In the Autumn of 2009, Ruth very kindly invited Fiona and I to her ‘menu tasting’ at the Hotel Guadalmina where the reception was due to take place on April 24th 2010. I thought that was a very sweet gesture and it gave the opportunity to get to know each other a little more before the big day. The food was great as was the weather, and we enjoyed Ruth and (her friend from Dubai) Rebecca’s company as we made our way through the menu options.
Having lived in Spain for over a decade we decidedly rather suddenly to move back to the UK in December 2009. I didn’t tell Ruth immediately as I didn’t want to worry her. Why would she worry? Well, apparently, some months ago she had a dream that I was late for her wedding…..not only that but I was supposed to be doing her hair as well as her wedding photography!!! Anyway, flights were booked well in advance and we planned to get back to Spain with a few days to spare ‘just in case’. The rest, as they say, is history.
Fast forward to April 15th, some 10 days before the wedding, and I turn on the news and see that a couple of airports in Scotland have temporarily closed due to an ash cloud from an erupting volcano in Iceland of all places. Half an hour later they were reporting that Manchester airport would close temporarily as well. And so it went on.
It wasn’t until the Sunday morning before the wedding that I finally start to panic a little. All the airports in the UK were now closed as were most across Europe. I decided to give it until later that day before contacting Ruth and Darragh to see what they were thinking. Afterall, I didn’t want to worry them unnecessarily. A few moments later I got a text from Ruth asking ‘which country are you in…’ So she was as worried as I was!
The following 48 hours were really quite nerve racking. Would we get to Spain? Would Ruth & Darragh? Would they get there and not us? Or vice versa? They finally decided to cancel the plans for Spain and to set about trying to arrange their wedding in just 6 days! Can you believe it? 2 years in the planning, and a volcano in Iceland means the guys had to cancel their Spanish wedding.
So once we knew the wedding would now take place in Adare in Ireland we set about re-arranging our plans for the next week or so. I wanted to make sure we got there in plenty of time, ‘just in case’. If a volcano could stop us getting to Spain, what could stop us getting to Ireland? Martians? The Irish Sea drying up suddenly? I wasn’t going to risk it.
So we left home early on Friday and made our way across England and then across north Wales to stay the night in Bangor (not recommended!). We then got the early ferry to Dun Laoghaire the following morning, arriving safely in County Limerick later that day.
We finally saw the guys Sunday afternoon and they both seemed very cool. Ruth had been on the radio and had managed to ‘blag’ a florist, weddings cars, and a good videographer. The wedding venue (The Dun Raven Arms Hotel, Adare) was really special too and the tables were already being laid for their 150 guests.
So the only thing that could go wrong now was the weather; the forecast wasn’t good at all.
Thankfully though, Ruth & Darragh’s hastily re-arranged wedding day went just perfectly. The weather was spot on, the ceremony was both emotional and funny, the church was gorgeous, the reception was full of smiling faces, great food and an excellent band. In fact, the band was so good the dance floor was full of people dancing when they were just tuning up!
The guys kindly invited us to join them and their guests for dinner, which I managed to enjoy thoroughly in between getting up to get more shots.
From a photography point of view, I think we got some really beautiful images of the day, if that isn’t too immodest to say so. Ruth looked just stunning, and the colours she chose for the flowers and other accessories worked really well. We were blessed with some wonderful light, and everyone was up for some fun stuff when we took the ‘formal’ shots near the hotel.
A lot of people commented on the fact that we’d made such an effort to get to Ireland, but the truth of it is we wouldn’t have missed it for the world. As I told Ruth when the volcano erupted ‘I don’t care where it happens, I WILL be in the same room as you and Darragh when you get married!’
I feel very lucky to have been part of such a truly special day, despite it happening 2 days late and 2000 miles from where it had been originally planned. I got to meet loads of really nice people, see a beautiful part of the world I hadn’t seen before and, hopefully, get some wonderful images for Ruth and Darragh to treasure.
Thanks to everyone for making Fon and I so welcome!
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