Laura and Dean

Laura and Dean Saturday 17th February, 2018
St. Machars Cathedral and Norwood Hall

Saturday was a beautiful day but the low winter sun created a lot of challenges, particularly at St.Machars Cathedral. The day started with shots of Laura and her bridesmaids, Bev, Emily, Rachael, and Joni, getting ready and having champagne. The stunning make up was done by Julia of Platinum Pro Make Up.

I also photographed the dresses (Laura’s dress by Kenneth Pool, and the bridesmaids by Melle Cloche), accessories, flowers (by Xoxo florists), and Laura receiving a special gift from Dean.

Then it was off to St. Machars to meet the Dean and the boys who were all looking very smart (Kilts by McCalls). The traffic was very bad and I was later than planned but we got all the photographs taken, including all the guests before 1pm, the official service time.

Laura and the bridesmaids had the same problem with the traffic and she kept Dean nervously waiting until close to 1.30pm before walking down the aisle, with her brother Iain. For Dean, it was worth the wait to see how stunning Laura looked.

After some photographs in the beautiful Cathedral, we headed back to Norwood Hall, where we started with a few shots with the Beauford supplied by Silver City Cars.

We started outside but a combination of the sun, cold, and “shoe issues”, meant we moved inside to take some of the family shots in the library before going back outside for more bridal shots. 

The room in Norwood looked amazing and it was obvious that Laura had paid a lot of attention to detail. With moving from outside to inside, and the delay at the church, we were later than anticipated but James from Norwood Hall was great and and understanding, and helped  to make sure that we got al the photography done. The decision was made to cancel the receiving line which helped get the timing back to what had been planned.

There were many suppliers chosen by Laura to get exactly what she wanted:

Chairs / ceiling canopy / tree centrepieces by Make Believe events
Backdrops / rustic bar / table plan by 3 tiers Creative
Floral love letters by Fairytale Events
Tree by Higher Calling Flowers and Events Ltd.
Welcome sign by Little Stag Signs
Log top table sign by Wooden Treats & Rustic Weddings
Cake by Cakes by design
Cake stand by Made Simply Perfect

Once the meal started, I quickly went back to the office to download the first 907 files returning before the speeches started, which, unusually, were after the meal.

The room was then transformed and Laura and Dean then cut the cake and the dancing started. In addition to the fantastic band, Watershed from Glasgow, there was a Photobooth, and the award wining Portsoy Ice Cream, in the bar.

Everyone had a great time and then just before the team and bacon rolls, there was a great firework display by NJE Fireworks

I got back to the office 14 hours after I had started and downloaded another 600+ files before finally going to bed in the early hours.

Lukas worked on Saturday night, and we both worked all day Sunday to get the images on-line for Sunday evening. All the hard work was worth it for the amazing feedback from Laura and Dean by phone and email:

We are absolutely delighted. You were an absolute star .We are just over the moon with these photos, and our family just love them too! You’ve captured our amazing day just perfectly.

Thank you so much – we could not be happier”
Dean and Laura

I had not realised until the wedding day that i had photographed Dean’s Dad, Gary for both his weddings (over 30 years ago, and then again, 13 years ago)

Laura and Dean’s wedding was hard work but even after 40 years photographing weddings, I still love it, and the job satisfaction from the feedback is very rewarding.

See the full gallery here.