Jo & Derry Wedding in Edinburgh

I photographed Jo & Derry’s wedding up in Scotland back in June this year and what an adventure it was!!! I got the train up to Edinburgh early on the morning of their wedding and arrived in ‘Auld Reekie’ on one of the most beautiful days of the year! The sun was shining and it was shaping up to be a corker of a day. It was a good job as Jo and Derry had decided to get married in Jo’s Dad’s back garden! (an outdoor wedding in Scotland I hear you say!?).  In Scotland the law is different, as it’s the person who conducts the ceremony that has the marriage licence and not the venue. So effectively you could get married on top of a mountain, if you can find a registrar to climb up with you! 

I caught up with bride Jo and the ladies at the hairdressers, before heading back to the city centre apartment where they got ready. The apartment had a really quirky back garden, which was great for detail shots. It also had some amazing pockets of light for those bridal shots too. We then hopped into a mini bus and headed over the Forth River, to Jo’s Dad’s house, situated in the beautiful rolling countryside of Fife. When we arrived at the ceremony, I could see the guests all sat chilling on straw bales, awaiting the arrival of Jo. Luckily one of Derry’s best men Carl had kept them all entertained with his off-the-wall sense of humour (I loved that guy!). His other best man was a great lad from North Shields and I’ve never seen someone look so uncomfortable in a kilt! Their outdoor ceremony was beautiful and a totally relaxed affair and then we all enjoyed a few drinks and some amazing veggie food in the garden, before hopping on to a vintage double decker bus and heading back over to Edinburgh for the party! 

The bus journey was a hoot, with a ticket inspector handing out tickets and guests holding on for dear life like they were on a rollercoaster ride, as we snaked our way over the rolling hills of Fife, towards to Forth Road Bridge. When we went over the bridge the views were just stunning, looking over towards the Forth Railway Bridge and for a few moments the guests seemed to stop laughing and just enjoyed the view. We soon arrived back in sunny Edinburgh and also enjoyed views of Edinburgh Castle as we headed along it’s famous Princes Street. Shortly after we arrived at the reception venue called ‘The Caves’, situated down in the old part of Edinburgh town called ‘The Haymarket’. The Caves is a stunning old building and oozes character. It’s situated under some arches and forms part of the mysterious network of tunnels and caves down in the underbelly of Edinburgh. 

We headed inside and went straight into the meal and speeches. In between courses I’d spotted this amazing shaft of light down under one of the arches and we quickly nipped out to grab the photo that went on to be the front cover of their wedding album and my favourite photograph of the day. After the meal we headed back out for some more photos, before going straight into the party. Jo and Derry had their first dance and then went straight into party mode, with a full Scottish Ceili dance. I would have loved to have stayed and drank Single Malt Whisky and partied all night with them but I had to rush to catch the last train home and make do with some bottles of beer on the train instead! 

I’ve absolutely loved getting to know Jo and Derry and we’re off to see a gig at The Cluny in a few weeks. Jo is an amazing singer (check out Jo Kasner on spotify!) and Derry likes to play guitar down the old pubs of North Shields, so it’s fair to say that they are as passionate about music as I am! See you both in a few weeks for that gig. 

Pete :-)