Christina and Gary’s Intimate Woodside Lodge on Loch Goil Elopement
Some weddings and elopements are so calm and relaxed that there aren’t very many things to write about in a blog. Everything is wonderfully peaceful and pleasant and the whole day flows past gently, very much like loch Goil itself. The last wedding I wrote about, Anna and Mark’s Glencoe wilderness elopement was exactly like this. That certainly doesn’t make them any less amazing though, it simply means that the photographs themselves will do a better job of telling the story of the day as any words I could type on my computer. This is definitely the case with Christina and Gary’s intimate Woodside Lodge on Loch Goil elopement last month.
The Woodside Lodge on Loch Goil is a truly amazing place to visit, or indeed have a wedding ceremony. The Woodside Lodge on Loch Goil has an adult-sized tree house sitting right above the edge of Loch Goil, a resident collie dog and great food. What more do you need? I’ve been photographing Woodside Lodge on Loch Goil elopements for years and years (there are links at the bottom of this page) and have photographed weddings of all shapes and sizes there but each time I go back I fall in love with it a little more.
I find that as a documentary style photographer people sometimes hire me for their elopement because they definitely want their day photographed, but they want it low-key and without cheesy poses. They are worried that they will be uncomfortable in front of the camera and usually tell me that they aren’t very good at posing. Honestly, I completely understand and I don’t mind in the slightest. I know that not everyone wants to spend a long time on their wedding day posing for the camera and that is absolutely fine by me.
The main reason that I don’t mind about your reluctance to hang about on a chilly mountainside for an hour to get that Insta-perfect shot is because I know that we don’t need to do that. I found early on in my many years of wedding photography that most of my clients don’t realise that when they relax into each other’s company all they have to do is have a cuddle, or even just sit with each other. When they do something as simple as being together I can work around them and capture beautiful images. If I give you the space to relax, and sometimes a gentle nudge in the right direction, you don’t really have to do anything much for me to be able to capture as many, or as few, beautiful photographs of the two of you as you want.
Christina and Gary’s Woodside Lodge on Loch Goil elopement could not have been simpler, or more relaxed. They got themselves ready in different parts of the Lodge, with Gary down at one end of the garden in the bijoux summerhouse and Christina in the main building, and I flitted between them both (running around wedding venues with a heavy camera bag is really all I have to do to keep fit). I helped Gary put the finishing touches to his McCalls of Glasgow kilt whilst the ever-capable Alice helped Christina into her beautiful dress from Blush Bridal Gowns.
I waited with Gary to take photographs of them when Christina walked out of the entrance to the Lodge as a sort of first look (they’d seen one another less than an hour before so I’m not sure it really counts as a first look but it was still a very touching moment). After a bit of scurrying along the path and up the wooden staircase I photographed their wonderful ceremony for them in the treehouse, courtesy of Jane MacGregor from Argyll and Bute Registrars. After the slightly teary ceremony we sat and chatted for a while why they worked their way through the mountains of canapés that were delivered.
Even though there was a light rain in the air and the light was fading fast they were keen to head out into the large gardens and down to the loch side for some autumnal photographs. They were an amazing couple to photograph. They were completely comfortable in each other’s arms and I think their love for each other is clear to see in every single photograph. I had an absolutely brilliant few hours in their company and could have stayed for the rest of the day chatting to them. However I needed to get home and they had a special dinner for two to eat which would have been slightly awkward with me there. I did, however, still have time for a slice of wedding cake before driving home again through the mountains.
Thank you Christina and Gary for letting me share your photographs of your beautiful Woodside Lodge on Loch Goil elopement. If you’d like to take a look at a few other Woodside Lodge on Loch Goil elopements and weddings you could have a look at Jenny and Adam’s summer elopement or Leanne and Jonathan’s slightly bigger summer wedding.
