Seagram Pearce Photography Blog

While this trip to Europe had many agendas, one of the primary ones was a wedding in fact. An old friend of mine from many years ago always said that if she got married, she wanted me there. It actually changed from “I want you there” to “I want you to shoot my wedding”. Who am I to complain? Getting to go over to Scotland for an old friend & getting to shoot her wedding for her was hardly a case of ‘work’. I’m based in Aberdeen, which is on the east coast of Scotland. Its my first time here in this city, even though not my first time in Scotland. She had an apartment about 2 blocks from where I was staying.

The day went pretty normally as far as weddings go. She had her makeup done at her apartment, her bridesmaids fussed & rushed around like they all do. Her father who had flown in from Copenhagen was probably the calmest from the immediate family side. Maybe its just a fatherly thing. For her photos, the original plan was to go to The Winter Gardens in Aberdeen, which I’m told are these massive indoor gardens that act as a greenhouse too. I got excited as I can already picture the kind of photos one could get. However there was a small complication & we had to go to one of the ‘normal’ parks. Now the difference in public parks & private parks here in Europe are: virtually nothing. I’m still finding it so surprising at how clean, neat & just impeccable everything is here. Nobody litters. Nobody whips out a boom box to annoy as many other people as possible. Everyone behaves like they actually grew up with some semblance of civilization. The photo opportunities in the public gardens were amazing. All the trees different shades of green, purple, burnt orange & red.

One of the highlights at the reception was the fun & games. Literally. We all grouped as table teams & played games. There were prizes for the best & worst tables. My table won in fact. I would like to think it was thanks to the great South African minds… I’m kidding, we had a great mixed table & everyone seemed to know a bit about something. Like this one I learnt: what was the first human invention to break the sound barrier? Answer: The Whip. Pretty cool huh? Even by reading this post about a Scottish wedding you learn useless party facts. You’re welcome.

In retrospect, I really did wish I had hired a kilt for the occasion. Almost all of the men wore one & they said that if they had known I wanted one, it could have been organized. I’m always game to try something new. I mean, what better time to don a skirt than with a bunch of full bearded men who think nothing of it? Its a little better than trying the same thing in Thailand or Sea Point main road. Now if the ladies are wondering that one question: do they wear any kind of… banana support? I’ll tell you. They don’t. According to the Scottish men, why would you want to hamper air flow, movement & um, well, you know… readiness. I think they’re onto something.