I recently photographed the wedding of Lorraine and Mark at The Clayton Hotel, Galway. Lorraine is from Galway and Mark is from Mayo, which puts an end to the myth that Galway and Mayo people don’t get on, well off the football pitch they do anyway. The bridal prep took place in hotel as did the groom prep. Lorraine runs her own hair salon in Loughrea town and there was no time wasted in getting ready as she was very organised. This was great for me as it allowed me ample time to get the pictures I had planned. After a little furniture removal in the bridal suite, I manged to clear some space for pictures. Luckily for me the window light was coming from the north which meant it was even and soft light, which I soften even further with the large white blinds on the windows. Bridal prep locations can be a bit chaotic sometimes with a lot of items in the room. I find that the best approach is not to be afraid of moving stuff to give you the desired space to work in, preferably where there is good light.

This will make your life a lot easier and allow you to get pictures with clear backgrounds minus all the clutter. Once the furniture removal had been cleared, I set about taking some portraits of Lorraine who was very easy to photograph and a pleasure to work with. I then added girls from the bridal party along with the flower girls who were the couples daughters.

After I had finished with the girls, I met Mark and his groomsmen for some pictures and they were also a pleasure to work with, just a collection of nice people who were open to what was needed in terms of photography.

Lorraine and Mark’s civil ceremony took place in the main ballroom in The Clayton Hotel, it was a ceremony that had fun, emotion and accompanied with great music and songs. Their wedding celebrant was a lovely man who’s name I can’t recall. Family photographs were done in the hotel along with some additional bridal party pictures. 

I then headed to Rinville Park in Oranmore with Lorraine and Mark for some couple photographs. Luckily for us the weather was on our side, it was an overcast autumn evening with great texture in the sky, something I love when photographing wedding pictures. Here I used a documentary approach with a 70-200mm Nikon lens using available light, to capture natural moments the occurred. I then setup an off-camera flash to create some dramatic couple portraits using the texture that was available in the sky. Underexposing the available light deepens the sky and with the addition of the off-camera flash to light the couple usually results in some striking images, as was the case here. In this instance I used a Nikon 24-70mm lens as I was working much closer to the couple and directing them also.

We then headed back to the hotel for the drinks reception where I photographed candid images of wedding guests enjoying themselves. Along with photographing the speeches I was booked up until the first dance.

I thoroughly enjoyed this wedding, Lorraine and Mark were a pleasure to work with and they had a great bunch of people around them.  Congratulations to you both and thanks for having me as your wedding photographer.