Karen and Shahzads Autumn Wedding at Sorn Castle in Scotland

I photograph weddings all year round, every single month of the year and, although in Scotland the summer is generally drier and brighter (but not always), and the busiest for weddings, my favourite time of the year has to be Autumn. The colours of the trees and foliage are often amazing and when you get a nice day, such as the day Karen and Shahzad had their late autumn wedding at Sorn Castle in Ayrshire, the light is unbeatable. Sure, I can, and do, take photographs in terrible light but when you get a lovely warm sun low in the sky it opens up so many opportunities for beautiful photographs.

This was the first time I had ever been to Sorn Castle and I immediately fell in love with its quirky style and opulence. It has been privately owned by the McIntyre family since 1903 and, on the day of the wedding itself, it is run like clockwork. So many venues frustrate me because I can see how poor management just slows everything down so to work at an efficient venue like Sorn Castle is great. Both Shahzad and Karen were getting ready in the castle itself so I could flit between the rooms and capture some shots of both of them getting ready for the day ahead before moving downstairs into the hallway for the ceremony. Shahzad’s family are from Pakistan and I came to realise quite early on that, aside from wearing amazing outfits, they LOVE taking photographs. A lot. I have honestly never seen so many cameras in one place in my whole life. I take a very laid back view of other guests taking photographs and it really didn’t bother me in the slightest but the ceremony was an interesting challenge. During your average wedding ceremony I am used to being the sole photographer but not this day. I was glad to be tall and able to shoot above people’s heads otherwise it would have been tricky…

All in all I had a great day and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I love shooting relaxed weddings like this one and having some beautiful light to work with was the icing on the cake for me.