Catherine & Damien, Knockranny House, Westport

It was the beach or bust for Catherine & Damien - they love to walk the dunes along Bertra Strand, so it's a special place for them. It's a pretty special place to photograph in too, with spectacular sea views across to the islands in one direction and the Reek of Croagh Patrick towering over us on the other side. Hail, rain or snow, we were going to the seaside for the afternoon. As it turned out, we didn't have to battle with the elements at all, as the sun shone on Murrisk. The boys were even able to break out their snorkeling gear. With these mad lads, I wouldn't have been surprised to see one of them striking out for Achill, suit and all.

Everything was nice and chilled at Catherine's house, the only real worry was where Auntie Kathleen would park her car. She's famous for causing gridlock wherever she goes, and Pat has had to restrict her parking around the house after a number of incidents. No such problems for the boys, who were having a quick one pre-wedding in McEvilly's. A Mini Cooper doesn't take up much space, and has to have been the coolest wedding car I've seen in a very long time. This 1960s original actually belongs to Damien's Dad, Oliver, who I'm told was up til 3am on Friday night polishing the chrome.

Some grooms take a bit of a back seat when it comes to wedding planning and organisation, but while Catherine may have be the boss (we're still not sure, the cufflinks are open to interpretation), Damien wasn't idle. He was putting his woodwork skills to good use whittling table signs, ring boxes, buttonholes, table plans and signage that looked great around Knockranny House. For the second day in a row, the bride's dress came from Pamela in Dinagh Modes. The boy's suits came from Eddie Murphy and wedding flowers were by Ruth. As I write this, Catherine & Damien are somewhere on the Inca trail, and will be touring Cuba and Mexico before landing back in Mayo in a few weeks time, which sounds like quite a trip. I'm sure there'll be a few stories to be told in Mcevilly's after an adventure like that..