As promised in my last post here’s just a few of my favourites from my wedding on Saturday.

Becky and Mark married at the beautiful Killowen Parish Church in Coleraine before heading down to Ballygally Castle on the Antrim Coast for their wedding reception. I’m very fortunate to have such lovely clients – these guys had been going out for ten years and the atmosphere on the day was just lovely. Becky’s three year old niece provided some great comedy moments and I’d like to thank Rebecca’s Mum and Dad, Sheila and James for the lovely welcome at their home in the morning – always helps me settle in to the day.

For the photographers out there, all images were taken with the incredible Nikon D3S and 24-70mm lens with the exception of the speeches where I used my telephoto 70-200mm for a bit of reach.

WEDDING TIP #2 – HIRING A PROFESSIONAL
Each year I’m usually approached at least once or twice by brides who ask me if anything can be done to ‘fix’ their wedding photos. I always have to say no because once the moment has gone there’s not much that can be done really.

The worst set of photographs I’ve ever seen came from an unfortunate bride who had entrusted a friend to take pictures at the wedding. What she got was every single photograph being a simple cheesy ‘look into the camera and smile’ snap. Oh and all photographed with direct on-camera flash.

Naturally the groom didn’t want to have anything to do with the whole affair and he spent the whole day avoiding the ‘photographer’. So her other big regret was that she had no photos of her groom either.

The thought occurred to her that she could put her dress on again and pose for some professional photographs but she knew that even that just wouldn’t be the real thing either. Alas, nothing could be done.

Personally, I find it amazing that some people think that just because their friend has a ‘good camera’ that that somehow means they’ll be able to handle the pressures of taking photographs on a wedding day, let alone do it with any artistic thought.

The International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers (ISPWP) have a great (& slightly humourous) article on why you don’t let Uncle Bob take photos on your big day.

You can click here to read that.

In other news – I’ve recently joined the Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association (AGWPJA). This from the AGWPJA website:

AG|WPJA is comprised of outstanding wedding photographers, who are at the forefront of the wedding photography industry when it comes to enhancing images. The chief objective of the AG|WPJA is to provide members with a platform where the finest enhanced, manipulated and/or artistic wedding photojournalism in the world is spotlighted and promoted for the bride and groom.

To read more about the AG|WPJA you may click here.

Marj and David married amongst friends and family in Marj’s hometown of Whitehead before heading down the road to the beautiful Larchfield Estate outside Lisburn for their wedding reception later in the day. We had a great time, even with a few heavy rain showers. No matter what, there are always great moments with great people. Here are some of my favourites.

Oh and Marj sent me these lovely words after seeing her pictures:
“Dear Dylan,
I just wanted to pop you a note saying thank you so so much for our photos! We really are so delighted with them.
I love the way you captured the energy and emotion of the day so beautifully. How you got some of those shots is beyond me….as Dave’s mum said, she didn’t even know her photo had been taken!”