Mairead & Niall - The Landmark Hotel

Mairead booked me to photograph her wedding more than two years ago, and I'd been looking forward to it ever since. I knew she'd make a beautiful bride, but I didn't realise she'd also have no less than five gorgeous bridesmaids. At times on Saturday it felt like a beauty pageant, and when it came to our little "America's Next Top Model" part of the day, they all worked the camera like professionals, not to mention Junior bridesmaid Amy. Nobody was going to outshine Mairead on her big day though. Hard to believe looking at the photos, that this glamourous gang form the spine of the Dromahair Ladies Football team, one of the top sides in Connacht.

Even with a big bridal party and all those people to get ready, Mairead's house was an oasis of calm. The only one getting a little hot under the collar was Baxter the terrier, who just wanted to be part of the action. Kelly & Victoria did a great job of keeping everyone moving along efficiently and the bridesmaids' beehive hairdos gave them the look of a Sixties girl group. Down at the Church, the boys were doing fine too. The last time I was in Dromahair Church there was several inches of snow on the ground. This time there was snow on the mountain tops, but at least the roads were clear and all the guests could make it.

After the ceremony, we abandoned a planned stop along the way as the weather wasn't kind to us, but after arriving at The Landmark, we got a break and made a dash for The Shannon. It was like herding mice, finding all 12 members of the bridal party amongst the 200+ guests and getting them out the door. Everytime we looked around, another one had gone missing, but we got there. Mairead & Niall were a big hit with the Hen Party group getting off Moon River, best man Sean generously inviting them to the wedding later that evening. He may have had an ulterior motive...

Niall from Complete Weddings was alongside me on video again - at this rate we'll be like an old married couple ourselves soon. Mairead's lovely halter-neck dress came from Simone's in Sligo, her cousin Victoria Warnock created the hairdos, Kelly O'Dowd and Celtic Chaos provided the music. Mairead & Niall were jetting off for some well-earned sunshine after the wedding, and with the week we've just had, I'm sure they'll be very glad they didn't honeymoon at home.