by Kevin Morris
wedding photography
I was looking forward to photographing Kathleen & Tonys wedding as, not only had I never shot in the Stationhouse Hotel previously, but we were also planning to take a short trip to the wonderful Bective Abbey which now has a small carpark & paths. In the past it was a jump over a fence & skipping up an overgrown trail (not ideal in a wedding dress !!). The weather on the day really behaved itself and Kathleen & Tony were an absolute pleasure to work with. I was also very impressed with the super grounds in the Stationhouse and in particular with the staff who were fantatsic & very helpful, I am looking forward to working there again shortly. Unfortunately, on the day, the great enemy of any photographer caught up with me – time !! Before we knew it, dusk was falling, tummies were rumbling but we had managed to get all the photos we needed. I have uploaded a small selection of pics below, just click on any for a slightly larger version & if you happen to know the happy couple feel free to leave a message.
Firstly, a big thank you to all my friends, family and of course wedding couples, for their help & support throughout 2011. Yet again, it was a privilege to be such a major part of so many weddings – thanks for putting your faith in me to capture your day through photography. I can’t say that my style of shooting weddings has changed too much over the last 12 months – I still focus on reportage and informal photography, but, I also understand the need for a few nice family shots and some bridal party and bride & groom portraiture – although I do try to make these sessions as informal and painless as possible !! I know that for most couples the day (apart from the marriage itself) is all about having family & friends close, so why would you want to spend most of your time posing in front of a camera ? Whereas my style might not have changed too much, my awards tally for the year did – for 2011 I received a total of 12 gold, 19 silver and 2 bronze awards, mainly for my reportage work, but also a few for classical wedding, and even a couple for landscape ! I have uploaded a selection of images below, from various weddings throughout the year, in an attempt to show a typical wedding day as told through photos, some of which will be familiar, some are making their “blog” debut.
Hope you enjoy and I look forward to plenty more blogs as well as some new & exciting developments over the next 12 months.
Monday 31st saw me heading up the coast to Balbriggan for the wedding of Catriona & Chris. It was also a case of meeting up with old acquaintances as I knew the celebrant, Fr Eugene, from my days in the folk group in Rialto (25 years ago !!), I also teamed up with videographer Cyril Fox for the first time in nearly three years, and I met Marie & Mattie, a couple whose wedding I photographed last year.
The girls were so calm & collected when I arrived (and looked stunning thanks to the Powder Room Girls), and despite the constant threat of bad weather, I had a feeling that the day would be a great one, or, as Chris would say – 100%.
Sure enough, after the lovely ceremony in Balscadden Church, the heavens opened. We had to leg it to the cars (thanks to Cyril Fox for sharing a brolley!) and it was off to Darver Castle. I was blown away by the venue & staff, nothing was too much for them (apart from stopping the rain !). Due to the bad weather we didn’t get a chance for photos in the grounds but we did have a nice spot indoors. After a short while the kitchen in Darver was hopping to the sounds of Tropical Storm which went on till mealtime.
After the meal & speeches there was a special treat, not only to celebrate the wedding, but also for Halloween, there was a huge & impressive fireworks display in the castle grounds, after which the happy couple hit the floor for the first dance.
All in all it was a great day, the one problem I had was that I normally put around 12-15 shots into the blog, and I had a terrible time cutting down on pics for this one, I went a bit over my limit but I hope I have managed to capture some of the atmosphere below, and, if you happen to know the couple feel free to leave a message for them as they will be checking in on a regular basis. (just click on any photo for a slightly larger version).
