Eilidh and Alan had chosen to be married in St Columba’s Free Church of Scotland, at the top of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, early on a Friday afternoon. I probably don’t need to tell anyone how popular the the Royal Mile is with tourists, or just how close we were to the castle. If the place wasn’t busy enough when we arrived, it certainly was when the multinational crowd saw the men in kilts and realised what was going on. I had spent a low-key morning with the bride, her family and bridesmaids getting some lovely shots of their preparations, so the Royal Mile came as a bit of a shock. However, things reached a whole new pitch when we came out of the church.
When we emerged from the church the crowd had grown and now included a kazoo band of rugby fans. There were dozens of people all wanting snaps, several of whom were waving tablet computers. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, a group of Spanish photographers on a field trip to Edinburgh arrived. Each of these guys had a couple of cameras, long lenses, backpacks, everything. In the few minutes that they were there their collective shutter count was probably as much as I do in a month.
All that aside, the bride and groom were very happy and we popped down to the raised walk-way above Victoria Street, behind the church, for a couple of portraits of them. It was great to get an opportunity so soon after the ceremony to get a few images. They were so happy.
After that the reception was held at the Macdonald Houstoun House Hotel in West Lothian, which has some very nice landscaped grounds. Unfortunately the gardens weren’t in bloom yet, but there were enough ever-greens to provide some colour and the weather was kind. For the wedding breakfast the couple had hired a separate room for the children. They had babysitters, their own dinner, TV, computers, games and basically were having their own parallel party next door and loving it. It seemed to be a solution that made everyone happy. The party and the ceilidh went on way into the night and everyone had a fabulous time by the look of it.