Winter wedding - Bethany and John at Kilsyth Church of God and Glenbervie House Hotel

The charm of a winter's wedding is all about bringing together family and friends for jollity and warmth at a cold and dark time of the year, sheltering inside from the elements with good cheer and warm company. When Christmas is just three days away, this sense of festivity is all the stronger. Bethany and John's day had this in bucketloads - the feeling of a real coming together of the community like a wide family, and it was a privilege to be part of it. Another thing that the day also had in bucketloads was rain! This must have been one of the wettest days of the winter. I mentioned in the previous blog post, winter weddings are definitely a real challenge for the photographer. It becomes dark much earlier, there is a high chance of bad weather, and even if it is dry the possibilities of going out are time-limited by the fact that it is going to be bitterly cold. So chances to use natural light are limited or maybe even non-existent. We decided to think of this, not as a disadvantage, but as a chance to think about things differently - to use the opportunities we had to take photographs in a different way from the way we might photograph a summer wedding.

At Bethany and John's wedding it was near-impossible to step outside into the rain and darkness, so for taking portraits of the two of them we decided to concentrate on taking pictures inside instead. With a highly cooperative Minister at the church, Bethany suggested we might be able to stay behind after the ceremony and take pictures inside the church itself, especially as Bethany's Dad had gone to a lot of effort decorating the church with spectacular lanterns, and there were also festive Christmas trees around. Bethany had also meticulously hand made the bouquets herself. We'd never tried a portrait session inside the church before, but it worked perfectly. As you can see, Bethany and John were very natural and looked very relaxed - and there was something of the James Bond about John in his dinner jacket. Later that evening, we also took some portraits in a luxurious bedroom in Glenbervie House, which gave a totally different look to the pictures, and again a great chance for us to experiment.