Claire and Calum’s Seaside Wedding at Lochgreen House Hotel
At Claire and Calum’s wedding, at Lochgreen House Hotel, there was a red Porsche, and a dog named Binky. My two favourite things. What else is there to say really?..
I’d already met Claire and Calum before, as they were guests at Emma and Ed’s wedding back in 2013. Emma’s mum Sandra was even at the wedding, as were some other people from before, so it was brilliant to see them again and get to work with such a nice bunch of people for a second time. Claire and her bridesmaids had their hair and makeup done at Lochgreen House itself before the ceremony. Despite photographing weddings at Lochgreen numerous times before this was the very first time I’d been able to capture the preparations there and, I have to admit, I found the rooms to be perfect for my style of photography with lots of natural light and large windows. The ceremony was in the nearby Portland Parish Church, just a short drive along the beachfront. I met up with videographer Stephen from Gryffe Weddings for the third time this year at the church – many of my clients choose not to have their weddings filmed because they are worried that it would be too intrusive but, in reality, if you choose a professional like Stephen you’ll hardly even notice that they are there and I certainly have no objections whatsoever.
After a lovely ceremony, with a bit of music played by Maria (whose wedding I also photographed last Friday!) and some guitar playing by Claire’s father, we went for a quick 10 minute photoshoot on the nearby beach. As a photographer I am always delighted when clients are keen to go to the beach. With the exception of pouring rain it doesn’t really matter what the weather is like or what time of the day it is, you can ways get beautiful and interesting photographs. There is also the added, but often overlooked, bonus of being able to get a few minutes away from your guests between the ceremony and the reception. The wedding reception at Lochgreen was great fun to photograph. Claire and Calum had the whole place to themselves so, for the first time ever for me, I was able to photograph the guests making use of all of the available space downstairs. Alex Graham provided the piano music throughout dinner which turned into an impromptu karaoke session (see photographs below…) and the party atmosphere continued well into the night after I’d left.
I absolutely loved photographing this wedding, and not just because there was a dog there. For me I think Claire and Calum had just the right mixture of the formal wedding stuff mixed with a very laid-back attitude to the whole day which meant that everyone had a lot of fun, including me.