Young Cameron and his grandfather were eagerly awaiting the arrival of his mum.

What is lovely about this venue too, is the stunning venue of Edinburgh Castle in the background.

Soon Fiona and her girls arrived and by this time, the driving rain was blowing through the archways and the girls had to run in to the Staff Room!I think this is my favourite shot of the day, it shows the amazing architecture of George Heriot's but also just how wet the day was!

The Chapel in the School is stunning and look at that train on Fiona's dress!

As per the wet weather plan, plans for a big group shot, and the family formals in the courtyard had to be abandoned, so the newylweds mingled with their guests in the Staff Room, with the formals in the Chapel and then the couples session in and around the School.

Even on wet and miserable days, there is still wonderful natural light to be found in Scotland, honest!

The arches around the Courtyard provided shelter for the newlyweds

While my camera and I got very wet in order to get this shot, but I knew it would be worth it; anything for my art!!

Soon it was onto the hotel and the meal and the speeches.

After the meal, there is that little lull in the proceedings where the room is being turned around for the evening reception. Fiona and Jonathan came up with the brilliant idea of having some entertainment for their guests.... in the form of a casino!!! There was a blackjack table, and a roulette table with the newlyweds providing "cash" for chips!

The last I heard, young Cameron was on a roll, and winning over £10,000!!An impromptu bouquet toss.....

and then the first dance.....

It was a (soggy) pleasure to photograph your wedding guys, can't wait to show you the results on your return from Hong Kong and Singapore!

Thanks to Liz for coming up from Leicester to help me with this wedding.

Emily & Dominic's wedding - Cameron Kirk & Old Course Hotel, St Andrews

Apologies for the lack of blogging this past week; it has been SO hectic! I have had so many "Santa" appointments - so many people collecting their finished wedding albums and prints, I feel like Santa! And I continue to be drowning in designing the remainder of the year's albums, which I think I finally see the end of the light for!

But here at last is Dominic & Emily's wedding which turned out to be an event of the year, in so many ways!

Having shot their "Bling" session just days before, in glorious sunshine, I was hoping the weather would stay the same for the wedding day. The weather is one thing that you can't control.... Neither is runaway dogs and runaway hats..... more about that later.....

The day started for me at one of my favourite venues, the 5 star hotel in St Andrews, the Old Course, where Emily and her girls were getting ready. The champagne had already been opened, the girls were having a fun morning and I was totally cooing over the only man in the room! (And it was awesome to be witness to the moment that the bride got asked to be his godmother!)
Various phone calls and texts appeared over the morning, including a few from Hong Kong.

Emily's Jenny Packham dress was just to die for..

As were her Gina shoes..

And Emily was just gloriously stunning..

Then it was time to shoot off to Cameron Kirk, the countryside kirk right next door to the family home; it was sunny surprisingly but very cold and very very windy! The light inside the Kirk itself was amazing.The little flower girl totally stole the show After the ceremony and a brisk mingling outside with their guests (brisk being the appropriate word, due to the wind and cold) I took the newlyweds back into the church for a quick couples session. We were expecting to walk out to an empty churchyard but were suprised to find several of the guests still hanging about.... that's when the fun started!

Apparently a guest or two had gone next door to the house of the bride's parents and had mistakenly let the dogs out, those dogs that deatured in the engagement session...... One of them did what we call in Fife "doing a bunk" and shot off over the nearby fields!! Cue various guys in kilts running over muddly fields, it was quite a sight!

We left everyone to it and made our way to the Old Course for the remainder of the couples session, in and around the hotel.

Most of the guests had gathered in the RoadHole bar at the top of the hotel but apparently some of them had checked into their rooms. The next fun story we heard was that a female guest with a wonderful hat had gone out on to their balcony, and the wind took off with the hat! Hotel maintenance staff had to climb roofs to retrieve it!

The newlyweds joined the rest of the guests and we heard that the dog had been found, thanks to the help of the police and the RAF!

Fortunately it looks like that was enough drama for the day! The speeches went down well.

Thanks Emily and Dom, for a fun and "interesting" wedding, one I won't forget for a long time!

Dominic & Emily's "Bling" session

Venice was amazing, and I shall be adding it to my to-do list, where I blog this trip plus the several other trips I have had this year, over the quiet winter session.

Meanwhile, it was straight back to work this week, and a "Bling" session with Emily and Dominic.

I met Emily and her mother a couple of months ago and started to get excited about their wedding then. But as Emily and Dom live now in Hong Kong, I wasn't able to meet the groom until this week, the week of the wedding! And what a lovely couple they are together!!

After having a recce at their church, we donned the jackets, hats and scarves (okay I exaggerate just a little!) for some shots at a nearby reservoir, where for me it was heaven on earth; beautiful light, big fluffy clouds and blue skyes....... yes in October!! But it was chilly...But it was so worth it when you get amazing light like this...

I found amazing textures in a nearby barn....... which sounded like it had a goose loose inside, which caused much hilarity between the three of us! I love this pano.....
Back at the parent's home, the sun had come out in big style, showing the colours of the house fantastically..
Then we took the family dogs for a walk (me thinks Dom loves the Jacks as much as his future wife!!)
The St Andrews countryside is just stunning.

And a last smooch in the walled garden of the house..I even asked to use the light inside Emily's parents' house, as I had spied how lovely it was earlier when we were sitting talking about the wedding.I am SO looking forward to this wedding on Saturday, I hope the weather stays the same!