Sadie and Lisa’s Stunning Clandeboye Lodge Hotel Wedding

I have written many blogs from many different Wedding venues but this is my first blog from the venue that I shoot weddings at the most – The Clandeboye Lodge…..I adore the Clandeboye lodge. The staff, the food, the options for pictures and of course the fact it’s on my doorstep helps too 😍

Every wedding at the Clandeboye Lodge runs so smoothly and even though you never need to leave the beautiful grounds for pictures, knowing the area so well allows us to take couples to some additional fantastic locations nearby.

Sadie and Lisa’s big day was one of the wettest we’ve shot and it rained from morning to early evening with only a few periods of dryness, but looking back at the pictures, you’d never know 🌧️📸

We have been blessed to have so many amazing brides and have never really experienced a bridezilla….. and on the 31st of May 2022, we experienced something we had never before…..not a bridezilla, but our first same sex marriage and not one, but two AMAZING brides in one day 👰🏻 👰🏼

Preparations

The girls were getting ready in the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel itself and there were 3 rooms practically side by side where Sadie and her bridal party….

…..Lisa with her mum and beautiful daughter Beau….

….and Lisa’s dad, brother and his boyfriend were all getting ready.

This certainly made the logistical side of things a lot easier 🤣

After talking to Sadie and Lisa, we found out that they were similar to Ryan and I in personalities. Ryan and Sadie are both the less tidy one in the relationship with me and Lisa having to tidy after them and they are both so laid back it’s unreal – with Lisa and I being the boss 🤣

Well the next set of pictures shows we are similar in emotions. Ryan wouldn’t cry if the world was ending tomorrow yet I have cried at every film i’ve ever watched…..

Lisa reading her letter in the morning….*genuine tears* 😭

Sadie reading her letter and keeping emotions in check….i asked “Can you at least pretend to wipe a tear away” as Sadie hides her smiles behind the tissue 😂😂😂 the most laid back bride ever ❤️

The two brides continued to get ready….and didn’t they both look absolutely stunning….credit to ALX Makeup, Kerry Moore Makeup and Hair by Kim Annesley and of course credit to Sadie and Lisa’s parent for making such beautiful daughters 😂

Lisa’s and her daughter Beau got ready together, before this lovely little family officially became a three 👩‍👩‍👧

At every wedding I would do a bridal reveal, where the bride’s daddy gets to see his daughter in her wedding dress for the first time……Well i got to do it twice at this wedding…

And of course, Lisa being like me…….there were tears everywhere…..I always well up behind the camera during these moments…..they are such beautifully emotional moments ❤️❤️❤️

just enough time to dry the tears and fix the make-up before the Ceremony

So Sadie…..over to you for tears???

YAAAAAY……we got some tears….from Sadie…..and her Dad 🥲

After we all dried our tears and composed ourselves, it was over to the Ceremony room at the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel….talking about dry…..there was a little spell of dryness here that had us hopeful of a dry day.

Ceremony

with this being our first same sex marriage, we were going to get the see a beautiful bride walking down the isle to a beautiful bride at the alter. It was honestly something I was so looking forward to seeing 👰🏻👰🏼

So Sadie walked up the isle first….

followed by Beau….who greeted Sadie with a big hug. It was genuinely so beautiful to see how much Beau loves Sadie and vice versa…..Beau now has two amazing mummies ❤️

So now the moment we were all waiting for……

now for that first look back ❤️

The ceremony was then taken by the Humanist Ann Pinkerton and it included an actual tying the knot ceremony with rainbow coloured ribbons and a sand ceremony with sand for Sadie, Lisa and Beau…..

So remember when I said we had a little gap in the weather…..well now the rain was back with force…..so what did we do about a confetti shot? Well the amazing people at the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel allowed a request from us to have it in the foyer. ❤️

With the rain lashing down, we thought we’d get some nice portraits of the newly weds and their daughter in the foyer as well. The natural lighting in the foyer is beautiful because of the massive windows at the front and it’s a great place for pictures when it’s raining……..I adore these two images…….

At this point of the day, we always love to let our coupes mingle and enjoy their day. Today was a little different to normal as when it’s raining – we are watching the weather every minute to try and grab a dry moment for pictures outside…..we can capture candid guest shots and the detail shots at this point….for example 📸

oooooooooooh alright…..candid guest shots can wait……IT’S STOPPED RAINING……..

when we first met up with Sadie and Lisa, they talked about how they’d love to have a smoke bomb shot of all the colours of the rainbow 🌈 ….so we ordered in a pack of 8. It had all the colours of the rainbow and a white one….Ryan thought we should test the white one first to make sure they worked ok…..

it would have be wrong to just waste it so we took a shot or two while testing 💨

We were happy with the smoke bombs……Bridal Party Assemble…..let’s do this…… on three – everyone light the smoke bomb  🌈💨

 

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WE ARE SO HAPPY WITH THESE……

Let’s just say, working with smoke bombs has it’s hazards too – we all got smoked out, with some more so than others and there were some dresses that were not in the same state once we’d finished this shot. Needless to say the ever laid back Sadie showed little angst or worry and was the epitome of tranquility…and one poor bridesmaid in particular, Sarah, had her dress singed….but was so calm and nice about it – such a lovely person ❤️…… the offer still stands to replace/repair it so if you are reading this Sarah, please get in touch 👗💷😂

….. Every one of you were amazing…..we loved working with you all that day. Thank you ❤️

With the dry weather still holding up and not much time before the call to dinner, we now took our chances to getting the couple shots for this stunning Clandeboye Lodge Hotel Wedding…

and just like that, it was getting close to time for speeches. The good thing about summer weddings is the ability to still have light in the evening to get pictures after dinner. So we decided that was what we’d do – let the girls get back to their wedding day and we’d take them out after dinner – The weather forecast was dry for the rest of the evening ☀️

For speeches, it’s always a matter of capturing the laughter and the tears….and there’s always plenty of both at all weddings…..

So many beautiful words all ended with a joke I had honestly never seen in all my time as a wedding photographer….

“I’d just like to raise a toast” 😂😂😂

and finally….for Sadie to toast to her new wife ❤️

Due to the rain we didn’t have a group shot earlier in the day, hoping that we would be able to in the evening when the forecast had predicted a brighter time…..well this was the case. So after dessert, everyone was gathered up and we brought out some more confetti and from the balcony at the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel, we were able to get the shot taken….

Well what followed next was an impromptu bouquet toss from both the girls…..with one very keen person in there trying, and succeeding in catching the tossed bouquet…..

This had the potential to be like the bouquet toss from my Barbie wedding.….but thankfully everyone was civilised and happy for the bouquet catchers on this occasion… The catcher was Eoin, who is Lisa’s brother Daniel’s boyfriend…..maybe there is another wedding on the horizon 😂

Now like I had said earlier, with the summer nights giving so much light through to the evening, we were able to go out after dinner and grab a few pictures just outside the Clandeboye Lodge. All these shoots are taken 60 seconds from the venue….and the reason I just love a Clandeboye Lodge Hotel Wedding 💒

Now it was back for the first dance…..The Diva Dolls provided the entertainment and they were absolutely amazing….they are all lovely girls too which is even better ❤️

The warm up act was the Bridesmaids and Beau….

Before the newlyweds made their way onto the dance floor for their first dance as a married couple….

This is one of my favourite first dance pictures of the evening which epitomises Sadie and Lisa so well….they were just great fun to be around all day long and honestly two of the best brides we’ve ever worked with…..

….and It wasn’t long before Beau joined in too…

It was then party time when the dance floor was open and the guests partied into the night…

There was still time for a few more shots….we always do a sparkler shot any Clandeboye Lodge Hotel Wedding. There is a beautiful backdrop out the front of the building as it has fairy lights that provide a beautiful ambient backdrop for it.

and then a nice final one for the night of the glamorous girls outside the front of the hotel.

Sadie and Lisa, we cannot thank you enough for choosing us to capture your fantastic wedding….you were both amazing all day long in sometimes wet and miserable conditions….you are both meant to be together and the love you have for each other and Beau (and Beau for you both) is so beautiful to witness. She’s such a lucky girl to have two amazing people like you in her life ❤️

Agnieszka & Ryan

For anyone having a Clandeboye Lodge Hotel Wedding……it would be lovely to hear from you and allow us to have as much fun as we did shooting Sadie and Lisa’s wedding. Feel free to get in touch ❤️