Jo & Garf were married at the opulent Royal College of Physicians, a truly amazing venue that really speaks of a different time with ornate fittings, wood panelled walls and a library filled with interestingly titled books.

There was always so much going on at their wedding with family and friends in abundance.  It was a real pleasure to photograph and the day went incredibly smoothly thanks to Jo’s expert planning.

Follows is a selection of my favourite photographs from the day.

The day started early where Garf the groom hosted a bus tour around Edinburgh. We were treated to Edinburgh perma-drizzle which did nothing to spoil the tour.

Next up I went over to the hotel where Jo was getting ready for some photos there. I do like to capture some of the details at this point and particularly like this photo of Jo's shoes.

Jo's beautiful art deco inspired dress hanging

Toasting the bride!

A calming glass of champers

Jo looking out over Edinburgh

Arriving at the Royal College of Physicians

A loving look during the ceremony

During a reading

Exchange of rings with Mum looking on

Signing the register

Married!

Everyone!

Portrait of Jo & Garf

Walking from the library. This is my personal favourite from the day.

The Groom's speech

Enjoying the Best Man's speech

Ceilidh time!

The dancing continues into the night

Laura & Pete were married on a scorching hot day in June, blue skies from start finish – a real rarity in Scotland!

The day started at the stunning Crichton Kirk where Laura & Pete had a humanist ceremony.  The ceremony was one of the most heartfelt that I have ever had the privilege to witness.  There were many touching and personal moments throughout, at times I struggled to keep my eyes dry so that I could still see through the lens!  I really do enjoy photographing couples who are so open with thier love for one another, Laura & Pete were the epitome of this.

The ceremony was followed by a reception at Mavis Hall Park, another favourite venue of mine.  I love its rustic charm, there’s not many wedding venues that feature chickens freely wandering amongst the guests!

It was a wonderful, relaxed day that Laura & Pete really made theirs – a pleasure to photograph from start to finish.

Here’s what Laura & Pete had to say about the photos:

“Thanks for doing such a fantastic job on the photos – they were a lovely mix of group shots captured moments and wee details.  Just what we wanted.  We had a brilliant day and are very grateful to you for making the photo taking so relaxed and stress free – definitely helped keep everyone in great spirits!”

These are my favourites from the day.

Crichton Kirk

Church Warden having a quick rest

Laura arriving

Lighting the candles

A moment

The ceremony

Leaving as a married couple

Guests chatting

Chickens and flowers!

Entering for the wedding breakfast

Watching the speeches

Pete's speech

Best Man's speech

First dance

Guests at night

A lot has changed since, at the time we were living in a flat up in Edinburgh and we are now living down in a cottage in the Derbyshire Peak District and have a 15 month old daughter.  Life just seems to continue apace at an ever increasing velocity, I love it!

Our friend and fellow wedding photographer Paul Preacher was our photographer for the day, he did a great job and we have a wonderful set of photos to look back on.

It’s been an amazing three years and I can’t wait to discover what the future brings.

Happy anniversary my love!

I’m really pleased with the new set of images, brings back many happy memories for me of all the great weddings I have covered over the last few years.

If you are considering Free Range Photographic for your wedding the gallery should give you a really good idea for what to expect.

Head over to the gallery and take a look!

My memory card strategy

Ever since I started photographing weddings I have always used a greater number of smaller capacity memory cards rather than just one or two high capacity cards.  I do this so that in the worst case scenario where a card became corrupted and was unrecoverable then I will only have lost a smaller portion of the wedding photos.  Thankfully this situation has never happened to me and I hope that it never will.

I also only use high quality Sandisk extreme III memory cards – I wouldn’t think to let wedding photos near an el-cheapo card!  Sandisk cards have proven reliability and quality, that’s why I use them.

Until the photos from a wedding are safely transferred to my computer they stay physically on my person in a Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket memory card wallet that attaches to a belt loop on my trousers.

My backup strategy

Of equal importance is a backup strategy for after the wedding.  The first thing I do on returning from a wedding is to transfer the photos onto my computer.  The next thing I do is back them up onto DVD which are then sent off-site (to my Dad!) so that should there be a fire in my office then the original photos are still safe.

I use the online backup service carbonite which continually backs up all of my photos and I also run a nightly backup to an external disk.  This ensures that my in-progress work on the photos is saved.  Carbonite did save me once with some personal photos when the hard disk that they were on failed and was not recoverable – I was very glad that I had signed up to it then!  I was once told that there are two types of hard disk – those that have failed, and those that will!

Once editing is complete I copy the finished photos to another DVD and send that off-site.

Conclusion

I don’t think you can be careful enough with data security and backups.  I’m pretty happy with my strategy and I think that it covers pretty much any eventuality.  In summary it is:

• Use a greater number of smaller capacity cards
• Only use high quality branded cards
• Keep cards on your person until they have been safely backed up
• Backup off-site, online and locally before and after editing

What’s your data security and backup strategy?

Lora and Andrew were married at the stunning Traquair House in the Scottish Borders.  Alas, the weather gods were not smiling upon us and it rained pretty much the whole day.  Not quite the weather you would choose for a marquee wedding!  Lora and Andrew took it all in their stride and had a wonderful day regardless of the weather.

This wedding was the first Humanist ceremony that I have covered (to be swiftly followed by the second later in the year).  I loved the honesty of the ceremony and how the couple could express their love for one another in their own words.  I’m very much looking forward to covering more Humanist weddings in and around the Midlands and Derbyshire in the future.

Getting ready

Lora arriving at the ceremony

During the ceremony

Loving looks during the ceremony

The ring

Signing the register

Lora & Andrew leaving the ceremony

Lora & Andrew triumphantly leave the ceremony

Showing off the ring

I'd love to know what Lora was saying here!

Having fun during the group photos!

Yup, it was wet!

I loved the surroundings of Traquair House, it was the perfect setting for a traditional and elegant portrait like this one

Portrait inside Traquair House

The best man's speech was a cracker!

Simple & elegant cake

Outside during a rare break in the weather

We took the opportunity for some outdoor portraits when a rare break in the weather presented itself. I really love this photo, Lora & Andrew look so in love and happy - just wonderful to see.

The first dance gets underway

Lora & Andrew were excellent dancers

The cielidh gets underway, here the best man shows off his moves!

Dancing the night away

More dancing

The happy couple embrace

Thanks Lora & Andrew – I loved photographing your wedding and wish you every happiness in the future.

Karen & Rob’s day was a real pleasure to photograph.  It was a fantastic family occasion with much laughing and fun to be had.  Even the fickle Edinburgh weather was playing nice for the day, for which I am always grateful!

Karen & Rob were married in Lothian Chambers and the reception was held at the Apex International on the Grassmarket.

Here are some of my favourites from the day:

Karen & Rob had a fantastic cake, I loved the attention to detail with the white rose for Yorkshire lad Rob and the Scottish purple heather for Karen

Rob & his brother walk through the old town to Lothian Chambers

Rob & his brother walk through the old town to Lothian Chambers

Guests waiting for the ceremony to start

A quick glance at Mum

During the ceremony

The kiss!

Getting well photographed signing the registry book

On their way out as the new Mr & Mrs Errington!

Down the stairs

Walking back to the Grassmarket

Karen, Rob & the Castle

We had some fun doing the group shots as you can see here!

I forget the significance of the gnome, but regardless, there should definitely be more gnomes at weddings - they're a very under-represented group at the moment!

At the end of the best man's speech

The younger dancers set the early pace

Cutting the cake

The girls show them how it's done

And Karen & Rob cielidh the night away...

I wanted the new site to be a lot cleaner and less boxed in that the old site, to feel fresher and more open and I wanted room for the photography and words to breath.  I’m delighted with how it turned out, it’s exactly how I wanted it to look and really reflects the ethos of the business well.

The design started with the great new logo designed by Leanne at The Loop Project.  I can’t thank Leanne enough for her work on the logo, she totally nailed it with a logo that really fitted with the business and the rest of the site design flowed from that.

So, a new start, and a new a resolution; This blog is actually going to get used properly!  I will admit myself I’m not the most disciplined blogger in the world, but that is about to change, watch this space!

I spent 10 years of my life living in Sheffield and know a lot of the surrounding area well, I have a great affinity for the region and just love the people down there. I can’t wait to get started covering weddings once the dust has settled on the move.

I would like to thank all of my Scotland-based clients – I have had a wonderful time and many happy memories from each and every one of your weddings. I am genuinely sad to be leaving Scotland, there is a lot that I will miss from covering weddings up here, to name just a few – Scottish generosity, kilts, great wildernesses, stunning castles, Lothian Chambers (definitely the most beautiful registry office!) and ceilidhs. Thank you all, it’s been great.

The areas I will be covering for weddings will be Derbyshire, Sheffield, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Stoke and the surrounding areas. Please get in touch if you are interested in booking Free Range Photographic for your wedding.

Here are my favourites from the day: