Prestonfield House Wedding

The idea of a wedding on a cold, dark day in the bleak mid-winter doesn’t appeal to all couples – understandably – but it’s a time of year I absolutely love. Some wedding venues lend themselves to this time of year beautifully and a Prestonfield House wedding in the winter is hard to beat.

The sumptuous and richly coloured interior with it’s intimate lighting is fabulously atmospheric. It created a warm and cosy mood for Jamie and Jonathan last January where all the guests were really “feeling the love”!

Photographing a wedding in these conditions without any daylight can be pretty challenging. Using flash all day is an easy option for some photographers but it’s definitely NOT the way forward for me – it kills the atmosphere stone dead by drowning out the ambient light and it makes the photographer as conspicuous to everyone as the bride – no thank you! To capture candid and natural images which truly evoke the feelings of the day, I need to keep a low profile and be as invisible as possible.

So the flash stays in my bag and I study the light. I find the places in the venue where it is softest and most flattering and I tap into the amazing technology which exists in high end cameras these days. Combined with the best quality lenses on the market there are few places which are off limits.

The images from a winter wedding may have a shallower depth of field and be a bit more grainy than those taken on a bright summer day but they really do their job when it comes to capturing all the atmosphere, emotion, intimacy and fun.

Of course, the proof of the pudding….. have a look at the pictures below and see what you think. I hope you can feel the emotions and love of family and friends as they surround Jamie and Jonathan on their wedding day. And if you’re considering a winter wedding, I hope they go some way to showing you what a wonderful day you might have.