A Royal Visit to St Andrews

I have just returned from the town centre today where His Royal Highness, Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton were honoured guests at the 600th celebrations of St Andrews University.

The street was busy, many students, as you would expect were present, along with citizens of the town and also many visitors from further afield. Some of the luckier students were able to attend the actual ceremony in St Salvator's Quad while the remainder of them and the rest of us lined the streets. Some students had a really good vantage point from their apartment windows.

Their was a very jolly mood, and you should have heard the crowd roar when Prince William said, in his speech, that St Andrews University was the best university in the world!

There was - as one would expect - a very high police presence there. Whilst they were all very helpful and cheerful, there was no escaping the level of security at such an event and there were police dogs - probably trained in the art of sniffing for explosives - and surveillance on St Salvators rooftop.

It wasn't difficult to determine when Prince William and Kate were ready to begin their walkabout - there was such a cheer from the crowd the minute they appeared.

Prince William walked along in front chatting to all and Kate followed behind. I didn't think that I would be able to get a good vantage point but people are so incredibly kind and I found myself in a fantastic position not only to photograph the lovely couple but to meet them!

I have to say, I was very impressed with Prince William. I was standing next to an elderly lady in a wheelchair and he was so very considerate of her. The way he bent right down over the rail to speak with her was so very kind. It can't be easy shaking hands and finding the words to say to so many strangers all the time but they were both simply marvellous. I do think though that they may have suspected I was "paparazzi" on seeing my cameras when in fact I was just an ordinary citizen of the town who truly enjoyed seeing them both. No - wedding and portrait photography suits me just fine, I couldn't work in that cut throat world!

I wish them all the very best for their wedding and a long a happy life together!

I just thought, since I didn't blog much last year, I'd show you some of the weddings and portraits I worked on last year, in particular, weddings in St Andrews, since I don't have any St Andrews images on my website yet.

St Andrews is such a popular place to get married particularly with St Andrews University students who meet here during their studies and come back to get married in St Salvator's Church.

In fact, St Andrews University has the highest percentage UK wide of students who meet at uni and get married. Prince William and Kate Middleton are just one - very famous - example however the town of St Andrews isn't that large so I guess it makes sense - who else are students going to meet?

It's not only students who come to St Andrews to get married, many people have a great affinity with the town. Some holidayed here when they were little and others simply wish to get married here because of St Andrews' great history with golf.

It also helps that there are so many lovely venues to hold a reception here. There's the Old Course Hotel; The Fairmont Hotel; St Andrews University Lower and Upper College Halls; The Golf Hotel; The Scores Hotel and Rufflets - to name just a few!

There are also wonderful locations from which to choose for wedding photography, including the castle; the cathedral; the harbour; the pier; the Swilken Bridge and the beach. No wonder St Andrews is such a popular wedding destination.

Anyhow, here is a wedding I covered last July which took place in St Salvator's Church and the Old Course Hotel.

More next time............