Zara and Gavin Kerr’s Galgorm Wedding

It’s always nice to shoot a wedding for someone you know or you have met before. I had met the lovely Zara on a training course years before she asked us to capture her wedding. Zara and her now husband Gavin don’t live far from us and they walked up to the house on each occasion they came to see us.

Zara said they were walking to try to get into shape for the wedding – I have never seen Zara in anything but amazing shape 👸 Gavin and Zara are extremely polite, eloquently spoken people and are lovely to be around. When we met their families, they are all the same too – we were made to feel so welcome all day at this wedding ❤️️

We did a really fun engagement shoot with Zara and Gavin, which will be in a blog later, and it was so evident they just enjoyed being in each other’s company. They were made for each other for sure 💑 we knew the wedding would be great fun.

Preparations

Ryan dropped me off to the hair salon where Zara was getting her hair done, then went to meet Gavin outside the Turkish barbers where he was due to have a hot towel shave. Unfortunately the shop wasn’t open 🧔 and they had to drive round looking for an open one – which luckily they were able to find, one called Aziz’s Turkish Barber Shop.

We always give pictures to the couples in chronological order and with exact timings from the cameras. They can see what stages each other were at in the mornings when they were getting ready. We like the images to be telling a story of the flow of the day, so couples can relive their wedding from morning to night when looking at them.

So while Gavin was getting shaved, Zara was drinking lattes while getting her hair done at Sharon Malcolm Hairdressing 💇

The girls then went back to Zara’s parents’ beautiful house for makeup 💅 (Makeup: DJ Griffen & Dawn Rose)

Back at Gavin’s parents’ house, the guys were getting their glad rags on….🤵 Gavin and the groom party went for tails which looked so smart, and the accompanying shoes just oozed class.

And with the guys ready, it was time to send them off with some Champers 🍾 Looks like the cork got good distance on it judging by the faces 🙂

So with Gavin and family on route to the Galgorm, it was now time for Zara to get her dress on and have her reveal shots 👰

Zara looked absolutely stunning in her dress and now it was time for her daddy Neil to see her. I have said before in other blogs that this is one of the most emotional shots of the day – When a father sees his little girl in her wedding dress for the first time 😭

Zara’s Daddy Neil is a lovely man and did very well not to shed a tear. Zara didn’t fair so well 😢 ❤️️

With Zara’s tears dried and makeup fixed, it was time for the Bridal party to head to the Galgorm for the ceremony. 💒

Zara’s brother Nathan was usher and handed out the order of service at the door – The guest were all waiting in anticipation of the beautiful brides arrival.

The Galgorm Wedding Ceremony

Time for Zara and her Daddy to arrive and get the show started…The ceremony room was beautifully decorated by Blue Moon Event Design & the stunning flowers for the whole day were fashioned by House of Elliot Flowers

As with every wedding, it was time for the exchanging of the rings. I always love to get a shot of the rings together somewhere nice and it’s one of the most stressful shots of the day – can you image dropping or losing one of the wedding rings 😱 💍

As always at the Galgorm, It’s straight outside the Phantom House for all the guests after the ceremony, for the customary group shot.

This is always one of the hardest shots of the day to coordinate and it really helps to have two photographers here. You always get the odd straggler returning from the toilet/bar/hedges when you have taken it. It’s a nice shot for the bride and groom to see everyone who was at their wedding in a single shot (minus the straggler of course) 😂

After the group shot we let the crowd mingle and take candid shots, then look to quickly get through the family pictures – by doing it early it means we can leave the family to get on for the drinks reception. We then look to grab the bridesmaids and groomsmen and get snapping.

Picture time 📸

The bridal party shoot is always a good laugh. We always give little prompters too…..like in the one below

“Look at the person least likely to buy a drink at the bar later…..1……2……3” *click* *click* pic taken

Wait – Why are two of them looking directly at me? I think it’s Ryan they are looking at to be honest 😂 Well there is a unanimous decision – The best man 😲 We love having a laugh with the bridal party at this point in the day 😍

We then send them on their way to enjoy the celebrations and look to take the bride and groom for their shots. We always try and make so informal. Just chatting to the couple and walking around from spot to spot.

And with that short window of pictures, it was time to let this glamorous couple get back to their guests and enjoy all the festivities. It’s at this point that we got all the detail shots and candid guest pictures.

Just before the dinner is served, it’s time for speeches…..Gavin delivered his speech perfectly and brought tears to the eyes of his new wife. We always like to take pictures of guest’s reactions to the speeches….we have captured many a picture of a yawn or someone looking at their watch – but not this wedding – they were all beautifully delivered speeches.

After an absolutely amazing dinner, it was time for the next phase of the party to start – the evening do, with dancing late into the evening….

There was the first dance, the father of the bride dance and then the grandfather of the bride dance which got a great reception from the crowd – if i can move like Zara’s granddad when I am his age, i’ll be a happy girl.

After a few dances, we took Zara and Gavin for a walk just to cool down and to get an evening picture – I am not going to lie – there was a smoke bomb planned for the below shot but it burned out within seconds and drifted off towards Ballymena ☁ 😱

We still loved this shot anyway 😍

Gavin and Zara then had all the guests gather outside, where they were treated to an amazing firework display, to put a cherry on the cake on what was an amazing Galgorm Wedding day.

This was a lovely way to end the day for us as we got to watch them too. It was such an enjoyable wedding and Zara and Gavin are two of the nicest people you could ever meet. All day they kept asking us were we ok and if we needed or wanted anything. We had to keep saying ‘it’s your wedding day, stop worrying about us” – That’s just how nice they are.

Thanks for choosing us to capture your big day Zara and Gavin, you lovely people ❤️️

Hope you all enjoyed the blog….if you are getting married and would like us to capture our big day – we would love too…just get in touch 🙂

Much love,

Nush x