On the Saturday we made a move into the city centre where we had a hotel booked that was right across from the Zoo and the Tiergarten. A day of sigh seeing beckoned! Or so we thought. I received a call from my brother who got word that I was in Berlin and phoned to say that he was too! A pure chance occurrence. We had to meet obviously and our day of sightseeing was somewhat cancelled. Still, we managed to take in the TV Tower which gives great view across the city, The Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorialand on the Sunday we managed a quick walk around the Tiergarden which was utterly beautiful with it’s fresh sprinkling of snow.

It was all much too short and we’ll be back – hopefully when it’s a little warmer and the fear of frostbite has truly disappeared.

Yvonne and Thomas got married back on a cold crisp day in October last year in the beautiful Castle Durrow. I love that place. I love it even more when the bride is getting ready there as the rooms are stunning and let in floods of light. Yvonne had hired the expert services of Ken Boylan on Make-up and Sandra Crosbie on hair and wow did they do a good job. Yvonne looked nothing but amazing! Just look at those eyes! And when she popped on that dress the whole look went up a gear. Simply stunning!

The ceremony was held in Abbeyleix at the Church of the Holy Rosary. It’s a grand big church with quite a large altar that is surrounded by rails so getting anywhere close to Yvonne and Thomas was quite difficult. In a way that’s nice though because it forces me to remain totally in the background and shoot from a distance. The ceremony itself was lovely with lots of lovely readings and a few giggles to keep things nice and relaxed.

When we arrived back at Castle Durrow we decided to shoot the formal shots as soon as we could to avail of the available light. I have to say, shooting with Yvonne and Thomas is like shooting with a couple of pros. True models the pair of them. They needed little or no direction so this made my job so incredibly easy. Aside from that though, let me just tell you one little story that should give you a little giggle and I’m sure Yvonne won’t mind me telling you this little gem.
We were in the process of taking the bridal party shots, rain was threatening to fall so we had umbrellas on standby. Rather than just leaving the umbrellas at the side I thought they could make for an interesting photo. So as I arranged everyone into pairs and got them to place the bolly’s right over their heads. “Lower…lower….keep going, right down…. lower……” And just as they were coming down past their faces I could hear Yvonne “But Dave…. you won’t see my face?” haha well the laughs we had over that. Utterly brilliant.

The rest of the day consisted of me shooting everything from my usual documentary approach which again was not the most difficult task in the world as this crowd all for the chat. It was also a good opportunity for me to catch up with a former bride of mine Caoilfhionn who had recently appeared on the Irish version of Master Chef where she stunned the judges with her frozen grapes! I saaaay!

All in all it was a truly brilliant day shooting with Yvonne and Thomas. The two of them are so obviously in love and made me a real welcome part of their day. Yvonne I’m sorry if the umbrella covered that lovely face of yours but I’m just glad I took a few more of you to make up for it

Enjoy the show!

It was my first time in Australia so I knew it was going to be action packed. It helped having my very own tour guide in the form of Dee, who is an Aussie citizen. So even though Dee had seen and done it all before, having four weeks meant we could take our time do as much or as little as we wanted.

I’ll try not to bore you all too much but for those that are interested our stay consisted of us staying in Paddington for the first few nights with Dee’s friend and downright funny man Tag. Being funny helps him out greatly as he’s a standup comedian. So that’s lucky for him – and his audience. Paddington is superb and super cool. Lots of cool cafe’s, bars and boutique shops mean you could spend the day there just pottering around taking it all in. Later in this post you see a lot of street photography with graffiti and so on, that’s all from the Paddington area.

After a few days we then went off with Dee’s family to Patonga for the Christmas week and is about an hour and half north of Sydney. What’s in Patonga? Pretty much nothing. You go there to get away from it all. There’s a beach, a cafe and a pub. What more do you need? (a phone signal would have been nice but hey ho, we’re on holiday). Dee’s sister Gráinne who is a stickler for her details (and runs the amazing Splendid Days) did a great job in finding us this really beautiful little beach house to stay at. You know that whole Shabby Chic look that girls love? Well yeah… it had all that. And a pool.
Our stay in Patonga consisted of stocking up on vast quantities of food and wine to then consume it while lazing around on the porch, building up food sweats and with it the courage to take a dip in the pool. And plenty of dips did we take. Aside from eating and drinking we spent some time in Avoca (not that fancypants shop that we all know and love back home) but the beach town a bit further up the coast. Beautiful place and home to the best burger I’ve ever had. Thank you Burger Girls! We also spent an evening with Dee’s long time friend Jayne and Ryan and their two super cool little boys Nate and Fletcher. While Dee caught up with the adults I built a scalextric track with the two boys and kept Fletcher entertained with the go pro. (More on that later) Fun times!

When we returned to Sydney after what was truly a lovely week the rest of our stay was centered around Sydney. We put on our tourist hats and did it all! The Bridge Climb (Awesome!), the Harbour Jet boat (Soaked!!), Para Sailing (Seriously soaked!), Sydney Tower (amazing views!) the Imax (Holy molly my eyes!), Bondi – where I kid you not after walking about 30 seconds down the main street there is Jason Donovan right in front of me waiting to cross the road. Mental. We took in the Bondi to Bronte walk which leaves you just gobsmacked at it’s beauty. We also spent a ton of time out in Manly which when you have skin like mine that hasn’t seen the sun in it’s lifetime and reflects more light than it absorbs, is not as an embarrassing place to lie and sunbath as somewhere like Tamarama (nick named Glamorama for obvious reasons). Aside from touristy things I managed to meet up with a old friend Gretta who I used to work with but hadn’t seen in 8 years and it was as if those 8 years didn’t exist. Two great nights with her and her mates in Newtown and we can’t wait to see her when she’s back in Ireland later this year.

I even managed to meet up with two couples who’s weddings I’m shooting this year here in Ireland. I did my best to convince them that they should get married in Sydney and fly me over to shoot their day but unfortunately no matter how many pints I bought them they just weren’t having it. Must try harder next time.

Highlight of the trip for me had to be New Years Eve. I have never seen anything like it. Totally and utterly unbelievable. Dee and I along with two of Dee’s mates, Tom and Eimear got tickets for a boat on the harbor for the evening and we couldn’t have picked a better place to witness it all from. These fireworks just take the biscuit. It’s utterly insane. 15 solid minutes of exploding color and glitter in the skies. And not just off the bridge either, from the shore line and off the top the skyscrapers too! Utterly bonkers and leaves you feeling strangely quite emotional and over awed. Thinking back gives me goosebumps it really does.

All in all, it was one almighty trip. Before I set off on this trip I went to dinner with a bunch of wedding photographers for our Christmas night out. (You miss out on these Christmas parties when you don’t work in an office so we just created our own). I had asked them what camera should I bring when I’m away. I didn’t want to bring too much equipment as I didn’t want to spend my time taking photos. Everyone told me to bring the 5D (the camera I use for my weddings). So, I did. Along with my Panasonic G2 and my latest and great toy – the Go Pro 2 HD. It’s utterly the business! Recently I’ve become a stickler for video and before I set off on the trip I had an idea to record this journey from my own perspective and to make a real snappy video. Short clips that would detail our trip in the order that they were taken. Almost like a storybook of the full four weeks. I stuck to my guns and with the help of the Go-Pro and some video from the amazing 5D and GF2 I created this video when I got back.

So…This is over 200 gigs (or 8 hours) of raw footage condensed into 4 and half minutes for your viewing pleasure.
Sit back, turn up the volume and enjoy. Oh and I hope you like the photos too.

I’ve been in Oz for almost 3 weeks now and it’s scary to think that in just over a week I’ll be on my way back to Ireland. Not because it’s Ireland, I love Ireland. More the fact that I’ll no longer be walking around in shorts and t-shirts and applying copious amounts of suncream to this sun starved body. Nothing quite like hardly stepping foot on a (sunny) beach for 5 years to really make one appreciate the sunshine.

So, as a little reminder to all the folks back home that even the Irish summer did indeed have the very odd day of sunshine, I want to bring you this wedding from a day in August last year when Fiona and TJ tied the knot.

I really enjoyed shooting this one and Fiona and TJ were just an absolute dream to work with. In fairness, ‘work’ is the wrong word as really the whole day was spent having fun. I don’t think I’ve ever been around a more bubbly bride and one who so fully embraced the day without even a hint of wedding nerves or anxiety. TJ was the stereotypical gentle giant. I’d been told that there was no doubt that he’d be the first to shed a tear when Fiona walked up the aisle and true to form he lived up to expectations. If you listened closely you could hear the tears splash on the ground from a drop height of 6ft 6in!

Fiona really was a girl for the details. Aside from her utterly amazing dress, keep an eye out for the hanger her dress hung on, her little vintage lace gloves, the VW Camper, the ice cream van outside the church, the little signs guiding you to the reception at the hotel, the straws with their own signs, the sweet table and thumbprint sign board to name a few. This girl (and maybe guy) sure know how to make a wedding look good.

I cannot let this post end without telling you the most incredible story and one that really shows the true character of Fiona. Just before the first dance was due to start, Fiona’s dress…. went on fire… that’s right. Fire. Let this be a warning to all brides – pathways lit with tealights and wedding dresses are a firey combination. As Fiona walked along the pathway the flame from one of the tealights caught the underside of her dress and “Whooooomph!” up it went! Lucky for Fiona it went out as quick as it went up and after some minor dress alterations she hit the floor for her first dance not too long later. How did Fiona cope? With ease. “Did you hear my dress went on fire?!” she shouted to me later as she was still dancing away with a smile on her face. Amazing girl.

I’m sure she won’t mind me quoting a line she later sent me in an email…

I’m writing this post form my plastic fold out food table on seat 48A (the cheap seats) 33,000ft over the Indian Ocean. Sydney is my final destination point and boy do I need this holiday.

While this past year has been incredibly rewarding as I have shot some of the most incredible weddings for the loveliest people I could have wished for. 2011 really was a dream but one that flew by with very little time to rest so I’m planning on making the most of my time in Oz before I return to Ireland in a few weeks time to do it all over again.

I wanted to finish up the year with a huge thank you to all my amazing couples for inviting me into their lives for one of the most important days they could have and allowing me to capture it to be enjoyed over and over again for many years to come.

So, personally I want to thank, Vicki & Andrew, Caroline & Andrew, Anne & Emmet, Kevin & Emma, Anne-Marie & John, Eileen & John, Louise & John, Niamh & Patrick, Karen & Darragh, Naomi & Luke, Louise & Declan, Barry & Aisling, Eamonn & Rosie, Niamh & Hamish, Suzanne & Barry, Catherine & Kevin, Amy & John, Rachel & Shane, Niamh & Charles, Sheena & Dave, Louise & Darragh, Claire & Ed, Alex & Paul, Louise & Kieran, Sarah & Ken, Sandra & Niall, Teresa & Des, Karen & Joe, Eimer & Liam, Claire & Connor, Nichola & Paul, Simon & Claire, Deborah & Neil, Phillip & Navina, Anthony & Tina, Fiona & Paul, Clare & John, Fiona & TJ, Jenny & Karl, Annie & Lawrence, Jacqui & Dave, Catherine & Craig, Mary & Phil, Caoimhe & Ian, Angela & John, Elaine & Kevin, Edel & Declan, Suzy & Ken, Denise & Robbie, Yvonne & Tom, Catherine & Brian, Suzanne & Kevin, Sabrina & Gavin, Noelle & Alun, Adrian & Rosemarie, Susan & Neal, Anne & Andrew, Jennifer & Mark and finally Anne-Marie & Walter!

And now for a shot from each of those weddings. Thanks folks and Happy Christmas!

On the morning we were due to hold our little dinner I received a query from a bride of mine to ask if I could try shooting something akin to a stop motion movie on her day. So, as a way or researching I thought I’d give it a go at home first as to make sure it’s something I could do.

Now, I must warn you, this video may be quite boring for most folk and if I was doing it again I’d definitely change the camera angles a bit more but as I said – it was just a test.

Enjoy…

Put together using Quicktime Pro and iMovie for the editing.

Suzy and Ken succeeded in their wish to have a real intimate wedding with just their closest friends and family. The whole day had such a lovely vibe about it and you could see the enjoyment on each and every one of the guests faces. I’ll never forget the laughs on the way to Crooke church as Suzy’s friend Patrick drove us in the old Citroen DS blasting out his custom made wedding cd. What’s that? I should have videoed it you say? Well.. funny you say that. I did! haha and it’s just below so fire it up and have a giggle.

They had a beautiful and at times quite comical ceremony, so much so that I was never actually sure if the marriage was totally official by the end of it.. haha in fact, I’m not even sure if they knew! Oh well, we wouldn’t let minor details like that get in the way of a good time. So it was off to Jack Meades pub on the outskirts of Waterford for swift halfs all round. For any Dublin folk, Jack Meades a very small Johnnie Foxes. It’s the kind of place you need to go on a sunny summer afternoon to avail of the super barbecue they put on. Mind you that’s if you can find a space in the car park – Jack Meades is no secret in Waterford and for good reason.

It was then onto Waterford Castle for the main event. And what an event it was. It was my first time shooting there and I have to say it was just a pleasure. The place is gorgeous inside and out. The grounds offer plenty of choice when it comes to the photographs so Suzy, Ken and I had no trouble in getting these over and done with nice and quick allowing them all afternoon to relax and mingle with their guests and giving me plenty of time too do what I love best and just photograph in a documentary style.

Favourite shot of the day? The shot of Suzy and Ken having that one little quite moment together before being called for the meal. They were in the own little bubble and I daren’t have gone into the same room to burst it so I just shot it from the hall.

Thanks again to Suzy and Ken for allowing me to just come along and do my own thing and for being a perfect pair to work with. See you soon!

Another little sneak peek for you all. This is the wedding of Declan and Edel who had the most gorgeous wedding in Horetown House Co.Wexford. This was my first visit to Horetown House and it somewhere I can’t wait to go back. It’s just gorgeous. I’ve known Dec and Edel for a good few years now as their best buddies with my best buddies (Tom and Michelle). In fact, Dec and Edel are the last to get married of a bunch of weddings I’ve shot for this group of friends (expect for Tom and Michelle who are getting married next June in Portugal! Nice.) so it was great to see all my former couples and so many of the same faces again as they are all in the same social circle.
Edel looked utterly incredible in her nice and simple vintage style dress. Her hair and makeup was done by the brilliant Lorraine and Naomh from The Wedding Crew and they excelled themselves again. Dec, showered and shaved, all by himself.

Again, this is just a little snippet and when I have more time I will be revisiting this wedding and telling you so much more about their day. Until then, I hope you enjoy the show.

Thanks again to Sabrina and Gavin for a superb day. Totally loved it.

I’m just home from Dingle (my goodness even from Kilkenny that is some drive!) and I’ve had a quick look at some of my shots from yesterdays wedding of Suzanne and Kevin. I had such a great day with the pair of them and what a lovely family to boot. Yesterday’s wedding was a first for me in that the brides father not only gave her away but performed the marriage ceremony! No sooner had he walked Suzanne down the aisle he was off to a back room to change from his swanky suit to his ministerial robe!

I’ll definitely be blogging more from this wedding later but until then I’d like to thank Suzanne and Kevin, the wonderful folk at Ballintaggart House and to Andrew from Screencraft Productions who was a pleasure to work with (and made an even further journey than I did to make the wedding. A crazy 664 mile round trip!)

Teresa and Des got married back at the end of July in Knock and then went onto the super fabulous Mount Falcon for the reception.

The day started with the usual preparation shots. Teresa and Des were getting ready in their family homes which were just a few minutes apart. So I started with Des who was using his morning to write the rest of his speech and then for some stress busting kickabout in the back garden with his brother Mike and the crazy dog. Why crazy?.. Kind of a long story but it let’s just say the dog is obsessed with golf clubs.

Meanwhile over at Teresa’s the hair and makeup was well under way. In fact a funny little episode happened around this point – the makeup artist couldn’t find her blusher brush. It literally was on hands on deck as we searched high and low but nowhere could this brush be found. “It was just there, I used it a few minutes ago” she’d say. Eventually the poor little page boy was brought into the room “Tell us where you hid it?” (he was seen playing near her things earlier so it was assumed he’d hidden it). “Just tell us where it is.. you wont get in trouble”. The poor little lad – he just pointed to the table that all the other brushes were on. “There” he muttered. But no, the brush was not there. So again the allegations and assumptions that he’d hidden it were cast upon him. After not getting any further info from him on where “he’d hidden it” he toddled off to play in his cell room – but with much less enthusiasm and vigor than before. After 20 minutes or so and Teresa’s makeup was all done. She hopped off the chair and lookie here! She was sitting on the brush the whole time! haha Poor little sausage.

You know when on shows such as X-Factor the judge may say about a audition “They don’t even know how good they are!” – well, Teresa looked utterly amazing in her dress but she was so humble and quiet that I really don’t think she realised just how amazing she looked. She was just so shy – I remember when I stood with her in the room before her father walked in that she was just so quiet and shy. I had to say something to just break the silence. “It must be weird having some creepy weirdo photographer in your room” She just burst out laughing and that’s when I took the shot of her that you’ll see later through her wardrobe mirror. At least it broke the silence

I’d have to rely on more of these icebreakers later if I was to help them not feel awkward in front of the camera. Lucky for me I had my little vintage cameras with me when it came to doing some shots with just the two of them at Lough Conn. They were so fun to watch and observe as they giggled and joked with each other like a pair of loved up kids as they looked through their little props. Anything to help a bride and groom take their minds of the camera is good by me.

Anyway  I think I’ve rambled on her quite enough so I’ll let get on with looking at the photos and seeing how things panned out.

Thanks so much to Teresa and Des for having me shoot their wonderful day.

Colombo Moment – Oh.. One more thing! This shyness that I speak of, that little fella (The Blusher Brush One) also had an awful case of shyness. So much so that he walked the entire length of the aisle with his hand over his eyes “If I can’t see them, they can’t see me” I’m sure was his thought process. Haha how cute!

I had a brilliant day yesterday shooting Catherine and Brian’s wedding. We had such a good laugh and the two of them have such a good sense of humour. I took one of the most ridiculous shots I’ve ever taken and I was a little embarrassed even suggesting it but it was no hassle to them and they played along perfectly… (yes… it’s the apple one..)

So with that… on with the slightly extended sneak peek…

Some night, some wedding. Thanks again to Niamh and Charles for having me photograph their day as it really was one to remember!

Mind you, I’m also spoilt for a completely different reason – I seem to be blessed with stunning brides*. Today is no exception. Elaine is like a movie star from the golden age of Hollywood. Blonde hair perfectly styled by the brilliant Michelle Grimes, gorgeous makeup by Ashley O’Connor and this most incredible vintage style dress designed and handmade especially for her by Denise Assas. She looks a million dollars.

I’m sitting here waiting for guests to finish their meals and after having looked through a few of the shots from the day so far I just had to share some with you.

What a couple. This wedding will definitely be re-visited before too long!

*Grooms can be handsome too – Including you Kevin