The Morning

Wedding mornings tell you a lot about what’s coming.

Sometimes there’s a bit of nervous energy around the place. People watching the clock. Someone looking for something that was definitely left right there five minutes ago.

Then there are mornings where you walk in and immediately know:

Yeah. We’re going to have some craic today.

Mahan was getting ready with the lads, and these weren’t fellas who needed much encouragement from me.

They’ve known each other a long time and it showed.

The slagging was already underway. Everyone was relaxed. Mahan looked the business, and the lads weren’t doing too badly themselves.

That’s exactly what I want in the morning.

I don’t need everyone standing around waiting for instructions from the photographer.

Get ready.

Take the piss out of each other.

Have a drink.

Forget I’m there every now and again.

I’ll find the photographs in amongst it.

And Then There Was Stacey

Stacey’s morning had its own energy.

The girls were together, everything was happening around her and somehow Stacey looked completely at home in the middle of it.

That’s one of the things I love about photographing the morning.

You get the polished photographs, of course.

The dress.

The shoes.

The finishing touches.

But the photographs that eventually mean the most aren’t always the ones you can plan.

They’re the expressions.

The people hovering in the background.

Someone laughing at exactly the wrong moment.

A look between two people that lasts half a second.

All the little bits of a wedding morning that disappear once everyone walks out the door.

Then suddenly it’s time.

A Cork City Wedding Ceremony

Stacey and Mahan were married in Cork city centre.

And this ceremony gave me something a little different to work with.

The setting had an almost theatrical feel to it, with Stacey and Mahan raised in front of everyone and their families and friends watching from below.

But what I love looking back through these photographs isn’t really the room.

It’s the faces.

There’s emotion everywhere.

People smiling.

People wiping tears.

Little reactions happening in the crowd while Stacey and Mahan are busy looking at each other.

That’s the stuff I’m watching for.

Because the obvious photograph is the couple standing at the front.

The story is everything happening around them too.

And then they were married.

Time for Vienna Woods.

A Bit of Autumn at Vienna Woods

After the ceremony we headed for Vienna Woods Hotel.

And Cork had decided to give us one of those lovely autumn days where everything outside just works.

Green still hanging around.

Autumn colour beginning to come through.

Soft light.

Perfect.

We took Stacey and Mahan outside for their photographs and kept things simple.

A little direction when they needed it.

A few quiet portraits.

A bit of messing.

Then bring in the whole wedding party and let things loosen up again.

I never want the photographs to become the wedding.

They’re part of it.

We’ll absolutely get the beautiful portraits. We’ll get the ones you’ll print and put on the wall.

But then I’m sending you back to your people.

Because that’s where the rest of the story is happening.

They Didn’t Walk In. They Danced In.

And this is where the day changed gear.

Stacey and Mahan didn’t quietly stroll into their reception.

They danced in.

And everyone followed them.

Hands in the air.

People cheering.

Guests surrounding them.

The room suddenly alive.

At that point I knew exactly where the rest of my photographs were going to come from.

The people.

Two Families. Two Cultures.

One of the best things about this wedding was watching two cultures sharing the same day without either one losing what made it special.

There were Irish wedding traditions.

There were Nigerian traditions.

There was incredible traditional clothing, colour and music.

There were different generations celebrating in their own way.

And then there were moments where none of those labels mattered whatsoever.

Because everyone was just having the craic.

That’s the bit photographs do better than words.

You can actually see the moment when a room stops being his side and her side.

Someone starts dancing.

Someone else joins them.

Another person gets dragged in.

And before long, whatever invisible line existed between two groups of people has completely disappeared.

One Dance Floor

And Jesus, did they dance.

This wasn’t one of those wedding dance floors where five brave souls are doing all the heavy lifting while everyone else watches from the bar.

This thing was alive.

Mahan was in the middle of it.

Stacey was in the middle of it.

Their families were in the middle of it.

People were dancing in groups, grabbing each other, roaring, laughing and throwing shapes that probably looked considerably better at the time.

Exactly what a wedding dance floor should be.

At that stage there’s very little for me to organise.

I’m just chasing moments.

A face.

A reaction.

Someone suddenly appearing from nowhere.

A hug.

A ridiculous dance move.

Someone completely losing themselves in the music.

Click.

Gone.

Onto the next one.

And looking back through the photographs afterwards, you can almost hear the bloody room.

Two Cultures. Two Beautiful Ways of Life. One Dance Floor.

That’s the line that keeps coming back to me when I look through Stacey and Mahan’s wedding.

Because by the end of the night there wasn’t really an Irish wedding happening over here and a Nigerian celebration happening over there.

There was just a wedding.

Their wedding.

Their families.

Their friends.

Their traditions.

Their people.

All mixed together.

And one absolutely hopping dance floor.

Why This One Stays With Me

The photographs probably explain this wedding better than I can.

There are beautiful portraits of Stacey and Mahan.

There are photographs of family.

There are quiet moments.

There are tears.

There is colour everywhere.

And then there is complete chaos on the dance floor.

But that’s exactly why I love photographing weddings like this.

A wedding isn’t one thing.

It can be quiet in the morning and deafening by midnight.

Elegant one minute and completely ridiculous the next.

Someone can be crying during the ceremony and throwing shapes on the dance floor a few hours later.

I want all of it.

Because twenty years from now, Stacey and Mahan won’t need me to tell them what Vienna Woods looked like.

They’ll want to remember what this day felt like.

And this one felt fucking brilliant.

Stacey & Mahan, thank you for having me there.

What a wedding.

The team behind the day