Credits
The wedding team
- Lead photographer
- @rickybailliephotography
- Venue
- @carlowrie_castle
- Film
- @cherrytreefilms
- Celebrant
- @humanisttim
- 2nd shooter
- @connormcewanphoto
- Makeup
- @rachellouisebridal
- Floral design
- @vickys__flowers
- Cake
- @liggyscakes
- Stationery
- @wedding.artwork
Carlowrie Castle on 35mm film
Words and photographs by Ricky Baillie
Miranda and Tony’s wedding captured on 35mm film using Kodak Portra and Ilford.
In the first frame, the evening sun has come round the side of Carlowrie Castle. Tony is standing at the left in his pale dinner jacket, while Miranda is seated with her dress gathered around her. The light has found its way into the edge of the photograph. If I’d moved a pace or two it would have looked quite different, but that wash of gold is one of my favourite things about the picture.
Eleven frames from Carlowrie
This little collection from Miranda and Tony’s wedding brings together eleven film photographs. I’ve kept them in the order in which I shared them, including the black borders around the frames. The opening portrait gives you the castle, the gravel and a sense of the evening light all at once. The very next photograph comes in close enough that you can see Tony’s bow tie just above Miranda’s shoulder.
There are two black-and-white pictures of them in almost the same position. In one, Tony leans in to kiss Miranda. In the other, there’s a little space between their faces. It would have been easy to choose just one, especially for a selection this short. I like them together. It’s a small shift in an expression that the two people in the photograph will know better than anyone else.
The dress, the dinner jackets and the gardens
Miranda wore a strapless gown with a fitted bodice and a full skirt. In the colour portrait beneath the trees, she holds her bouquet low and you can see the shape it gives her dress. There’s another image where the skirt takes up almost the entire lower half of the frame. She has one hand near her face, with a clipped hedge just behind her. The stone and gravel around Carlowrie give a pale dress a lovely background, but I’m particularly fond of it against that deep green.
Tony’s portraits have a slightly different feel. In one he stands against the terrace wall, a small figure beneath the castle windows. In the last photograph he’s much closer, one hand resting on the stone balustrade and his jacket open over his shirt and bow tie. I wanted both scales in this selection. You see a little more of where they got married, and then a little more of the person who was standing there.
Colour and black and white
I used Kodak Portra and Ilford for these frames. Look at the seated portrait of Miranda in the late light, then at the black-and-white close-up of their hands. The first photograph has a warm flare through the trees. In the second, it’s the lace you notice, along with Miranda’s ring, Tony’s watch and the edge of his cuff. There’s a surprising amount of the two of them in a picture that leaves out both their faces.
The borders are part of the way I wanted to present these photographs. In the close portraits they draw your eye towards the couple. In the wider views they let you see quite how much of the garden was in the original composition. This is particularly lovely in the frame with the clipped hedge curving around the path and Miranda’s train trailing behind her.
I photograph weddings on digital as well as film. What I enjoy about sharing the film photographs together is that you can see how one decision leads to another. A wide frame makes me want to come closer. A portrait of both of them makes me look for a moment to photograph each separately. There’s room for all of that in a few minutes in the gardens at Carlowrie.
Would you like your wedding captured on film as well as digital?! Nostalgia lovers only.
Edinburgh wedding photographer | 35mm film photographer | Wedding analog film photography | Carlowrie Castle wedding
The wedding team
Lead photographer @rickybailliephotography
Venue @carlowrie_castle
Film @cherrytreefilms
Celebrant @humanisttim
2nd shooter @connormcewanphoto
Makeup @rachellouisebridal
Floral design @vickys__flowers
Bridal @bellabiancabridalcouture
Cake @liggyscakes
Music @roxburgh_music & @capellastringquartet
Stationery @wedding.artwork