I love photographing weddings at Belfast Castle. My sister married here in 2007 and the earliest photograph we have of my Mum is from a wedding here in the early 1960′s where she was a little flowergirl – so it’s a place that holds great memories for me.

Tara and Mark had their wedding ceremony at the Castle and then relaxed in the gardens with guests before heading down to La Mon Country Club for the evening reception.

Tara sent me a lovely email after seeing her pictures online:
“Hi Dylan

We sat down together to look through the slideshow and the photos brought back so many memories from moments we had forgotten (or missed on the day!), every time we look at the photos of the speeches we remember what was being said and laugh all over again.
You really captured the story of our day, we cant thank you enough.
Many thanks again,
Tara & Mark”

Here’s just a few of my own favourites from the first part of their day:

It was another fabulous marquee wedding in Northern Ireland for me a few weeks back as I photographed Joanne and David’s wedding.

I always like photographing weddings where the location has a strong personal connection to the family. Joanne and David married less than a mile away from where Joanne grew up at Grange Chapel near Cranfield whilst the reception was held at David’s family home near Aghagallon in County Antrim. Both venues provided stunning backdrops for the days events.

Here are just a few of my favourite images from the day.

Joanne and David sent me these lovely words after seeing their pictures online:
“Hi Dylan
The photos are fantastic we are absolutely delighted with them!! We love the slideshow! I think we have watched it about 30 times at this stage!

Also thank you for getting the photos to us so quickly.
David and Joanne”

Last month Caroline and I had some professional family photographs taken with Corrina over in France. I also had some new profile shots taken for my new website.

For the shoot Pierre-Yves suggested we go for a walk in the beautiful location of Les Haras in Hennebont. With lots of trees, horses and stables in the background we knew he’d be able to capture some lovely natural unposed photographs. And that’s just how it was!

It was a strange experience for me as I’m normally the one behind the camera but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the experience! P-Y didn’t give us any direction – he just allowed us to be ourselves and got some really lovely portraits.

Check out the 2nd image below of me in full ninja mode (taking a picture of some horses)…. :D

Look at the beautiful light in these pictures! Absolutely fantastic!

A little tired, perhaps…

That’s it girl…

…but don’t eat the grass!

The above image is my favourite!

I’d like to thank Pierre-Yves for his time and talent. Along with our wedding photographs we now have a wonderful second set of images to treasure and I’m sure we’ll see him every year as the family grows!

Here’s an image that just jumped off the screen for me earlier this morning as I was editing Joanne and David’s wedding pictures from a couple of weeks back.

I’ll be posting more images from Joanne and David’s fabulous marquee wedding on Friday.

Caroline and I married in her hometown in France almost 8 years ago. With the birth of Corrina it ranks up there as the best day of our lives. As a wedding photographer myself, I’m often asked who shot our own wedding photographs.

Well, I’m pleased to say that a quiet, unassuming, yet very talented photographer called Pierre-Yves Nicolas photographed our wedding day. Pierre-Yves runs a busy high street wedding and portrait studio in Caroline’s hometown of Hennebont. Looking back at our wedding we hardly noticed he was there. A bit like how I do things, he shot reportage for the most part (and also took a couple of portraits of just the two of us). He really captured the feel and mood of the wedding perfectly.

Looking through the wedding album again with Caroline we can still very much feel the emotions we had that day. I think that’s testament both to his great skills as a photographer and to the power of documentary wedding photography (when done well). The album is one of our most treasured possessions and it will be fantastic to show it off to Corrina when she’s older.

With Pierre-Yves’ great sense of timing and composition we had no doubts that when it came to doing a family photoshoot with him we would have yet another set of photographs to treasure.

Here he is photographing Corrina. I’ll post some of our favourites later in the week.

Today’s the anniversary of the day I met Caroline… So with that in mind, here’s one of my favourite photographs of her taken a couple of years ago up at Torr Head on the Antrim coast.

Happy anniversary chick!

Following on from my post earlier in the week – here’s a few more of my favourites from Laura and Ben’s day:

No this isn’t me, but perhaps a rather more fetching version – complete with hat and tails.

Ben is a tree surgeon! ….that explains the chainsaw then! :D

Now, for all of those lovely wedding venue coordinators who ask me when I want to pose my ‘cake shot’ I will say ‘bring out the chainsaw’! :D

(PS. I don’t pose a cake shot… ever!)

The marquee tents were just fabulous to shoot in. They provided plenty of shelter and warmth for the guests. Even when we had a heavy rain shower mid-afternoon everyone managed to stay dry. As a photographer they also provided me with an interesting backdrop to work in and the light was just fantastic.

The fabulous Nordic marquee tents were supplied by the lovely people at Magna Kata – speak to Ed on +44 (0) 28 4483 9796 for more details (magnakata.com). Event design was by Blue Moon (bluemooneventdesign.com).