Hillhouse Wedding – Laura and Craig
As a wedding photographer in Scotland it is a rare day that you have a beautiful sunny day coupled with a venue that has amazing outside spaces with beautiful well tended gardens but the day of Laura and Craig’s upbeat Hillhouse wedding was just one of those perfect days where everything slotted together so perfectly. I had never been to take photographs at Hillhouse before and it certainly lived up to my expectations – it is hard to imagine a more perfect location for wedding photography. It is a large Georgian country house set in immaculately well maintained grounds with plenty of beautiful spaces for photographs both inside and out (and some of the best food I’ve ever eaten).
Craig and Laura were both getting ready in the house itself which meant that I could easily flit between the two bedrooms and take photographs of the preparations from the men’s point of view as well as the bride which made a nice change for me. There is always a very different vibe in each of the rooms and it’s fun to be able to capture that. The whole day was very upbeat but there was also a lot of emotion too, which was lovely to see and capture. As you might see from the photographs Laura’s father struggled to keep it together when he first saw her, just before the ceremony, and in that situation, as often happens, I wonder whether I should take many pictures? It’s hard to photograph someone who you know probably would rather you weren’t there at the time and I think the situation demands a certain level of sensitivity. I hear of some photographers who just jump right in and snap away like crazy but I tend to just take a couple of shots to record the moment and then take a back seat – it’s a very personal moment after all and it is still a wedding, not a photoshoot.
Laura and Craig were brilliant clients and they were more than happy to put in a little bit of effort to their photographs to make the most of the amazing surroundings at Hillhouse. Although I am a reportage / documentary style photographer it is still perfectly normal to have some photographs of the bride and groom and to set a little time aside for that. As I’ve said before, reportage wedding photography shouldn’t be viewed as a last resort for people who don’t want a photographer and are looking for the least involving option – it is actually just a different style of capturing the day and the vast majority of my clients are actually very keen to have beautiful wedding photographs, just not photographs that are all staged. We spent about 15 minutes wandering around the grounds, in the gardens and in the trees to capture some lovely shots. As the weather was so amazing we even had a second stint just between dinner and dessert as the sun was setting – possibly the very best time to take photographs but, sadly, not a time that is often factored into a traditional British wedding schedule. If it is a sunny day and you can spare 5 minutes I’d highly recommend making the extra effort to go outside as the sun is setting.
Please take a moment to have a lot through the photographs which will say far more about the day than my writing. One thing to notice is the extra hand-fastening – someone had left the actual ribbon in the room and there was no time to collect it so a stand-in one was used instead. The actual ribbon was then retrieved and a second ceremony was carried out amongst the apple trees.
All in all I had such a brilliant day and can’t wait until my next visit to photograph another Hillhouse wedding. Thanks Laura and Craig for being such a great couple to work with!
I was recently back at Hillhouse (in 2018) and shot another wonderful wedding there. You can read all about that one here https://www.silverphotography.co.uk/hillhouse-wedding-photographs-robyn-and-richard/
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Wedding Venue – Hillhouse (Troon).
