I have many more to add on weddings, commercial assignments, websites, and on new equipment purchased so hopefully there will be something of interest for all the regular visitors and for new visitors I hope to attract with a mail shot, and more effort on Facebook and Twitter.

It was an early start on Saturday 21st August – up at 6.00am to get all my equipment ready and pack for an overnight stay. On my way to Pitlochry, I stopped at Dunkeld Cathedral to look at the setting. I had worked there previously but the last time I had to work inside as it was wet. It is a great setting on the banks of the River Tay and I was looking forward to photographing there.

Click here to see the "formal" images, and here for the informal, and the speeches and dancing shots are on this link

It was then on to the Atholl Place to get a few shots of Fiona, the bridesmaids, and her Mum getting ready. This is often a good opportunity to get some fun shots.

I also set up a black background and took some shots of the Bridesmaids and the Bride’s Mum.

Sandra and I set off for the Cathedral and had a busy time photographing Jean Christophe, Niall, Grant, the ushers, and the 190 guests before the arrival of Mum and the girls, and Fiona and her Dad. We had a very long queue of guests but got everyone photographed and were waiting when the bridesmaids arrived. After the service, we took shots on the banks of the River and with the Cathedral in the background. Unfortunately we could not take in the ruin as it was closed off as work has to be done after damage caused over the winter. We headed back to the Atholl Palace where I took only a few more shots of Fiona and Jean Christophe including the one below.

I took shots of the bridesmaids and their partners so that Fiona and Jean Christophe could go and mix with the guests. We had planned at the pre-wedding meeting to leave some of the group shots until after the meal so that they could mix with their guests and this worked very well and we managed to stick to our timing plan all day even although we had a lot of shots to take.

After the meal, we took a group shot of everyone and some groups with friends between the end of the meal and the dancing starting. It is sometimes easier to get fun shots at this stage of the day.

Then it was back to the reception to start the dancing. There was a nice surprise in that a lot of the French ladies dressed up and performed the can can and the guests joined in adding a very French influence alongside the Ceilidh and the traditional Scottish dancing.

It was a long hard day and I finished photographing at 12.30am and had taken over 1400 photographs but I am fortunate to love what I do and hopefully this comes across when I work – see below the nice email I got from Fiona’s Mum.

"Dear Neil,

Firstly can I say how delighted we all are with the photographs you and your colleague took at Fiona and Jean-Christophe’s wedding on Saturday. Your attention to detail, patience and good humour even at the end of a very long day were much appreciated and we are so pleased to have such a wonderful record of the happy day. The bride and groom are in New York at present but I know have had a chance to see the photographs and they look forward to making their choices for the album.

Kind Regards,

Rosemary MacKenzie (Bride’s Mother)" 

To see a slideshow of some of the images from the wedding, click on play below.

Pamela and Paul at Meldrum House

After having taken photographs at the beautiful setting of Meldrum House the week before (click here to see the post on this wedding), I was looking forward to going back as although the previous Saturday,I was lucky to get most of my shots taken before the rain came on, I would have liked longer to get more shots. I had promised Peter, the General Manager, and his agency some images to use for their website so I wanted to show as many areas of the grounds as possible.

You can see all the formal images here and the informal images here.

When I arrived it was raining and continued to do so while the guests got photographed before the service. David and i looked around and found a nice spot beside the stable block that was under cover which we thought would work well for some photographs. Fortunately after the service the weather improved but I still used this spot for shots of Pamela and Paul. Pamela was very easy to photograph and was a beautiful bride.

Meldrum House is becoming one of the most popular venues in Aberdeenshire and when you see the setting and the upgrades done to the hotel, it is easy to see why there are so many weddings there. I am currently preparing a sample album to give to the hotel to show prospective Bride’s and I will be delighted if this results in more bookings for this venue as it is great for photography.

Click below to see a slideshow of the images from Pamela and Paul’s wedding.

Saturday 21st August was a very busy day for the aberdeenphoto.com team. While Lukas and I were in Dunkeld, Andy, David, and Greig were all at the wedding of Olu and Jonathan who had 360 guests at the church and for the meal with even more arriving in the evening. With so many people, three photographers were required. Jonathan and I had spent a long time planning the photography and even after the meeting, there were lots of emails confirming the groups required and the running order for the day. The careful planning paid off and the despite having so many people, Andy, David, and Greig did a great job making sure everything was done on time and getting a great range of shots – see the links below

Andy’s photographs
David’s photographs
Greig’s photographs

Over 1200 photographs were taken at the wedding and these were carefully selected and close to 900 images are on-line to choose from. This is in addition to over 1100 images taken by David and Lukas at a party held the night before the wedding. These images can be viewed here and here .

The hard work on Friday and Saturday was appreciated and we got a nice email from Joanthan on his Blackberry on his honeymoon.

You can view a slideshow of the images below.

Tina and Michael had got married in China earlier in August and then had a blessing ceremony and reception for Michael’s family in Aberdeen. Michael’s Mum had contacted me and we agreed a suitable service for their specific requirements. As I like to be upfront with all our pricing, we have packages listed on our website but these are often customised and amended to meet client’s specific requirements as we did here for Tina and Michael. Andy took a nice range of photographs and Tina and Michael can add these images to those taken at the actual wedding ceremony. Click here to view all the images.

Click here to view all the images 

Michelle and Gavin had been referred to me by the team at the Holiday Inn in Westhill. I know the hotel very well as I have taken many photographs there, supplied canvasses for Luigis, a sales book, and created their website. 

On the day of their wedding (Friday 20th August), the weather was nice and we took most of the photographs in the park across from the hotel and the images can be viewed here.

Michelle and Gavin sent me a nice message the day after the wedding – see below

"Hi Neil 
Just wanted to say a big thank you to you and David for making our day special. I have seen some of the pictures online and they are amazing…….. 
Best wishes Michelle and Gavin" 

The beautiful  setting of Haddo House was the venue for Laura and Euan’s wedding and Andy and David were the photographers with Andy concentrating on the posed groups and Bridal shots while David took the candid shots which will give Laura and Euan a set of images that capture and re-create the day if they decide to have on of our storybook albums.

Click here to see Andy’s images and click here for David’s. Go to more for a slideshow of some of Laura and Euan’s photographs.

John and Susan’s wedding on the 24th July was a great wedding to photograph. We started at Castle Huntly with Susan getting ready and then headed off to Aswanley to meet John, Gareth, and Euan (who’s wedding I photographed in 2006). I had never been to Aswanley but was delighted to find a beautiful setting set in the heart of the countryside. The service was outside in the grounds which was a stunning backdrop.

After the service, we took all the groups in the garden area while the quartet played, and the guests sipped champagne. The beautiful weather made the whole scene idyllic.After photographing the groups, the couple boarded the Rolls Royce Phantom to be taken back to Castle Huntly where we took a few shots with the castle in the background and the rest alongside a very picturesque stream.

Formal shots here and informal shots by clicking here.

I have known John for many years and as he is an IT professional, we have lots of chats about technology. It was no surprise that John chose to have digital files. Even although there were over 1100 images taken, with three of us working on Sunday, we got all the images on-line on the Sunday.

I also delivered a disc with the files to John’s parents house later on the Sunday John was delighted to receive it so quickly although he had already been showing all his friends and family the images on his Ipad in the afternoon at the barbecue. He has since ordered and had delivered 3 hard backed preview books so both families could have one as John and Susan are back to the US to work. 

See below for a slideshow of some of the images

The 17th July was a very windy day and after taking the family group photographs at the church in Stonehaven, Lukas and I went with Dawn and Neil to Dunottar Castle. At the pre-wedding meeting, we had discussed Dawn bringing alternative shoes but she had forgotten them and it was too uncomfortable for her to walk too far so we took some some shots not far from the car park with the castle in the background. 

We took the remaining bridal photographs at The Old Mill Inn where it was not windy at all. The images can be viewed at the links below.

The "formal" images are here and the informal set here.

I have featured Thank You Cards previously on this blog (click here for previous post) and they have become very popular. I have recently been discussing these at the pre-wedding meeting and some of my clients are choosing the design and layout before the wedding so that they only have to choose the image or images to get them ordered. As we aways have the photographs on-line within 24 hours, and the cards can be printed and ready to collect in 1-3 days, you can have these very soon after your wedding. 

The most popular design has 1 image on the front and 1 on the inside with ether a printed or hand-written message, or combining both. The sample above has 3 smaller images below the main shot but you can have any design you want in either upright or landscape format. Click more to see a few more examples.

This one was printed upright as A6 and Michelle chose to use black and white for each image and to have some printed text and write a personal message between the printing.

This one was done in the landscape format and again, the Bride chose to use black and white images.