WEDDING HIGHLIGHTS: 2010

© Donal Doherty. This post cannot be republished without permission. Stealing makes me sad.

Oh what a year! 2010 has been a year of major changes in my life and I feel so much happier with the direction things are going in. This time last year I was in Australia, I shot a friend’s wedding south of Melbourne in the incredible Mornington Penninsula and the break away gave me an opportuity to reflect on where I was at. In 2007 I started a PR agency and then a modelling agency, I was also involved in a range of other projects and I had anywhere from three to ten people working for me on different projects. From starting my business in 2007 I literally worked seven days a week eight in the morning to nine or ten at night most days. The result was a good little business, but zero life outside of work. When in Australia I came to the realisation that I didn’t want to continue in the same way I was and decided to make some major changes in my life in 2010, the key one being to develop my passion, photography.

I am blessed that so many incredible brides and grooms have engaged me to deliver an incredible set of wedding images for them. Wedding photography has taken off and I have a lot of weddings in the diary for 2011, which I am so excited about and even some for 2012.

I thought this would be the perfect time to do a review of my favourite images from weddings I have shot in 2010. It was very hard to narrow down which images to include – I could have had 100 on here, but I selected the images which demonstrate the direction I want to take my photography in.

Ok, so technically the three images below are from December 2009, but they are three of my all time favs – they are from Tom and Lorelie’s wedding in Melbourne Australia.

The guys all met while learning golf together and just before I left to go and shoot the bride I came up with this idea – love this shot.

Lorelie was such a beautiful bride – this image really captures the natural interaction among everyone and the sense of fun on the day.

This image is so fun and I love the colours – the venue was incredible – check out Lindenderry.

This image is from Maggie and Tendayi’s wedding in May – this shot isn’t staged, I caught Maggie’s mum look on proudly at her daughter.

Again another image from Maggie and Tendayi’s wedding – the couple live in Scotland, but they came back to Northern Ireland to get married in the Cathedral in Derry and then had their reception at the Radisson Roe Park in Limavady. Such a fun photo!

Gemma and Carl are such a awesome couple. They had a destination wedding and were having a wedding at home to celebrate with friends and family at the Waterfoot Hotel, Derry / Londonderry. I got a chance to shoot with the bride and groom before the blessing and then set up a photo booth to shoot the guests which was a blast.

This shot and the one below blows me away – great couple (Erin and Christopher), stunning location (Lough Eske, Solis, Co. Donegal) and amazing weather!

I love this shot I got of Alana coming up the stairs in the Beech Hill Country House Hotel where she was married in July.

I shot this image at Claire and Andrew’s wedding in Edinburgh in August at Kirknewton Stables – I love shooting against brickwork and the casual nature of bride and groom is exactly what I am looking for in my wedding photography moving forward.

This image and the shot below were captured at Sinead and Jonathan’s wedding in August at Summerhill House in Wicklow. The group shots had ran over that day and I was keen to get some more portraits of the couple and when I saw the lights outside the venue I knew I would be able to get some really cool photos. I now always push to get images outside at the end of the night – weather and schedule permitting of course!

In September I had the chance to shoot Edel and Paul’s wedding. The weather was typically Irish (wet), but we got a break in the rain to shoot against these boats which were adjacent to the venue (Redcastle Carlton Hotel, Donegal).

This shot and the one below was from Cathy and Rob’s wedding in October – I love this image, I got everyone to have a bit of a boogie and the result looks so fun and the colours are incredible.

This shot was taken in the arch at Beech Hill Country House Hotel – it had just stopped raining and the sun was glaring, but I managed to hide it behind the arch to get this image.

Thanks to all the couples who I’ve had the pleasure to capture their wedding day in 2010 – can’t wait to do it all again in 2011!