This is our first EDCH pet photography shoot we've ever done up Arthur's Seat! So when Zuzi contacted us and said she wanted a shoot with her stunning Greyhound Noah up Arthur's Seat we knew we had to make it extra special. We decided to get there good and early to catch the sunrise. Word to the wise, do not try this in trainers and in an inch of snow :-) As it happens Noah is another amazing EDCH success story! :-)

Zuzi is and always has been a massive fan of Greyhounds. She even registered with a Greyhound charity in order to get on the list of adoptive families. Sadly after two years she'd had no joy. Eventually though she found Noah on the EDCH website and it was love at first sight. He's been with her for a year and a half now and is a happy happy boy. Being so lean he doesn't normally like the cold but the good thing about Arthur's Seat is that he got to make lots of friends and does so every time he goes up. He's a very shy boy with people but he loves to play with other dugs and to run. And trust us - He can run :-) 

This is another of our EDCH offer pet photography shoots. Contact us here - http://www.mattephotography.co.uk/contact.html

This is a fantastic walk for anyone and their poocher. Plus if you do it early enough, you get views like this - 

Fantastic wee trip down to Portobello the other day to meet the staff and the residents of the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. Now, as you may have guessed from our fundraiser pet photography shoots, the EDCH is a charity very close to our hearts. We are a bit animal mad!@£$%*. The EDCH is one of Britain's oldest running charities. It was first established in 1883 all the way up on Broughton Road. Naturally local residents found this a wee bit noisy and not long after the premises at Seafield was purchased and that's where the modern day EDCH buildings stand today.

Katie and I are now both doing the sponsored 5K Big Fun Run in October for EDCH and we are turning our sponsored Pet Photography offer into a permanent package on our website soon. So with all the talking we do about EDCH we have never really talked much about how your money goes to helping rescue and re-home hundreds and hundreds of beautiful cats and dogs every month.

So we contacted the lovely Francesca Greaves (EDCH's fundraising manager) who organised a wee tour for us. 

We had a fantastic guide in Tom who very kindly took us on a tour of the doggy kennel. There were some amazing characters in there including Bodie, a white Staffy cross who was so adorable! Up to 70-80 % of the dogs that come into the rescue centre are Staffordshire Bull Terriers. So it was very noisy :-) but the staff are incredibly patient and dedicated. A lot of them, including Tom, have taken to 'fostering' the dogs that have been there long term. If any animal spends too much time in a centre they can become stressed, so the staff have been taking the dogs home in order to give them a little bit of normal home life whilst they're waiting to be adopted. And this seems to work wonders for their state of mind. Some of the staff have even ended up adopting a few of their foster pets. Tom has 3 dogs and 2 cats. Say no more.

All the cages are sponsored by people whose families have donated in their name or by legacy donors. Its these kind of donations that constitute the majority of the EDCH's running costs every year(around £900,000-£1,000,000 per annum). With Francesca on board now there is a big focus now on fundraising from events. As I mentioned earlier, Katie and I will be doing the sponsored 5k Big Fun Run for the EDCH this coming October. All donations will be gratefully received and will be put to very good use.

There's only 5% of any of the animals here at the centre that have portraits with their profiles online. And it's now become so essential to have portraits of the cats and dogs in their natural environment with happy faces and tails so that people want to adopt them. So starting soon Matt.E.Photography is going to be spending one day a week taking lots of wonderful pet portraits to pop up on the EDCH website in an effort to help get more of these guys a forever home. Once the EDCH website is revamped they intend to  put 100% of new arrivals on the website for people to see.

There is now a boarding kennel on the premises for dogs with forever homes. This boarding kennel gives a good consistent income to the centre which allows them to treat, rehabilitate and re-home a lot of very sweet pooches.

We're forgetting the amazing work done in the cattery! We were shown around by one of the centre's permanent employees Melissa. Despite being a self-confessed dog person Melissa spends a lot of  her time in the cattery looking after the kitties with all manner of ailments. There's a cat recovery ward which specialises in looking after sick cats and kittens. We met some lovely characters.

This lovely lad is Dexter! Amazing eyes! Thankfully Dexter has already found a forever home since we met him :-)

This is the gorgeous Milly who was super sweet and came out to say hello to Katie and I! Good thing Katie didn't bring her purse. Milly might have come home in it.

This is the EDCH success wall. All these cats have been successfully re-homed recently.

This is Francesca at reception reminding readers about the regular events the EDCH fundraises through.

From what we can see and from what Francesca tells us it's obvious the volunteers are the backbone of the EDCH. Without the volunteers the EDCH just couldn't operate. So if you're willing to donate your time you can volunteer with Donate-A-Day Experience or simply call/email and register your interest with Kirsty the volunteer manager. Or if you have an event or fundraising idea contact Francesca and the team at - fundraising@edch.org.uk - they would love to hear from you. The centre re-homes roughly 1100 cats and dogs every year.

The EDCH now have their dedicated charity shop over in Morningside if you want to pop in and support the centre with donations or purchases.

You can also donate by txt by simply texting 70070 starting with code EDCH15 with your amount £2, £5 and so on.

As you can see the work that's been done with the money from the legacies and the events is fantastic. But that just covers the running costs of the centre and charity as a whole. Francesca and the team are constantly coming up with new projects and events to create new revenue to continue the good work that EDCH does and increase the amount of forever homes for their furry friends. With our help and support they can continue to do this for a long time to come. If you can, pop down and see for yourself what an amazing job these guys are doing.

Mattephotography are beyond excited today as we are off to visit the EDCH center. For the past several months Katie and I have been fundraising for The Edinburgh Cat and Dog Home with our promotional pet photography offer and now we get to see how that money is going to good ends. And of course play with lots of doggles and kittensh!!! Full blog post with pics later on today! :-) #edch #mattephotography #Edinburgh #animalcharity #photography #petphotography

On the 13th of December we were very lucky to be with Gemma and Claire on their big day over in Dalkeith at Fairfield House registry. Gemma and Claire are one of the youngest couples we've shot with but they've been together since forever. They first met in primary 3! And then true love blossomed when they were in Academy together a few years later. Their lovely friend Natasha, who was also Chief Bridesmaid, contacted us and hired us as a wonderful wedding present for the gorgeous couple.

With the civil ceremony taking place in the beautiful Fairfield House Registry Office. A gorgeous refurbed old Victorian building. The place has a wonderful old greenhouse with some awesome nooks and crannies which made for some wicked couples portraits.

After the small relaxed ceremony we headed to Bonnyrigg Working Man's Club for a Christmas themed disco with all the family. As you can see the club had a wicked wooden dance floor so there were ample opportunities for knee slides and moonwalking :-)  Gemma and Claire are a super sweet couple and this was an awesome family orientated wedding we were totally made up to be a part of. Some of the family portraits were so much fun to take as the kids kept us entertained.

The Bride herself described her wedding as - "A Christmas Themed Extravaganza!" This is one of our favourite December weddings from 2014. And now we've finally got the chance to share it with you! The lovely creative Roberta and Jon tied the knot here in Edinburgh and had us along to witness this super-fun festive themed wedding.

You may remember Roberta and Jon from their VERY FESTIVE ENGAGEMENT shoot we did featuring a few Christmassey delights and of course their beautiful baby Eric the Abyssinian pussycat. Eric sadly could not be there on the big day, but one of the wedding party was dispatched to check on him during the proceedings to make sure he wasn't too put out :-)

Roberta and Jon are a bright creative couple  both in their work and nuptials. Jon is a biology Phd student and Roberta is an department head (or chief nag as she puts it :-) ) at Rockstar North. What made this Christmas theme extra special apart from the fact that its a season close to both Bride and Grooms hearts was the fact that so many crafty DIY personal touches were involved in the details.  Jon hand made the gorgeous cake; Roberta also handmade the bridesmaids dresses, the bouquets , the buttonholes and even her own dress was adapted from a vintage gown she found online. Apparently last minute sewing was taking place until about 5am on the morning of the wedding! If they were sleep deprived though, no one showed it as all were in super festive spirits throughout. And as you can see it was all worth as the Bride and her Christmas Wrapping Paper Bridesmaids looked fantastic!

After a wonderfully relaxed ceremony at the city chambers we wandered down to their reception venue to ......you guessed it - The Caves for the third time this year. The Caves on the Cowgate is one of Edinburgh's most atmospheric and unusual venues for weddings and receptions in the city centre. With a mixture of old world creature comfort and gothic vaulted ceilings, this old whisky store has some amazing character to add to any wedding.