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.”
The Royal College of Physicians wedding in Edinburgh, Scotland | Jessica & Lewis | St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral | Edinburgh wedding Photographer
Jessica and Lewis chose to have their wedding day in their lovely hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland at the royal college of Physicians, A historic wedding venue located in the heart of Edinburgh on Queen Street. Lewis got ready ready in his childhood home with his best friends and they ended up walking to a local pub for pints just before heading to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church to start greeting everyone for the wedding ceremony. Jessica started her day by getting ready in the main bridal suite of the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel with all of her best friends and family members. the talented Rae Mathieson did an amazing job on Jessica’s makeup and MElanie Herriot did a beautiful job on her long wavy hairstyle.
A vintage car drove Jessica and her dad over to ST. Mary’s Episcopal Church in the west end, for their beautiful wedding ceremony. Then after the vows, the edinburgh string ensemble playing, then being led out of the ceremony by a bagpiper, they had a long sparkler exit all of the way back to their blue vintage car and drove over to The ROyal College of Physicians of Edinburgh for their cocktail hour and wedding reception. The cullen suite is where they had their portraits taken and the late night buffet desert table and the new library was where the guests congregated for drinks during the cocktail hour and room change before and after the dinner in the great hall. All of the rooms were such lovely and unique spaces for the guests to wakl around and mingle.
One of my favorite parts of the wedding day was during the cocktail hour in The New Library room of The Royal College of physicians, because they had a brass band, called Top tier Brass, playing covers of a lot of dance songs from the second level of the library while everyone below with their drinks created a dance floor as soon as the tunes started. It was such a great atmosphere for everyone and it was one of those weddings where everyone danced and was in high spirits the entire evening. they switched up the music again for the main dance floor in the great hall, where they had jonny ross music dj’ing and had two guys on a saxophone and bongos walking around and working the crowd. IT was such a fun evening full of limbos, laughter and learning on the dance floor about guests going “true scotsman in a kilt.” look it up, if you don’t know what that means.
It was also my first time working with Ollie & Ivy on a wedding day, and they did such a beautiful job with the floral arrangements, from the wedding bouquet, to the ceremony, to the floral installations to the dinner table centerpieces. Overall, I would easily recommend them again as a wedding florist in Edinburgh.
In the end, this was such a beautiful wedding day in the center of edinburgh. ALso, Jessica did such an amazing job planning this entire wedding day by herself. Honestly, I’m sure the staff at the royal college of physicians helped a lot, but I was so impressed at Jessica’s eye for detail, understanding of timelines and overall taste and style for the vendors she selected and the vision she had. All in all, this was another lovely wedding day at the royal college of physicians in edinburgh and it’s a bit of “win, win” that I live within walking distance of this wedding venue and could just stroll a few blocks home at the end of the night. x