The Sturdy’s Cultra Manor Wedding
We get to meet all our couples before their big day, in fact we insist on it. It just helps make the wedding day better for us, for the couple, and for the pictures. Katie and Aron came to our garden room and it was like we had known them for years. They are both nurses and that’s how they met. Aron loves Strongbow dark fruits and his only job in the house is putting the bins out – which he regularly forgets to do. Ryan does exactly the same.
Katie likes gin and so do I (I mean, who doesn’t though?) and they took it in turns driving to the meetings we had with them regarding the wedding, meaning the other could have a drink that night. Ryan also asked me to write in here that Aron got ‘destroyed’ at pool, just to remind him when he reads this 😀
We love meeting all our couples and hearing all about them. It’s such an enjoyable part of the job and it was no different with Katie and Aron 🙂
Groom & Bridal Preparation
Katie got ready at her Mum and Dad’s stunning house just outside Millisle, County Down. The make-up artist was Emma Scott and hair was by Cathy Hamilton. The gardens at the house were beautiful and had been looked after to perfection, including this vintage bike with flowers which i absolutely loved 😍
Aron got ready at his mum and Dad’s lovely house in Donaghadee, with all the lads there too. Aron’s mum, seen here modelling the 2019 Spring/Summer Gucci shot belt, helped provide all the guys with the dutch courage 🙂
Aron got Katie a number plate as a present but tricked her with a fake one first that said ‘SH1T L1P’, which Katie thought was her real present. That sums these two up – always messing and joking with each other and always smiling – well…..Aron smiled most of the day apart from a few times 😀 which you’ll see later – 😭
Katie had got Aron a beautiful watch which he wore on the day too. Getting each other wedding gifts is something that Ryan and I weren’t aware was a thing until we started doing weddings. We didn’t get each other anything for our wedding day. I missed out on the chance of a nice designer bag 😀
Katie and Aron, like a lot of brides and grooms, are big dog lovers. They wanted their cute little dog to be part of the big day too. He got ready with Aron in the morning and dressed up just as sharp as the rest of boys.
It was now time for Katie to get her stunning dress on…..👰
And then for one of my favourite shots of the day – The ever emotional first reveal. The first time Katie’s dad saw her in her wedding dress. Such a beautiful moment. It always reduces even the most manly of men to tears and I always feel the tears forming in my eyes just capturing the emotion ❤️️
Cultra Manor Wedding Ceremony
This was our first Cultra Manor wedding and we were really looking forward to it. We had no idea where the ceremony would take place, so it was all new to us but that adds an extra little bit of pressure that helps keep you on your toes. It was in a quaint little Church within the tree lined manor. Such a beautiful place to get married.
So this is the first time Aron cried 😭 and as you can see – Katie really consoled him 😂 She laughed and joked a lot when Aron cried. Aron and Katie are like best friends – the saying ‘Ive married my best friend’ is so obvious here and they constantly laugh, joke and mock each other.
The picture below of Aron’s laughing and in the background, his dad laughing the exact same way, was a lucky shot – but a cool shot.
Always do a confetti shot. If the church doesn’t allow it, do one at the reception…..but always do a confetti shot 😍
Picture Time
We always try to grab the list of family pictures right after the ceremony (we get this list in our pre-wedding meetings) – everyone is there and you can get them done quickly and allow them to get to get down to the reception/party/bar 🙂 Then we get our time with the bride and groom and wedding party. we grab a nice full wedding party shot first:
And then Ryan takes the lads to one side and gets pictures while i take the girls. This takes about 5 to 10 minutes but we get this done and send the bridal party on their way (to the bar :)) The above picture was taken on the beautifully cobbled streets around the Manor. It was a pleasure to capture a wedding here, it really was.
With the wedding party sent off to party, we grabbed a quick 10 minutes with the bride and groom themselves. This is the first time they are alone together after getting married and bride and grooms always love this time. We let them chat and walk around and capture what’s happening before posing them and giving a few prompters, like so:
*Walk towards us and look at each other*
*face each other, nice and close, show us romance….show us love*
And then Katie and Aron’s favourite prompt of the day:
*Play with her Aron…..PLAY WITH HER*
Ryan said ”Nushy, wtf…you can’t say things like that”. I didn’t know that it had a potential different meaning but it got us this picture of them laughing which we love. They were laughing for about 5 minutes after this shot too 😂
Speeches
This venue is something else – The dinner and speeches are held in the main manor building that would be the envy of any lord. The decor and flowers, which were provided by Floralicious, were stunning and the lighting in the room was amazing. The speeches were a lovely mix of emotion and humour. The perfect wedding speech mix. Although, Aron’s dad made some really nice comments about Aron and guess what happened??………😭
…….Aron went again 😭 – Ever the comforting wife, Katie just laughed and mocked him again. 😂
There was entertainment in the form of a band and also a magician, who’s tricks were really impressive. Wedding crowds are a tough gig, especially when much drink has been taken, but the young man pulled it off with aplomb.
First Dance
The celebrations started with the first dance and ran well into the night. We actually stayed late at this one. Ryan knew so many of the guests and at the end I had to drag him away as he wouldn’t stop talking to people. We had such a great time at this wedding.
It only feels like yesterday that Aron and Katie came into the garden room in Newtownards to chat through us potentially being their wedding photographers. It’s hard to believe that it’s all over and done now, but we absolutely consider them friends and they are welcome at the garden room anytime. Thanks again for choosing us to capture your fantastic day.
Much love, Nush (and bag carrier/minion) 😂
For anyone reading this, if you are considering having a Cultra Manor wedding, please feel free to get in touch as we’d love to capture your big day too. Even if you are not getting married at Cultra, the garden room is always available for a chat about what we do ❤️️