Capturing the moments – YSW couple Hannah and Mark talk us through their momentous occasions in photographs
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You’ve heard it before, a picture paints a thousand words, so it’s no wonder wedding photographs are so important.
Having a photographer on hand to capture all those special moments is priceless, and exactly why we encourage you to prioritise booking a pro for your day.
But the actual wedding day isn’t the beginning of your love story in pictures.
We spoke to one of our couples Hannah and Mark about the importance of capturing all the moments, from their first not-quite engagement onwards.
Here’s what they had to say…
Hannah and Mark said ‘I do’ in a beautiful ceremony at Cornhill Castle, captured here by photographer Mark Keogh.
The couple actually chose Mark to photograph their wedding after seeing the engagement shoot he did for their friends.
“The images looked amazing, ” remembers Hannah. “Once we saw them we messaged Mark, he had availability and we got planning.”
That may have been the beginning of arrangements for their official pre-wedding shoot but they already had photographic evidence of the actual proposal (and the one that didn’t happen), thanks to this groom-to-be’s love of a pic.
Mark had initially attempted to propose in New York, during a trip to NYC, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, but as he explains the moment didn’t quite work out.
“Hannah has a really good relationship with her dad and he had proposed to her mum by simply walking past the jewellers and saying, ‘What one do you want and we’ll get married?’ That was that for them.
“I wanted to take my own wee spin on that and so when we were in New York I made the point of taking Hannah into Tiffany’s. We walked around looking at necklaces, bracelets – everything but rings.
“They were in a separate section which was cordoned off and it appeared to be by appointment only.
“I’d hinted to Hannah to go and have a look and didn’t want to be too obvious.
“Hannah didn’t want to cause a fuss though and so the moment was lost. It just felt like it wasn’t meant to be this way in the end and as we had so much planned for our two weeks away, the stress of proposing was offering more of a distraction than something to embrace and enjoy.”
So the couple enjoyed the rest of their time Stateside and, of course, got the pictures to preserve the memories.
Proposal take two
Second time round and Mark wasn’t taking any chances, planning it all in minute detail.
“I always run with the motto of ‘Do something once and do it right’,” he says.
The more he thought about it, the more he saw he would enjoy planning and creating memories of their engagement that would last forever, so once they got home from America and the holiday blues kicked in, he suggested to Hannah that for their upcoming four-year anniversary they go away.
“I said that this would be my gift to her for our anniversary and where we go would be a surprise.”
He picked Sicily as the flights and times suit when they would be off and put in place an action-packed itinerary.
When they landed, Hannah didn’t even know what country they were in!
Then when Mark finally revealed it was Sicily he whisked her off to do a zipline – thus throwing her off the suggestion of a romantic proposal.
Day two followed in the same vein with a trek up Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano.
“Being up a volcano that had just erupted the year before was enough to distract Hannah from thinking anything,” smiles Mark.
“Mount Etna stands 3,357m tall and the location I had planned to propose would look on it. I liked the idea of knowing we had conquered Etna together and it being visible from where I proposed.”
The following day and the couple headed for the sea and who could blame this bride, who had already been thrown down a zipwire and scaled a volcano for thinking they were going diving with sharks?!
But at Tatania they boarded a private boat and went out to sea.
“I have a drone and really enjoy taking photos and videos of the places we go,” explains Mark.
“I wanted to capture the moment I proposed on video. I got the boat in position with Mount Etna towering behind us and set the drone up to film.
“I had Hannah sitting at the top of the boat and suggested we get a picture together.
“This is completely normal practice – Hannah’s used to me making such requests.
“With the drone hovering in position I nipped to the back of the boat, graped the ring, jumped next to Hannah, got down on one knee… and froze.
“The words just wouldn’t come out. And as I went to pop the question the drone’s battery started to die and an alarm went off and it had to return to home.
“So the first words I said as I was down on one knee, staring intently into Hannah’s eyes were… ‘The Drone!’
“Fortunately, it came back, still capturing the moment and once I had it secured I finally asked Hannah if she would marry me – once she prompted me to get the words out.”
Time for the professional
Back home on Scottish soil, with their friends’ beautiful engagement shoot in their minds, they contact Mark Keogh and arranged their own shoot.
“Initially I was quite apprehensive about doing an engagement photoshoot,” admits Hannah.
“It’s not something I’d ever heard of and I don’t really like getting my picture taken as I can be quite fussy.
“But after meeting Mark and his wife Chloe who helped, they really put me at ease and I ended up really enjoying it!
“I’ll always be so happy that we did it.”
The couple talked things through with Mark and also looked at Instagram and Pinterest for photoshoot inspiration to help them recreate images they liked from other couples and hone in on outfits they liked.
“Mark (photographer) was really enthusiastic and brought a great energy and we just had some fun with the images,” remembers Hannah.
“Mark (husband) and I had a lot of ideas and locations we wanted to do. All of our energies just aligned and the shoot didn’t feel like a shoot at all.
“It just felt like four friends hopping around different spots of Glencoe to get some cool pictures.
“It made choosing Mark as our photographer really easy and, if anything, made me so excited to get the wedding pictures!”
Just take a look at these beautiful photos!
The couple found being photographed professionally before their big day hugely beneficial and recommend it to other couples.
“Wedding pictures are a big part of your day,” says Hannah.
“For us it was so important to find someone who’d capture our special moments in a really authentic and natural way which Mark absolutely nailed” Hannah adds.
“As someone who was nervous about getting the wedding pictures taken (as once the moment’s gone, you don’t get a retake!) I found it really beneficial getting to know our photographer and getting to feel comfortable with them before our big day.
“It meant on the day I found the photos so much fun rather than a stressful experience!”
Since their wedding, Mark and Hannah have welcomed little Oscar and of course had to get some super-cute photos with him.
As he was only a couple of weeks old at the time they felt a studio was necessary and someone who specialises in baby photography so went to Sarah at Tiny Toes & Button Nose.
“We’ll cherish the pictures of Oscar forever, ” smiles Hannah.
Making memories
Hannah says it’s incredibly important to them to have all of these big moments captured on film.
“We have photo albums in the house of all our holidays and love to document our lives through pictures,” she says.
“We look forward to when Oscar is old enough to enjoy looking back at all our photos and sharing memories with him of the life his mum and dad had and hopefully still have, telling him who people are that are important in our lives and to show him (and us) how much everyone has changed.”
