Dovecot Studios Wedding | Sara + Gus | Duddingston Kirk Wedding | Halfpenny London Dress | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer
Dovecot Studios Wedding |
Sara + Gus | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer | Halfpenny London DRESS | Kinloch anderson | Ochre botanical Studios | DudDingston Kirk
Sara and Gus are such a beautiful couple, inside and out. They started their day with a beautiful view over Duddingston Loch at the lovely historic church hall of Duddingston Kirk, in Holyrood Park. Their wedding guests, local Edinburgh family members to friends who traveled up from London, were all greeted with beautiful music by a local bagpiper and the entire scene was straight out of out an international romance film. The Duddingston Kirk church hall had a loft overlooking the entire ceremony and one large beautiful window, that was perfectly lit with natural light for them to sign their marriage certificate. Sara was wearing a gorgeous wedding dress and blouse from Halfpenny London that also matched the timelessness of the venue. After their sweet ceremony, where one of Sara’s best friends sang a lovely opera piece (one of the loveliest I’ve heard in a long time, as my dad had us listening to opera a lot growing up), and her voice filled the hall. Honestly, the acoustics were perfect in there for opera music. As they exited the front doors of Duddingston Kirk, everyone was waiting outside for them in two rows of sparklers throughout the Duddingston Kirk grounds, all of the way until the entrance gate to the Old Church Lane, where a beautiful vintage Daimler wedding car was waiting to take them to the Old Town of Edinburgh for their wedding portraits.
We strolled around the Edinburgh University Old College, which was perfectly placed down the street from their wedding reception venue at Dovecot Studios. Now Dovecot Studios is one of the loveliest halls I’ve been to in the Old Town of Edinburgh. Dovecot used to be a swimming pool for locals and has now been restored and converted into thriving artist studios as well as an art museum to display the local artists works. Dovecot also have art exhibits as well. The main space in the Dovecot Studios is a large hall with a viewing balcony overlooking a stunning center hall with an immaculately crafted high ceiling. It’s the perfect wedding venue for having a cocktail hour on the balcony before dinner, and then going up to the balcony for coffee and dessert while they clear the main floor for dancing and a live band, like The Jets, who did a lovely job at this wedding. I appreciate ceilidh dances so much. Not only are they a fun time, but ceilidh’s help everyone loosen up and help everyone meet other friends and relatives they hadn’t been close to before. All in all, Sara and Gus had such a beautiful day with their loved ones and Dovecot Studios was the perfect venue to house those unforgettable memories for them! x
Florist Company Name - Julie at Ochre Botanical Studios | Edinburgh Make-up Artist - Sophie Alexis Make-Up | Edinburgh Hair Stylist - Marnie 7 West | Wedding Dress + Sheer Blouse - Halfpenny London | Shoes - Loeffler Randall Shoes | Earrings - Completed Works | Groom's Jacket - Kinloch Anderson | Bride + Groom Rings - Natalie Landale Jewellery | Church Wedding Ceremony - Duddingston Kirk | Edinburgh Reception Venue Hall - Dovecot Studios | Wedding Reception Caterer - Pinkerton's Catering | Edinburgh Wedding Live Band - The Jets
The Free Company Wedding | Sally + Kevin | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer
The Free Company Wedding | Sally + Kevin | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer | justin Alexander wedding dress
The Free Company was the perfect start and end to Sally and Kevin’s wedding day. Sally spent the morning tucked away in the House of Cockburn, a beautiful historic home located just outside of Edinburgh, in. Balerno, and conveniently a few minutes up the road from The Free Company. She spent the morning of her wedding day drinking coffee and mimosas with her bridesmaids, while getting her hair and makeup done by the lovely Megan Neely and Danielle Dickson. After she was finished getting ready she rode with her mom in a vintage wedding car to St Theresa's Church, where her and Kevin said ‘I do.’ They exited the church together as husband and wife by running through a sea of confetti to their getaway vehicle, the previously mentioned vintage wedding car. From there, we all rode together to The Free Company before the guests arrived, to roam around the farm fields and take couples portraits of them as newlyweds. When we pulled up to The Free Company, we were greeted with champagne by Angus, who is one of the original founders of the The Free Company and now runs the farm and restaurant with his brother.
By the time we took portraits around the farm and walked back to The Free Company courtyard, all of their guests had arrived and local canapés were being served. The drinks were flowing in the best way possible. Everyone was smiling and catching up with friends, new and old! Cocktails are one of my favorite times of a wedding day because it’s the first time anyone can run up to the bride and groom and congratulate them on becoming husband and wife. The atmosphere of the courtyard cocktail hour was stunning and full of warmth, as the sun was shining brightly and there was a live band playing beautifully in the background of the lively conversations.
After the cocktail hour everyone headed through the bar area to the main hall of The Free Company where two long tables were formed to create a family style dining atmosphere. And as lovely as the farm setting and beautifully remodeled venue is, the real gem of having your wedding at The Free Company, is the top tier farm to table full course meal that you and your guests will have the privilege of tasting. All of their meals are seasonally set and locally sourced, specifically from their farm. If you are a wedding guest or simply visiting Edinburgh or Scotland for any other reason (and just stumbled upon this blog post), it’s worth having a meal at The Free Company during your stay here. Sally and Kevin spent the evening dancing with their friends to DJ Paddy Gordon and then had fresh pizzas and late night conversations in the courtyard under the stars. x
Edinburgh Wedding Venue - The Free Company | Farm to Table Catering - The Free Company | Florist - The Free Company | Getting Ready Bridal Accommodation - The Free Company Lodging | Edinburgh MUA - Danielle Dickson Makeup | Edinburgh Hair Stylist - Bridal Hair by Megan Neely | Wedding Dress - Justin Alexander | Scotland Church Ceremony Location - St Theresa's Church | Scotland DJ - DJ Paddy Gordon, MPG Entertainments
Edinburgh Wedding | Ruth + Mark | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer
Edinburgh Wedding | Ruth + Mark | Scottish Bride | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer | Scotland Wedding
Edinburgh Weddings are some of my favorite! The architecture in this city is like no other. But truly, my favorite part of this wedding day is that Ruth and Mark are some of our best friends in Scotland and we were honored that they wanted Ross and I to capture their wedding day! Ruth and I actually were introduced by a mutual friend on Instagram telling us to meet at Cairngorm for coffee simply because he “thought we would get along well.” Well, he was completely right, because now she is one of my best friends here in Scotland!
Ruth started her wedding day at The Place Hotel with a morning of drinking mimosas and having a stunning view of the rooftops of Edinburgh. Mark spent his morning with his groomsmen at his home overlooking The Fourth Bridge in South Queensferry. His guys were doing cartwheels in kilts (good thing Ross was there to capture that craziness in person, because of course I couldn’t post all of those) and drinking coffee from The Manna House, their favorite local cafe. Both Ruth and Mark are such laid back individuals and both just wanted relaxing mornings with their best friends. Those are my favorite kind of mornings.
The Place Hotel is right next door to their ceremony location at P’s & G’s Church, so she was able to easily walk down the street and straight down the aisle for her ceremony. Ruth had the entire sanctuary of P’s & G’s transformed into a whimsical space full of nature and the outdoors. I even spent a day walking along the beaches of Scotland collecting sea glass to use as decor with Ruth. If you are looking for endless beautiful sea glass, the shores of the Dalmeny Estate have a lot that get washed up along the shore. In the end, they were able to gather enough blue and green sea glass to hang on all of the branches that they foraged from a local estate. After their ceremony, everyone caravanned down to the cobblestoned waterway of Quay Commons, in Leith, for an afternoon cocktail garden party in the sun! We then strolled through Custom Lane for their bridal portraits. They played a bit a ping pong in front of Williams and Johnson and just relaxed for a while, just the two of them, before greeting a couple hundred of their closest friends and family back at P’s & G’s for a night of Scottish wedding traditions and wedding party!
The guests (just a few, 400ish of them) were all greeted with a custom drink and handmade wedding favours, a bar of soap from the Isle of Skye company, Skye Soap. There were dances, speeches, a live band the whole evening and some solid ceilidh dancing! It was just the perfect evening and there is nothing better than walking away from a wedding and not wanting it to end. I’m so happy to have celebrated this wedding day with Ruth and Mark. With every unique wedding I capture, I’m left with memories that I’ll cherish forever and I couldn’t be more grateful for beautiful wedding days like this one.
Just in case you wanted to see Ross and I in action, these above photos show us in our happy place, dancing alongside everyone while capturing the fun happening all the way until the final dance, which is my favorite one! I truly love my job and celebrating the couples I’m documenting!
The images below are from the day-after shoot! We started at Fortitude Coffee and had flat whites before we headed off to roam the streets of the city where these two fell in love.
Edinburgh Wedding Photographer - Melody Joy Co. | Edinburgh Wedding Venues - Ps & Gs Church (ceremony + reception), Cafe Tartine (starter), Papillion (main) + Quay Commons (dessert) | Edinburgh Celebrant - Rev. Michael Mair | Edinburgh Wedding Videographer - Sandy Butler Videography | Edinburgh Wedding Dress - House of Mooshki (bespoke) at Edinburgh Bridal Boutique - Pretty Woman | Jewellery + accessories - Róis Scottish Sea Glass Designs | Bridesmaid outfits - Coast | Scotland Groomswear and kilts - The Kilt Store, Edinburgh | Edinburgh Wedding Florist - Narcissus | Edinburgh Wedding Band Entertainment - Corra | Edinburgh Bridal Make-up - Alicia Avenzzano | Custom Scottish Wedding Favours - Isle of Skye Soap Co. | Edinburgh Set design - Big House Productions
Scotland Elopement | Lamb's Pavilion | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer
The Pavilion at Lamb’s House | Leith | Scotland Elopement | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer
We were together.
I forget the rest.
-Walt Whitman
The beautiful wedding vendors involved in this day are listed at the bottom and I personally believe they offer some of the best options for eloping in Scotland. I’m also so thankful for Tamar + Matt’s genuine love for each other, that always comes through every time they are captured. If anyone is eloping or getting married in Scotland, I would love to help plan the day if you are unfamiliar with the area. I hope everyone enjoys these images and would like to thank the Lamb’s Pavilion, Narcissus Flowers, and Those were the Days Vintage Bridal for being a part of this simply elegant + naturally textured elopement shoot!
Getting Ready + Lodging The Lamb’s Pavilion | Vintage Wedding Dress Those Were the Days Bridal | Wedding Bouquet + Florals Narcissus | Groom’s Jacket + Vintage Burberry Coat Those Were the Days Vintage | Portrait Locations Private Historic Home + Holyrood Park, Edinburgh | Lovely Couple Tamar + Matt
Eloping in Edinburgh, Scotland is something I always encourage! If you are wanting something more intimate and looking for a beautiful country and city to spend those precious memories together, this is the place! I would love to help you plan your elopement in Edinburgh or anywhere else in Scotland! There is nothing I love more than to make your wedding day all about you both and any recommendations or suggestions that you may need, I’m here for you! I also can refer Edinburgh wedding planners, florists and wedding dress shops and designers. Just know that eloping doesn’t mean you are on your own and need to feel overwhelmed! Even the smallest Scottish elopement deserves all of the attention to detail as a wedding day does! I assume if you are reading this that you are contemplating eloping to Scotland, so again I just have to say, do it! You won’t regret spending the start of your life with your best friend in the stunning countryside of Scotland.
Edinburgh City Chambers Wedding | Scotland, UK
Edinburgh Wedding Photographer | Scotland Wedding Photographer | City Chambers Elopement
This wedding day was filled with so much beauty and stillness.
Victoria and Theo have a beautiful history of love that started when they met in Canada many years ago, then they both eventually ventured down to London to reconnect later in life and are now settled in Edinburgh, Scotland with their incredibly adorable children. I love sweet stories like these. Mainly because no two stories are the same. Every couple inspires me and I am so grateful to be able to not only capture wedding days but to genuinely celebrate their love alongside their family and friends (and maybe, quite possibly, sing and bop around a good bit during the dancing).
And when I mentioned stillness, I meant that, with "The Fringe" happening in Edinburgh, Scotland during the entire month of August, The Royal Mile is completely packed with tourists. But we found the most lovely nooks and alleyways for portraits around St. Giles Cathedral, The Royal Mile and Advocate’s Close, for plenty of quiet spots amongst the noise. It was so fun feeling like we were hidden away when there are thousands of people on the other side of the building. If anyone was concerned about getting married during festival season in Edinburgh because of the tourists, don't be. It was perfect! Their ceremony was also tucked away in the gorgeous hall inside of Edinburgh City Chambers right off of the The Royal Mile.
Victoria and Theo, thank you so much for choosing me to capture your wedding day! It was such an honor to photograph your wedding in the beautifully historic old town of Edinburgh. Wishing you many blessings on the many years ahead of you!
I am officially in love with kids in kilts.
Every dinner table was named after their most memory giving pubs in London.
I'm definitely a fan of men in kilts as well. Especially dancing! Way more entertaining.
Edinburgh Wedding Photographer - Melody Joy Co. | Dress - Charlotte Balbier | Dress Boutique - Kudos Couture Bridal | Shoes - The White Ribbon | Hair - Ceri Sutherland | Makeup - Victoria Watson, Toto Makeup | Groom Kilt & Sporran - Kinloch Anderson | Jackets - Davison Kilt Hire | Shoes - Loake Inverness Brogues | Cufflinks & Tie - Gieves & Hawkes | Ceremony - City Chambers, Edinburgh | Reception - Osteria del Tempo Perso, Edinburgh | Champagne - Alfred Gratien | Flowers - Narcissus Edinburgh