You may remember Colene & Jason from their engagement shoot last year – those biscuits, smiles and SHOES! Excitement for their March wedding had been building ever since then and their big day arrived so quickly – the emails and plans, hearing about all the details coming together… I was SO excited when I arrived at Colene’s house the morning of the wedding and I had good reason to be – their day was simply stunning.

Colene & Jason’s ceremony was at Monquhitter Parish Church in Colene’s home town, Cuminestown. The weather forecast had been chopping and changing all week so I was delighted when those good ol’ clouds gathered to add some moody skies above the church, but held off with the rain. Yay! By the time we arrived at their reception venue (Meldrum House Hotel – which I LOVE, by the way), the sun was out!

The day had so many highlights, I don’t know if I can fit them all in one blog post… Be it the Chevrolet Belair car, Colene’s handmade vintage brooch bouquet, her Vivienne Westwood shoes, the little touches incorporating New Zealand (Jason’s from Wellington) here and there, the surprise haka, the handmade favours, their lovely, LOVELY family and friends – I felt right at home!

Sorry for all the caps, but I wish I could shout about this wedding all day long! See below for a list and links to their suppliers.

Congratulations guys! It. Was. Wonderful. xx

Dress – Colene’s beautiful dress is from Louise Lontano, Inverurie, which she personalised with a black sash, tulle shoulder piece, and silver fern brooch
Kilts – Slaters Menswear, Aberdeen
Bridesmaid dresses – Coast Chloe Maxi Dress. Fur shrugs from John Rocha at Debenhams.
Flowers – Family friend Lorna Elrick
Cake – Family friend Una Gill (cookie favours were made by Colene)
Shoes – Vivienne Westwood Lady Dragons
Accessories – Pearl bracelet by Sandy Menzies, Aberdeen; Collette earrings from Oasis; Richard Designs hairband from eBay; Floral handbag from New Look; Pearl ring, present from Jason, also from Sandy Menzies; Hipflasks from Urban Outfitters.
Rings – Engagement ring from Beaverbrooks; wedding rings from Ernest Jones
Car – 1955 Chevrolet Belair, provided by Grant at Roadstars.
Videographer – Mark Stuart Wedding Films
Venue – Meldrum House Hotel
Band – Quattro

Eleanor and Mike tied the knot at the beautiful Kenmore Kirk, by Loch Tay, followed by drinks and nibbles at the nearby Kenmore Hotel (which, if you’re ever in the area, ask if you can pop out the back to see the stunning views down the River Tay from the glass balcony). After a few photos we set off for Schiehallion - Eleanor swapped her heels for her wellies and we set off up the mountain for some more pics! Needless to say, the scenery was breath-taking, and that was even without being able to see the top.

From here we continued on to Loch Rannoch, with their reception at the Macdonald Loch Rannoch Hotel where their love of the outdoors continued; naming the tables after Munros, with seating chart to match.

A brilliant day for an incredibly lovely couple – many congratulations again Eleanor and Mike, it was a pleasure to shoot your day. Never before have I had the chance to take photographs of a newly-wed couple half way up a mountain – it was wonderful!

I also want to thank the lovely Kirsten who assisted me at this wedding, you’re a star and a massive help as always – thank you!

I’ve been to North Berwick a few times in the past but I’ve never explored the streets surrounding the harbour, or ventured up to the rocks to see the wooden benches tucked in amongst the sea-battered shoreline, so it was great when Laura and Peter suggested walking along to have a look. I’m so pleased we did! Add to that some ice-cream, a beach walk and the odd anchor and you get… take a look!

See you very soon for your big day guys! Only 3 weeks to go! x

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It was so much fun spending a few hours with these two, wandering the busy streets of York and seeing some new parts of the city. Rain, rain and more rain was forecast, but despite a brief shower we enjoyed a pretty warm day (winter coat carrying kind of weather!) and lovely sunshine breaking through. After spending a few days in York last summer with Mr O, it was lovely to be back and explore some more of this beautiful place.

See you very soon guys!

The views may have been lovely, but the wind was in full force! Thankfully it was fairly dry and Julie and Brian were happy to venture out into the sea-air gusts for some photos at the hotel, before heading down to the lighthouse to admire the views some more – with those amazing clouds!

I’m so excited for Julie and Brian’s wedding next year, it’ll be a fantastic day for two lovely people! Here are a few of my favourites…

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Ah Facebook…

I love Facebook, I really do. I’ve had the occasional love/hate thing going on with it. I know most people get this – those days when you can’t stop visiting the site, despite having already seen everything that’s going on that day in your friends’ lives. Then there’s the days when I realise I haven’t posted anything for ages and I feel a little guilty – like I’m just taking and not giving anything back to the community! But then who would care about my daily edits, emails and tea-drinking?

I know a few people who have LEFT Facebook. Yes! Left it! Gone. No more. Nothing. How they have the strength, well, I’m impressed. Mr O is one of those people, although I see the longing in his eyes when he spies my Facebook page open on the computer…

When I first joined Facebook it was before Jen Owens Images was born. I had my personal profile and that was it and it ticked along just nicely thankyouverymuch. When I set up JOI the option at the time was to create a Fan page. So I did. But this was before the weddings, the engagements – the lovely shoots I like to post about. (It was for my photo collages and greetings cards, if you’re wondering!)

Later, around the time I started to post weddings and engagements, I sought advice online about Facebook as a marketing and business tool and the general consensus, in a nutshell, was: ‘Keep your personal page separate from your business’. I was a little unsure about this. After all, Jen Owens Images is, well, me. Jen Owens. Did I really want to separate the two when I’m just one person?! When I began posting my weddings on Facebook there wasn’t the option to tag my brides and grooms in any albums or photos I posted in the fan page – not at all marketing-friendly! The only way to do this would be to be-friend my lovely couples, then tag them in the albums. So I decided to announce I would be winding down my Fan page, I then set up a new profile for me, but for use solely for my photography.

But then no one would be moved to ‘Like’ my fan page. Sure, they could be-friend me, but why would they if they didn’t know me? And so the marketing-side of Facebook, for me at least, didn’t work. Anyone who has ever set up a small business will know that getting your name out there is the hardest thing to do. As much as I was loving shooting the weddings and meeting new people, I was struggling to find the best way to tell other people about my work. What a pickle!

Of course in the past year or so Facebook have totally overhauled their privacy settings, who can be tagged, who can be seen etc. etc. While I don’t entirely agree with it, it does now mean that a fan page administrator has much more control over the options to market the page. Too late for me! I’ve ended up with a personal profile, a fan page and ANOTHER personal profile.

You see, I should have trusted my instinct right from the start… My JOI personal profile is pretty much all I use. I’m friends with all my friends, friends with all my lovely brides and grooms and friends with the fellow wedding industry peeps I’ve met so far in this amazing wedding world.

So, for that reason, I’m leaving my original Facebook profile behind. I should never have separated the two, especially when I’ve found through working in this fab industry, all I’m doing is making new friends. If you get a friend request from someone who looks uncannily like me – it is me! I’d love to keep in touch – see you on the other side :)

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After a wonderful weekend away in Aberdeenshire shooting two fab weddings, I arrived home to some VERY exciting post! Laura and Andrew’s beautiful Wedderburn Castle wedding has been featured as a ‘Real-life’ wedding spread in the Best Scottish Weddings magazine! Yay!

Something about this small corner of Edinburgh has really struck a chord – maybe it’s the friendly people, the chilled atmosphere, the fresh air… I think, mainly, it’s the gorgeous beach that stretches just on and on – I can’t stop snapping away at it. Thank you Instagram :)

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