24th April 2010
At last, the day has arrived! My chance to shoot a wedding on a football pitch. The venue was Firhill Stadium in Glasgow – home of Partick Thistle FC and also Glasgow Warriors rugby union team. I’m not a big football fan by any means, but as nice as many registrar’s offices, hotels and castles are… few wedding venues are as unique as a football stadium.
And what a day for it, with sunshine and a temperature of around 20deg celsius. Of course, strong direct sunshine can cause problems for photography such as harsh shadows and squinting faces but fortunately there were periods of slight cloud cover to soften the light up a bit.
The wedding ceremony of Graham and Louise was conducted by Paul, a humanist celebrant and I have had the pleasure of working with him before. The groom and his three groomsmen used the opportunity to play some footie before the bride arrived.
Ready for Kick-Off!
Louise arrived in a classic Buick car with her father and stopped for a few moments for a couple of shots in front of the stadium.
Arrival at the Stadium
On with the ceremony, held on the centre circle. I have never had so much room to move around a wedding venue before! I could have shot the ceremony using a 500mm lens, but since that wouldn’t fit in my wedding camera bag I stuck with the usual zoom.
The groomsmen were lined up patiently through the ceremony.
Groomsmen
After the newlyweds signed the marriage certificate, we were back outside to photograph the wedding party and the guests – again, it was great having so much room to work with. Then some shots of the bride and groom while everyone enjoyed the sun.
The Wedding Party and Guests
Football Stadium Wedding
Eventually it was time to head inside to the function room for the cutting of the cake and meal.
Cutting the Cake
