Aoife & Declan got married - with An Grainan being the ideal location for them to bring family & friends from across Ireland to enjoy a north west wedding - situated in beautiful Donegal but with Derry only a few minutes drove away...

Deirdre, Barney & the An Grainan wedding day team extended their usual exceptional hospitality & the hotel itself provided the perfect all-in-one location for everything from the morning preparation (with Sarah Cox, no not the DJ without a h, the MUA with a h) right through to the evenings entertainment as provided by The Collective & DJ Kevin McGrath via a very personal ceremony lead by Sandra - The Wedding Lady...

I was delighted to be able to play a small part in their day as I documented the goings-on with as little fuss or interference from me as possible... If you've read this far fair play - I do know you're really here just for the photos...

Marie and Marc got married...

Father Andy officiated the ceremony in St Columba's Chapel, Drung, before they treated their friends & familys to the finest Donegal hospitality at the nearby Redcastle Hotel where the craic continued into the small hours with The Cavanagh Brothers providing the soundtrack to the evening...

I was lucky enough to be asked along to document their day...

​So what do wedding photographers so when they're not photographing weddings?

One thing is that every (other) October a few dozen of them descend on Culdaff in north Inishowen to take part in Jay Doherty's Learning to Fly Wedding Photography Retreat... it's a coming together of like-minded souls who, in Jay's words, gather as a community to listen and share, laugh and cry, forge new bonds and relight old unions. On top of that there's also the opportunity to learn from some of the top photographers from across Europe...

The 2021 retreat bought together a first class line up of educators - including Victor Lax, Simon LeClerq, John Gillooley, Paula O'Hara & Lauren Chambers, with the bonus of Doreen Kilfeather sharing her stories from the world of editorial photography. Everyone of them a great photographer, artist, business person, and all just really lovely people too.

So why am i telling you all about six superbly talented photographers, educating a couple of dozen, amazing in their own right photographers?

Well long story short, Jay asked me to tag along over the two days of the retreat to document the goings on - to take photographs of the photographer - no pressure there then! The results can be send in the video used as part of the ticket launch for the 2023 retreat.