Saturday the 16th of September saw us photography a Micro Wedding in Argyll at a stunning little beach in Kintyre, called Beachmenach, near Tayinloan, Scotland.
When Colin and Julie approached us asking for a wedding photography package to suit their Micro Wedding in Argyll we duly obliged and gave them a package that suited their needs.
Beachme, Bachinmeen…where?
I’m embarrassed to say that in all my years living in Kintyre and having photographed up and down the West Coast of Kintyre that I had never heard of Beachmenach.
So for those of you like me, it’s here in the map below:
The weekend before the wedding we decided to do a recce to get a better idea of the area and the photo’s and video can be seen below from our Instagram post below.
Pre Ceremony
It was a later than usual start for us but I was wanting to get an image of the ring that Julie was going to wear as it had sentimental value to her so we headed out to the bride and grooms house where they were getting ready to get an image of the ring.
Once complete it was time to head down the beach and meet the humanist, Belinda Braithwaite who was conducting the ceremony.
Belinda, who is based in Lochgilphead but does travel was great to work with, contact her on her Facebook Page in the link above to work with Belinda.
She gave me free roam of the ceremony and described in detail what was going to happen from her perspective.
This was music to my ears as not all officiants allow you the freedom and I have been restricted on my movements in the past before on a few occasions.
At this point I also met with the Piper, Charles McLean. Charles and I know each other well, we both served in the same regiment in the Army so it was nice to catch up with him again.
He is in the process of setting his page up but you can message him on his personal facebook page to hire him.
Ceremony
I was clearly enjoying being at the beach far too much as all of a sudden guests started to arrive, this was my cue to get the game face on.
Conditions for the couples big day were very near perfect, a light breeze and low tide blue sky, and blazing sun…what more could you ask for…me, I would ask for more clouds!
As a photographer you want clouds in the sky to add interest and reflect colour especially for landscape photography, however, as a wedding photographer we need those clouds.
Wedding photographers use the clouds to soften the harsh sunlight, this allows for better lighting on the couples, especially on the face where it reduces the harsh shadows.
It wasn’t going to happen, there were few clouds in the sky and far away, we have to make do with what we are given, especially during the ceremony.
Not long after the groom and best man, Trevor, arrive and patiently await the arrival of the bride.
Here they are having a wee yarn before Julie arrives.
As we waited for Julie to arrive I started to wonder if I should have applied some factor 30 to my shining dome, then Charles piped up reminding me I was there to work, not top up the tan lol.
And here she is coming in to sight for everyone to see for the first time.
It was a long walk down the path and around the guests that were waiting. I had decided to position myself in line with the Wedding Arch so I could shoot into the sun as Julie walked up to Colin.
My reason for this was to get a good exposure on her face, and maybe get a bit creative and capture some sun flare, the latter never happened but not fussed as that can ruin an image.
From here, Julie arrived safely with a warm smile by Colin. Belinda proceeds to conduct the ceremony.
Please have a look at the Behind The Scenes (BTS) footage below from some of the ceremony.
Tying The Knot
Also known as hand fasting, which is a Celtic tradition which acts a symbol of the couple being bound together for eternity.
Signing the Register
Belinda had chosen a small rock to the side of the Wedding Arch as the location for signing the register, which I thought was a nice addition to the natural feel of the wedding.
Groups
After signing the register we didn’t have to walk far to shoot the groups.
I had decided to do this up against the rocks and into the sun so I could get good exposure on the faces and reduce harsh shadows, and also to ensure the people in the groups are not screwing up their faces in the bright sun.
First Bride & Groom Shoot
With the Wedding Arch still setup I decided to do the first Bride & Groom shoot there.
This would cause problems as it meant the Bride and Groom looking into the sun.
We overcame this by using a large diffuser to block out the sun which allowed me to have flat lighting on the face.
Just a few from this shoot.
Arriving at the Reception
The reception was held at Tayinloan Village Hall, which was rather handy as I had photographed Will & Stephen’s wedding there not that long ago.
A quick chat with Charles the Piper to see how he wanted to do the arrival at the reception and the plan was made.
I was going to get the guests to make a guard of honour in the village hall that would allow Charles, Colin and Julie to walk down and give the guests the opportunity to throw the confetti.
If you would like to hold an event in the hall you can contact them on their Facebook Page.
Here is another video from this part of the day:
Cutting the Cake
The Wedding cake made by Tan Black Cakes & Demo’s
Speeches
The speeches are always one of my favourite parts to photograph.
You can capture some really good images during this segment as emotions and expressions are displayed.
The video for this part is below:
First Dance
Colin and Julie had their first dance to a song written and sang by Paul Carrack, Let Me Love Again.
Second Bride & Groom Shoot
I suppose one of the advantages of living near the coast is that you get stunning views at sunrise or sunset.
The plan for Colin and Julie’s second shoot was to head to Tayinloan Beach, which was only a coupe of minutes away in the car and hopefully get a nice sunset image.
I’d happily hang this up on my wall…Nice framed print of this Colin above your stunning fireplace, hint hint 🙂
We captured some really nice images of Colin and Julie here and I have to mention that they were so great to work with.
As it happens, both had taken unwell on the day, you here Colin mention it earlier during his speech, but by the time we were ready to head down to the beach both of them were really unwell.
Colin was shaking and Julie was really cold and both generally unwell.
When I saw how they were I decided rather than wait any longer I would get the images done as quickly as possible so they could get back up into the hall.
Here I am trying to get an image of the couple below, as you can see the props I had positioned in front of me that I borrowed from the reception, these proved a nice element to the foreground in some of the images.
Details
We also captured as many of the details from the day as we could, as these are nice little reminders for the couple of the gifts, favours and layout of their venues that they took time and effort to setup.
The buffet was made by Louise Anderson, contact her on Facebook if you are looking for someone to make you a buffet for your event.
Grand Children
Julie had asked that we capture images of the grand children. We do like to capture images of the kids at weddings as we understand that the bride and groom have some sort of connection with them.
My wife, Liz, captured the images of the kids and she done a great job.
Summary
Well, what a day it was. Perfect weather for Colin and Julie for their Micro Wedding in Argyll.
Liz and I both commented on the drive home that we both felt as though we got the sun, perhaps the factor 30 would have been useful 🙂
A massive congratulations to Colin and Julie, and I hope that you both feel better soon and a massive thank you from the both of us for asking us to photograph your big day.
Thanks to Belinda for the excellent service, Charles for the brilliant piping and to Louise for the beautiful buffet.
Also thanks to Malcolm for clearing away the seaweed.
We wish you all the best
James and Liz
P.S. For those of you that wish to view the full wedding album Colin and Julie have made it open to anyone to view and can be viewed clicking the link below:
Colin and Julie’s Wedding Album
P.P.S If you are looking for a Wedding Photographer then check out our Wedding Photography Packages or Contact Us for more information.
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