Blog - Weddings

I could have filled this blog with photos of the preparations at Corinne's house alone. There was so much to capture there. Ably assisted by Corinne's father. Tom was the most involved father I have came across. He helped me arrange all Corinne's accessories, while the girls were preoccupied with more important matters.

What a range of photo locations we had today! Starting at Kegan's house in Magherafelt, then Glen Chapel, the old cottage outside Ballybofey in Donegal & the Villa Rose Hotel. This has left us with a brilliantly diverse selection of photos. I normally complain about our bad weather here in N Ireland, but I'm now officially finished complaining. Having been forced indoors for the past few weddings, I have been exploring new avenues of shooting indoors and I am really happy with the results. So much so that most of my recent favourite pics are ones taken indoors.

It has come to that time of year where we are more likely to be forced inside for wedding photos. In such times its great to have a wedding in a venue such as Parkanaur Manor House. Even if the sun was shining I would still want some time indoors to make use of this magnificent building.

All venues fairly close to hand today, with the ceremony in Ahoghill and the reception in the Radisson Hotel, Limavady. There was plenty of craic and banter with the 3 Robinson brothers. Gerard's dad got a particularly bad touch during the speeches when one of the guests got hold of the mic. That's him being patted on the head in the last set of photos.

It was up into the Sperrin's to start today's wedding off. Donna lives just outside the village of Cranagh. The scenery up there is lovely even though it was fairly misty today. Following the ceremony, we made good use of the chapel for photographs as it was pretty wet and windy outside.

There was not a dull moment this day, from I met Joey at Siobhan's house in the morning, through photographing the mass, the calf that didn't want to be photographed, the vintage tractors that were quite happy to be photographed, the visit to the 2 wee aunts house, the babies, the lovely Lough Swilly, the many, many family photos (all 3 families). I am quietly very happy with myself for getting through it all!

Back to the excellent Galgorm Hotel today. However today was my first time shooting a ceremony in the Phantom House, and what an excellent place to have a wedding ceremony. There were candles placed everywhere inside the rustic old building - great for photos.

Its great to start the day of a wedding off only 5 minutes from home - in this case, Friel's Bar in Swatragh to kick things off with a pint of the black stuff. Following that, it was on to Ballymena and Crebilly Church for the ceremony. And what a ceremony it was, the gallery in the church was crammed packed with singers and musicians. So much that I struggled to get around them all to grab a few snaps.

A new photo session venue for me today - Glynn gardens in Ballymena. And I am very impressed. Today was a contrast to this weeks weather so far, the sun was out in force. Sounds great but doesn't work well for taking photographs (us N.I. photographers are never happy!). Thankfully Glynn gardens is surrounded by mature trees giving loads of shelter from direct sun, wind etc.

It seems like a lifetime ago since Andrea first visited me and booked me for her wedding. The day finally arrived and a great day was had by all. The sun seems to like Ballymena - I had a family wedding yesterday, also in the Tullyglass and both days were scorchers!

This isn't the first time Justine has appeared in the Blog. She was bridesmaid at Claire & Karol's wedding last year. Claire being todays groom's sister. Its great to get this kind of 'knock on' business.

It was all Belfast today, starting at Aoife's house, then St Gerard's Church on the Antrim Road followed by a reception at the lovely Culloden Hotel. Things were very calm and collected at Aoife's house, she was ready way ahead of schedule. This allowed us to go out to the gardens and enjoy the sunshine, and get a few snaps of course.

Tracy knows how I like to point out any international or cultural variations in my couples, so she wont mind that the first thing I mention is that she was my first chinese bride. And rather less exciting, Kieran is from Swatragh...

Two consecutive weddings, and two consecutive castles as venues. A few weeks ago it was Angela & Declan's at Belfast Castle. Today it was Cabra Castle in Cavan for Irene & Liam's wedding - I could get used to this.

Today I attended a very worthwhile seminar by contemporary wedding & fashion photographer John Denton.

A bit of driving to do today. Firstly from Swatragh to Newtownards to see Angela before she left home, then back into Belfast where the service was being held in the Belfast Metropolitan Tabernacle. But it was worth it to get to shoot a couple like Angela & Declan.

I have known Aimee since she was a wee teenager. Not that long ago Aimee, eh? So it was great to be the photographer for her and Raymond's special day. The day started out at Aimee's house/pub, O'Neills outside Feeny. Then into Feeny for the ceremony.

Its always nice getting the chance to photograph the wedding of a couple I am already familiar with. Siobhan is my brother-in-law's sister and I have known Kevin and her for probably about ten years. Also thrown into the mix, my sister was a bridesmaid and her two children were pageboy and flower girl, along with Amy the other flower girl.

My first wedding of the 2011 season. Roisin and John Paul were married in Castledawson and before progressing to the marina at Ballyronan for the main photo session we had a quick stop off at Roisin's house, the wellies were donned, and we took to the fields to get to a lovely looking fairy tree situated on the hill behind Roisin's. I have to say it was a great idea. Incorporating something personal and unique like this can really produce photos that stand out from the norm.

I'm not sure whether 'White Wedding' describes today's wedding - 'Blue Wedding' may be more appropriate. It was freezing! One of the times I looked at the reading in the car it was -8. That didn't stop this gang. I'm putting most of the bravado down to the hip flasks that were produced throughout the day.