Royal College of Physicians Wedding Ceremony | Gleneagles Townhouse Wedding Reception | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer
Royal College of Physicians Wedding Ceremony | Gleneagles Townhouse Wedding Reception | Marissa and Mike | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer
Marissa and mike had their wedding ceremony at The Royal College of PHysicians on Queen Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Royal College of Physicians is one of the most iconic library’s that you can get married at in all of Edinburgh. They were married in “The New Library”, which is ironically one of the oldest libraries in Edinburgh as well. It is actually still being used as a functional library today for the college. And of course, The New Library is perfect for an intimate wedding ceremony, and Marissa and Mike had just 10 of thier closest friends and family members with them on their wedding day.
Earlier that day, Marissa got ready in a corner suite at The Cheval the Edinburgh Grand on St. Andrew’s Square, which is just around the corner from The Royal College of Physicians. She had the talented Rae Mathieson doing her makeup and the lovely Stacey Deane do everyone’s hair. They also had the talented Emma, of Timeless White wedding planners, there with her in the bridal suite when I arrived, and of course, she was making sure that every detail was taken care of the entire wedding day. Mike and Marissa had a first look in the Games Room on the 4th floor of the Cheval Edinburgh Grand and then afterwards had a private moment to say their vows to each other with no one else in the room. After they were finished we took a few photos by the elevator in the lobby, which is an image that is sentimental to them both.
The team at Timeless White made sure that the bride and groom were driven around during their wedding portraits by the friendliest taxi service in town, Butlers Chauffeur Hire. Once we got in the car, I had already pre planned with the couple over multiple zoom calls and emails about exactly where they would like to take their wedding portraits in Edinburgh. We started on the old town side of the city first, and roamed around the royal mile and vennel lookout point with the edinburgh castle perfectly placed behind the couple. We then drove over to the new town side of town, where The Royal COllege of Physicians is located, and stopped at both Circus lane in Stockbridge as well as the SCottish National POrtrait Gallery on queen street. THe portrait Gallery is one of my favorite spots to take portraits, as there are so many lovely murals and multiple floors of artwork for every couple to find a lovely corner that they appreciate. The Portrait Gallery is also just one block away from The Royal College of Physicians, so we were able to walk over to the wedding venue.
All of the wedding guests arrived to the new Library ceremony space, which is filled with books, floral installations by The Petal Shoppe, live music by the Capella String Quartet, a surrounding balcony, windy staircases and ornate marble ceilings, while the bride and groom were tucked away in a suite. The wonderfully charming celebrant, Andrew Scott, made the ceremony incredibly scottish and heart warming for these two americans, who have heritage in scotland, with all of the scottish traditions that he shared with their loved ones. After the ceremony, the couple were greeted with confetti outside of the royal college of physicians before their guests headed off to the cocktail hour. But before leaving the stunning architecture of this historic wedding venue in the heart of edinburgh, the couple had one more roam around the new library by themselves to take a few more couple photos and have a private first dance with the live musician still playing in the background.
After leaving the Royal COllege of PHysicians, the couple had a taxi take them around the corner to The Gleneagles Townhouse for a few portraits at The Spence bar. The couple was also able to see all of the lovely floral installations and table decor in the courtyard of the spence restaurant before everyone else, and timeless white and The Petal Shoppe did such a wonderful job with everything. There were figs, grapes, and a soft palette of florals that perfectly matched the Spence’s palette of napkins and interior decor. BAck at the lounge tables by the spence bar, the wedding guests were all enjoying drinks and canapés before they were all escorted down to the courtyard for their seated dinner.
There were many heartfelt speeches, and even a few surprises for me personally, as the groom was from a place I never thought I would hear of again, but was from a small town that I used to live at for a few years in middle GA, and his two friends that gave speeches were also from there. The world is a really small place, and wedding days always remind me of that, especially when so many lovely american couples come over to scotland to get married in beautiful and historic venues in Edinburgh. IRonically, I have zero heritage in SCotland or the UK as a whole, as I’m all Mexican (mom’s side) and Norwegian (my dad’s side), via the DNA test that I took, and just in the last few generations had moved over to America and ended up in chicago, where my parents met as kids. but so many americans have british heritage and I love that they love to all come here to experience this culture. With my husband being scottish and us about to have a child in the next few weeks, I know that our child will love exploring all of the different cultures that make up their historical DNA, just as these two sweet gems did on their wedding day in Edinburgh. x
“The Royal College of Physicians has one of the most historic library spaces for anyone to have an intimate wedding ceremony and is conveniently located in the heart of edinburgh, scotland.”
Edinburgh Wedding Venue - The Royal College of Physicians | Destination Scottish Wedding Planners - Timeless White | EDINBURGH WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER - MELODY JOY CO. | edinburgh Hair Stylist - Stacey Deane | Makeup Artist - Rae Mathieson | edinburgh Wedding Florist - The Petal Shoppe | Clothing & Fashion - Sophia Grace Couture | Entertainment - Capella String Quartet | edinburgh Officiant - Andrew Scott Celebrant | EDINBURGH COCKTAIL HOUR AND Reception Venue - The Courtyard at Gleneagles Townhouse | COcktail Hour - The Spence | Taxi - Butlers Chauffeur Hire | Getting Ready Bridal Suite - Cheval the Edinburgh Grand
Edinburgh Wedding Venue - The Royal College of Physicians | Destination Scottish Wedding Planners - Timeless White | EDINBURGH WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER - MELODY JOY CO. | edinburgh Hair Stylist - Stacey Deane | Makeup Artist - Rae Mathieson | edinburgh Wedding Florist - The Petal Shoppe | Clothing & Fashion - Sophia Grace Couture | Entertainment - Capella String Quartet | edinburgh Officiant - Andrew Scott Celebrant | EDINBURGH COCKTAIL HOUR AND Reception Venue - The Courtyard at Gleneagles Townhouse | COcktail Hour - The Spence | Taxi - Butlers Chauffeur Hire | Getting Ready Bridal Suite - Cheval the Edinburgh Grand
A Beautiful Edinburgh Wedding | The Scotsman Hotel | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer
A Beautiful Edinburgh Wedding | The Scotsman Hotel | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer | Ochre BotanicaL Studios | GRAND CAFE EDINBURGH RESTAURANT
Alana and Les are local to Edinburgh and chose to have their wedding day start and end in the heart of their city, at The Scotsman Hotel. Alana spent her morning in the bridal suite that overlooked the Edinburgh skyline and spent the morning with her daughter and closest family members. She wore a stunning vintage wedding gown and her wedding bouquet was done by the talented Ochre Botanical Studios with silk from Heirloom Silk Ribbons. A cream vintage VW van picked up Alana and her bridal party and took them to the wedding ceremony, at City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, a beautiful church located in a stunning historic hall in the Old Town of Edinburgh. After the ceremony we strolled around one of their favorite gardens in Edinburgh and then headed back to The Scotsman Hotel for the wedding dinner and had speeches overlooking the guests from the balcony of The Grand Cafe. One of the reasons I love the The Grand Cafe is because, since being located within The Scotsman Hotel, it has a stunning view of Edinburgh, as it overlooks The Balmoral, Waverly Station and the New Town skyline. And since Alana and Les had friends from all over the world at their wedding day, and myself still feeling like a tourist after living here for a few years now, the city view from The Grand Cafe really does have such a romantic and magical feeling about it, especially as the skyline lights up as the sun fades into the night. x
Edinburgh Hotel - The Scotsman Hotel | Wedding Dress - Bliss Studio Edinburgh | Wedding Bouquet - Beige Blommer of Ochre Botanical Studios | Floral Designer - Beige Blommer | Floral Company - Root and Branch Flowers | Floral Silk - Heirloom Silk Ribbons | Wedding Reception Dinner - Grand Cafe Edinburgh | Church Wedding Ceremony - City of Edinburgh Methodist Church | Edinburgh Hair - Stefan Hampton of Hamptons Hairdressing Salon | Edinburgh Makeup Artist - Nikki Marshall World | Bridal Headband - Etsy, Design by Hummingbird
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
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