Edinburgh City Chambers Elopement | Intimate Wedding Reception at Ardfern Restaurant in Leith | Jemma + Saf | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer

Edinburgh City Chambers Elopement | Intimate Wedding Reception at Ardfern Restaurant in Leith | Jemma + Saf | Edinburgh WEdding Photographer

Jemma and Saf, two of the most creative and go-getter individuals I know, had a beautiful Edinburgh City Chambers Elopement and intimate wedding day in Edinburgh, Scotland. This couple is not only dear friends of ours, but Jemma was actually my first friend that I made in edinburgh. I met up with her for coffee when I was visiting Edinburgh, years before I even met my husband Ross, who always says he first saw my profile from Jemma's Instagram. And as I wasn't using my Instagram account to focus on weddings yet at that time, and it was just filled with flat lays of coffee tables at cafes from my travels, naturally I was always connecting to people over coffee whenever I would travel to new places. And now Jemma and Saf own one of the edgiest coffee shops in Edinburgh, called Beatnik. It’s been such a joy watching them along thier journey of their relationship as well as their passion for design, art and coffee to all align for them to create inspiring and creative businesses within the edinburgh community.

So back to their wedding day, we started their wedding day by meeting at the courtyard of Edinburgh City Chambers, so go for a wander around The Royal Mile and The Old Town of Edinburgh. It’s truly an iconic part of the city and has the most historic buildings and gothic architecture to stroll around in. It’s always a beautiful area to take elopement portraits when getting married at The City CHambers, since it’s located in the heart of The Royal Mile. We strolled around the few blocks surrounding Edinburgh City CHambers before making our way inside before the guests arrived.

While there are many rooms that you can choose from to elope in at Edinburgh City Chambers, my favorite room will always be The European Room Suite. It can house up to 70 guests and looks out onto the historic courtyard of the chambers entrance, It is also lined with historic paintings that really make you feel like you’re in a mix between an art gallery and a scottish castle. Needless to say, they chose the European Room Suite to have their intimate ceremony in. There are rooms off to the side of the suite, where the couple can wait together or seperately, depending on if they want to see each other before the ceremony.

Jemma also had one of the loveliest wedding day outfits. Her wedding dress was from Malina, her lovely earrings were from Ellen Catherine and her shoes were from reformation. I could describe how lovely and beautiful they were in detail, but you can view the bridal portraits below to see a better visual description. All in all, it was stunning and very Jemma. Saf wore a Andrew Brookes suit and I was able to take one of my favorite groom portraits of him, in his iolla shades and holding jemma’s handbag while standing in his naturally sassy pose on The Royal Mile.

After their wedding ceremony at City Chambers, everyone headed down to ardfern for their intimate wedding reception. Ardfern is a cafe, bar and bottle shop based down in leith, and is the perfect space for an evening of cocktails and delicious bites from their creative menu.

And of course the entire restaurant was decorated in subtle but organic floral installations, by one of the best wedding florist designers in all of Scotland, Studio Kumari. Studio Kumari also designed Jemma’s stunning wedding bouquet. Another unique part of their wedding day was their extra long rectangle wedding cake. Again, the images below will speak better than my written description, but I was in love. The Pastry Section did such a wonderful job designing their wedding cake, from the frosted squiggle lines on the top to the pieces of fruit decorating the edges.

At the end of the day, Jemma and saf had such a chill and lowkey wedding day that started at the historic Edinburgh City Chambers and ended at one of their local favorite restaurants in Leith, Ardfern. I love that these two planned their day exactly how they wanted it, with their closest friends just laughing and enjoying their wedding day together, which was truly beautiful to witness as a friend and to be a part of the celebration. x

“Edinburgh City Chambers was the perfect place to get married in the heart of Edinburgh, Scotland, And Ardfern, based down in leith, was the best venue for their casual cocktail hour and intimate wedding reception.”

---

Edinburgh Wedding Ceremony venue - Edinburgh City Chambers, in the European Room Suite // Florist Company Name - Studio Kumari // Make-up + Hair Artist - MHM Styling // Wedding Dress - Malina // Shoes - Reformation // Earrings - Ellen Catherine // Suit - Andrew Brookes // Bride + Groom Rings - KATKIM // intimate wedding reception venue - Ardfern Restaurant // Wedding Cake - The Pastry Section

---

Gleneagles Townhouse Hotel Wedding | Edinburgh City Chambers | The Spence | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer

An Intimate Wedding Reception at the Gleneagles Townhouse in edinburgh, Scotland | Laura & Francis | Edinburgh City Chambers Ceremony | Edinburgh Wedding Photographer

Laura and Francis were married in the beautiful and romantic city of Edinburgh, Scotland. They started their wedding day with a lovely wedding ceremony at Edinburgh City Chambers and ended it with an intimate wedding reception at The Spence in The Gleneagles Townhouse.

They were married in one of my favorite rooms, The European Room, which is located a few floors up in the City Chambers building. It is only available for ceremonies on the weekends, as it is a room used for Edinburgh City Chambers meetings during the week. 

Francis arrived early to stand at the front and see Laura for the first time as she walked down the aisle in her stunning wedding dress. The ceremony was a beautiful one and afterwards we took a few portraits by the large windows that naturally lit them both before we headed downstairs to the Edinburgh City Chambers front courtyard entrance, where all of their family members and closest friends were waiting to greet and celebrate them! 

After Laura and Francis hugged their loved ones we strolled around Edinburgh together while I captured their wedding portraits. I really enjoy capturing candids from a distance, so that they can chat to each other for a bit with some privacy and just hold hands and stroll together as husband and wife. We strolled from The Royal Mile all of the way to The Gleneagles Townhouse Hotel, where the last half of their wedding day took place. 

Once we arrived at The Gleneagles Townhouse, we went straight upstairs to the members only lamplighters rooftop bar and then to the downstairs bar at The Spence for Laura and Francis to have their first drinks together as husband and wife. Slowly guests started making their way to The Spence bar to enjoy a few drinks before being seated in the private garden room for speeches, a cake cutting and a lovely multiple course dinner from The Spence Restaurant. Honestly, if you're still looking for a place to host your intimate wedding, reaching out to local restaurants is always a good place to start. In this case, The Gleneagles Townhouse was the perfect venue for Laura and Francis' intimate wedding reception with their loved ones in the heart of Edinburgh.    

“The Spence at The Gleneagles Townhouse is one of the loveliest settings for an intimate private dinner reception with your loved ones.”