Gillian & Robert's Wedding

When you learn that the stag-do lasted a week, you can work out a couple of things about a wedding:

1. It will be big
2. It will be lively
3. It will be a load of fun

Gillian & Robert's wedding at Inchcolm and the Corn Exchange was all of the above. At 280 people it was pretty much the biggest wedding I have ever been to, and it was particularly impressive that 160 of them made the 40 minute boat trip to Inchcolm on the Maid of the Forth for the actual ceremony. It was big in other ways - at almost 14 hours coverage it was one of the longest days I've done too, 24 hours later my feet still hurt!

As usual the day started out with the bride & ladies getting ready. The first person I met outside the house was Gillian's brother Barry, whose wedding to Pauline I shot last year, so it was great to see them again. In fact I recognised lots of people from last year, which was another great wedding - this family know how to party!

During the make-up session I grabbed this portrait of Gillian looking stunning:

The weather wasn't looking too promising, in fact it was starting to rain lightly as we left the house, with Gillian accompanied by her Dad

Gillian's car arrived just as the ferry pulled in

Because everyone was going together on the ferry to Inchcolm, the first job was to get Gillian and the bridesmaids onboard and safely out of sight in the wheelhouse of the boat.

Once the Robert and the rest of the group had arrived we got underway, passing under the Forth Bridge for the four mile trip to the island:


Arriving at Inchcolm the weather was typically Scottish but so was the scenery - stunning:

More logistical headaches followed as we got everyone off the boat and up to the Abbey, whilst Gillian had to stay out of sight. Once they got the signal from the Abbey they were able to make the short walk up the hill for the ceremony:


It was standing room only in the Abbey as Gillian made her entrance:

The moment we'd all been waiting for - married!

I love photographing kids at weddings, and there were loads:

In fact there were loads of people everywhere:


Time was really tight (we had a boat to catch) so after a few group shots I went off with Gillian and Robert to get some portrait shots. Inchcolm is a stunning venue and I could have spent all day taking pictures there, unfortunately we only had about fifteen minutes to do these shots:

Fast forward a few hours to the first dance & reception....

I don't normally post this many images to the blog, but Gillian and Robert's wedding was such a great day that I couldn't help myself! The highlight of the day was the trip to Inchcolm, but the reception at the Corn Exchange was outstanding, with food by the always-excellent Saltire Hospitality. I hadn't seen the band - Blue Express - before, but they were superb.

All in all a great day for everyone, including me - I love photographing weddings, and this was one of the best!