Yvonne & Gordon's Wedding at Brigadoon
Brig O'doon House Hotel in Ayr is a perfect wedding venue. The hotel itself is set on the banks of the River Doon in an outstandingly beautiful area within lovely manicured gardens. The Brig o' Doon is a late medieval bridge used as the setting for the final verse of the Robert Burns's poem Tam o' Shanter. In this scene Tam is on horseback and is being chased by Nannie the witch. He is just able to escape her by crossing the bridge (over a running stream) narrowly avoiding her attack as she is only able to grab the horse's tail which comes away in her hands (thanks Wikipedia - my literature degree didn't cover Burns comprehensively).
Yvonne and Gordon had taken over Doonbrae House, a 19th century house opposite the house, to stay in before and that's where Yvonne and the girls were getting ready whilst the boys were in Rose Cottage next door. Yvonne was very cheery and relaxed when I arrived, more concerned with helping everyone else in the party to get ready before herself, I found her on the floor tying up her dad's laces long after she should have been in her dress! Gordon and the boys, on the other hand, were regretting getting into their woollen kilts so early as for October it was so, so hot and muggy.
The bridal party were piped over to the hotel and down the grand staircase into the main ballroom where the ceremony was taking place. The flowers and bouquet were created by Elaine at Dream Flowers & Favours. The celebrant for the ceremony was one of Gordon's tennis students.
Yvonne's niece, Emily, was like her little shadow the entire day...
Doonbrae House...
Tennis ball's as favours...
If you were a guest at Yvonne and Gordon's wedding, you can view the whole album and purchase images here. The password is Gordon's surname.
Laura + Jon's Wedding on Loch Awe
As chilled out brides go, Laura probably rates as the most chilled. This is a bride who, when her car with her and her bridesmaids broke down on the way to the hairdresser in the nearby town, rather than waste time waiting to be rescued simply stuck out her thumb and hitched with the first passer by. Despite arriving 40 minutes late back at Ardanaiseig Hotel she was super cool and relaxed and remained that way for the rest of the day. Ardanaiseig Hotel is one of the most spectacularly located venues I've been to recently. A romantic and luxury hotel tucked away at the end of a 6-mile one track road on the edge of Loch Awe on the West Coast of Scotland, furnished eccentrically by the owner, a London antiques dealer. Jon and Laura had exclusive use of the venue and grounds which include a boathouse where Laura was getting ready. It wasn't until the penultimate moment that the decision to ignore the morning of torrential rain and risk holding the wedding outside in the amphitheatre by the loch was made, and the staff scurried around to make it happen (admittedly the alternative great hall looked beautiful but who could resist an outdoor wedding, in Scotland, in September?)
As the guests tottered across the grass in their heels Laura was peeking over the balcony of the boathouse to see them arrive. Finally it was time, and escorted by her mother, Laura was piped into the opening for the ceremony.
The reception was held back at the house and I hung dangerously onto the top window to get the group shot before arranging family and friends for the family shots with the almost surreal landscape of Ben Cruachan behind them. The location was such a treat to photograph in and Laura braved the damp in her heels to wander round the grounds.
(If you were a guest at this wedding you can access the full album and purchase prints here and the password is Jon's surname).
My favourite touch in their decorations of the marquee was the booklet, laid out for each guest, with a short paragraph about every one of the guests to get the conversation flowing. As Jon pointed out in his speech, when you have everyone from a high court judge to a onion farmer in the party you can't fail to find someone to engage with!
Tara + Folarin's Wedding at Wrest Park
This year I have photographed an American bride in the Outer Hebrides and an Irish bride on the Amalfi Coast and last weekend I got to photograph a Nigerian bride in the beautiful English Bedfordshire countryside. I don't know the area well but early on a bright Thursday morning I found myself driving along the Embankment of the River Ouse in the heart of Bedford to The Bedford Swan Hotel to find my Tara and her 7 (!) bridesmaids getting ready in a gorgeous exposed timber room.
After shooting the preparations for an hour or so I headed off 10 minutes down the road to Christ the King Church for the ceremony.
And then on to Wrest Park which I blogged about recently as we did their engagement shoot there. It is staggeringly beautiful and only recently opened to the public after extensive renovations. I could have spent hours shooting in the gardens but we kept it fairly quick so the couple could get back to their party. Whilst we were shooting the rest of the party were able to go on a little tour of the grounds themselves.
For me the highlight was the entrance of the bridal party which was led by the two mothers dancing their way through the rest of the guests. And the dancing and smiling didn't stop all night. In fact I don't think Tara left the dancefloor all evening!
I was delighted to have Ioannis Crouch of Reel Emotion doing the video as he was a pleasure to work with and good company.
Amy + Simon’s Wedding at Glasgow University Chapel and One Devonshire
You don’t get much grander wedding venues in Glasgow than the University Chapel – so much so that you are always guaranteed to have a gaggle of tourist to witness your wedding (and sometimes attempts to gatecrash).
I joined Amy and her bridesmaids at One Devonshire, which she had decked out beautifully with so many personal touches, from the flowers, to candy bar, homemade cup cakes and favours of lavender bags for the girls and chutney for the boys in dainty jars.
The service was punctuated with a musical rendition by Amy’s mother on piano and sister Lucy on cello instead of the usual readings. The sun came out long enough for me to take the close family into the university quad for group photos before we all headed back to One Devonshire Gardens (where I seem to have been rather a lot this month) for the reception.
In Simon's speech he mentioned that Amy just didn't seem to realise how pretty she was - I thought she was stunning and she was such a joy to photograph.
