It’s obvious that a great deal of planning goes into organising a wedding. Like many of our clients, Laura & Sean had to do much of their planning at a distance from home in England before arriving here for their big day. Most of the practical and logistical issues can, these days at least, be managed online or by way of email, but whether from home or abroad the one thing we know we can’t arrange in advance, especially here in Donegal is the weather. On the morning of the wedding, we arrived to met up with Sean and his family at the house they were leaving from. Can we just say the weather was clearly going to be, well, challenging?
From the house, set up on a hill overlooking Trawbreaga Bay, the weather changes could be seen rushing in off the Atlantic. Waves of rain, high wind and intermittent spells of dazzling sunlight. Laura was getting ready in a slightly more sheltered location, but there was still no likelihood of doing much out of doors. With a bridal party of seven bridesmaids, there was plenty of help on hand for Laura to prepare. No, we were not going to risk any hair or dress mishaps outdoors in the constantly changing conditions. As luck would have it, a break in the rain saw Laura and the girls make it to the church without any weather related mishaps. The Church of The Sacred Heart in Carndonagh sits high on a hill overlooking the surrounding area, and it’s a pretty exposed location on the finest of days. Ceremony over, Laura & Sean weren’t going to let a little ‘weather’ stop them heading to the beach on the Isle of Doagh. They’d come a long way to get married here, they weren’t giving up on their wish to have the wild Donegal landscape feature as the setting for at least some of their wedding photographs. There is something wonderful about the character of the light here, at almost the most northerly point in the country, with little between here and Newfoundland. With a few brief spells between some fairly dramatic showers, Laura and Sean got the pictures they had hoped for. That part of the day over, we all set off to Redcastle on the east, and happily more sheltered side of the Inishowen Peninsula. Still just a bit breezy even here! So, the day moves on. Indoors with no thoughts or cares about the weather any longer. Sean, sporting his new wedding ring and look completely unruffled by the elements.