Jennifer & Paul, Lynnhurst Hotel, Johnstone

Here's the second instalment of my 2016 wedding sneak peek series featuring Jennifer and Paul who were married at The Old Kirk in Kilmacolm. They then had a small reception at the Lynnhurst Hotel in Johnstone.

Eryn & David's Wedding, Largs & Piersland House, Troon

Well what an utterly lovely sunny day we had on Eryn and David's wedding day, which let's be honest, was absolutely perfect given they were married in their home seaside town of Largs, it just has to be sunny, right?

I take my own family to Largs very frequently and I've always wanted to photograph a wedding in 'that' big red church on the seafront as it's such a lovely building (St Columbas to be exact). And it didn't disappoint. What's more, David is part of the RNLI Lifeboat crew stationed in Largs and we had planned to pop over to photograph them both together with the lifeboat and on-call crew members so that they didn't miss out. If we had more time I'd have had Eryn and David on the lifeboat in the water!

When we arrived at the Piersland Hotel in Troon, we were met with clear blue skies and could easily have been somewhere more exotic. The good weather meant that everybody was extremely relaxed and the kids made full use of the huge lawn to run about and play on. It's one of the best parts of photographing a wedding for me, floating about capturing everybody enjoying their day.

I thoroughly enjoyed taking Eryn and David away for a short while where we found some fantastic colours of purples and yellows amongst the flowers.

Eryn and David, thank you so much for having me photograph your wedding day. Here is a small selection of what I captured for you all to enjoy.

Karen & David's Wedding, Carnbooth House Hotel, Glasgow

Nothing do I love more than waking up on the morning of a wedding I'm about to photograph and seeing bright skies with the odd bit of sunshine (not too much sun mind). And today was just that. Another good reason for the weather being great is that it creates even more excitement among the bride and her family and they're ever so slightly more relaxed. This was the case when I arrived at the house where Karen was getting ready, together with her bridesmaids and parents.

Of course there's always that awkward 'where do I look' when I point the camera at people getting ready. My immediate task though was to find some nice textures in the garden and the odd colourful flower to use as a surround to photograph the wedding dress and the shoes. Karen's mum and dad were adamant I wouldn't find anything, but I think I surprised them.

It wasn't long before I set off to St Mary's Church in Kirkintilloch to see David, his son Liam and of course David's best man Kieran. After a few photos I let them gather their nerves and greet their guests. The ceremony was conducted by Rev. Mark Johnston who has to be the most down to earth, funniest and most accommodating person I've ever had the pleasure to meet. I spent half the ceremony wondering what on earth two Domino's pizza boxes were doing sitting beneath the big table, until finally Mark produced them to make a joke about how David had interviewed Karen and subsequently given her the job at the local Domino's Pizza! It's fair to say also that Mark rocked the Ceilidh later that evening!

Earlier in the year I had visited Carnbooth House with Karen and David and back then there was still snow on the ground. It was hard to imagine what a bright June day would look like, but we weren't disappointed. Lots of lovely colours and greenery and textures to work with when we went off to explore for some photos.

The beauty of having such a lovely bright day meant that the wedding guests mingled both indoors and out on the decking. With so much laughter and many emotions going on, it was a delight to float around and capture it all taking place.

So Karen and David, thank you so much for having me share your fabulous wedding day with you and to all your family and friends who made me very welcome. Here is a small selection of what I captured for everybody to enjoy.

Scotland Wedding, National Piping Centre, Glasgow

What can I say about Andrew and Andrew? From the moment I met them over a year ago I've thoroughly enjoyed being in their company. They're full of energy, enthusiastic about everything and are just genuinely nice guys. It's been an absolute pleasure whenever we've discussed the wedding plans, spent time doing their engagement shoot and talking about all sorts of stuff.

The morning of the wedding was so much fun. The guys were getting ready in one of the rooms in The Pipers' Tryst together with their bridesmaids Elena, Leanne & Katrina. Lots of laughs, hugs, smiles and much hilarity, the room was emotionally charged. I kept myself busy with the kilts, the rings, the shoes and the flowers before returning to the room to capture all the fun.

Every time I've photographed a wedding at The Piping Centre, I'm amazed by just how much running around behind the scenes is done by Caitlin and the team. Everything is looked after and this time was no different. Every single worry, panic, request or whatever, was dealt with calmly meaning that Andrew and Andrew could just concentrate on getting ready and then getting married!

It was so lovely to get to meet Andrew and Andrew's friends and family, they all helped make their day a special one. And in some ways I'm a little sad that it's finally happened as I've enjoyed the anticipation of that day for so long. But I am looking forward to meeting them in their new home over the summer. Get the coffee on boys!

A couple of people who helped in some small way and who I'd love you to check out:

Venue: The National Piping Centre/Pipers' Tryst, Glasgow
http://www.thepipingcentre.co.uk/wedding-events/weddings/
Give them a like on Facebook.

Flowers: Lavender Blue - http://lavenderblue.webeden.co.uk
Give them a like on Facebook.

Here is a selection of images from Andrew and Andrew's fabulous wedding day, enjoy!

Enchanted Forest and Friends: It all happened in a tweet!

I have a list of small businesses who I'd absolutely love to work with. Sometimes, I just stride right in with a hello and how about we do something like this? It doesn't always work though. But for Enchanted Forest Nursery and Enchanted Forest and Friends, it did! Only, it came by way of an endorsement on Twitter late one evening. Sometimes it's about being in the right place at the right time and I'm a great believer of things happen for a reason. You know the saying, 'If it's for you it won't go by you'.

I was about to go to bed one night when, all of a sudden, I found myself chatting to Three Sisters Bake on Twitter and in comes Enchanted Forest Nursery who were watching my tweets with interest. One amazing endorsement later from Three Sisters Bake laid way for a meeting with Enchanted Forest Nursery! Hurrah! And so the journey began . . .

Bernie & Mariessa Devlin

I had such an amazing first meeting with the owners of Enchanted Forest Nursery (heck, I'm going to refer to them as EFN or EFF from here on in) Mariessa and Bernie. And not only that, we met at Three Sisters Bake in Quarriers Village! There we chatted about our businesses, our passions and how we were going to work together. I've loved the EFN brand for a long while now, a collection of nurseries that are quite simply, amazing. But I was soon to learn of Bernie's passion for his creation, Enchanted Forest and Friends (EFF from now on!), a collection of woodland characters who would form the foundation of a brand new children's clothing range.

Zed Fox character backpack, find out more here.

A few weeks later I picked up the first batch of clothing from Bernie. My idea was to take it into some woodland and photograph all of the items. But the weather had other ideas. It would be another three weeks before we had our first dry and sunny day in Inverclyde and I was so pleased to finally get out and explore an amazing location that was perfect. Not only did I have the clothes, but also Zed Fox and Miss Bun Bun, two children's back packs complete with a fleecy blanket and they also double up as a travel pillow/companion.

The next part of the plan was to take some real children wearing the clothes out to the beach, but once again, the weather thwarted any hope of that. So we were forced to hire an indoor space where I captured lots of children wearing the clothes, just in time for the reveal of the brand new EFF website. 

With all the clothing photography done and the website launched, it was then over to the nursery side where I was asked to capture a variety of settings depicting the activities that take place on a daily basis. The photography will be used in a brand new prospectus and will be available on their website. It was so much fun to spend time with the staff and the children and have the freedom to watch them learn, explore and get covered in all sorts of things. My favourite being where they squirted shaving foam into each childs hand and all over the play table. I was poised to take some photos when all of a sudden, the staff member told the kids to clap their hands. Cue me getting absolutely covered in the stuff, happy to report my camera came off okay! Phew.

I've thoroughly enjoyed working with Mariessa, Bernie and their amazing team and I hope to do more work with them in the future. Please please please, and especially if you have kids of your own, check out the new clothing range, it's pretty awesome!

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