Wedding Lough Rea Hotel & Spa

Aoife and Dave’s wedding recently took place in the Lough Rea Hotel & Spa

I’ve been friends with Dave for a very long time….we did our first gig together almost 25 years ago and it was a privilege to be his wedding photographer…..though it brings a small bit of added stress in wanting to do as good a job as possible!

Wedding morning in Menlo

Aoife’s wedding preparations took place in her home in Menlo just outside Galway City and it was a vibrant home on wedding morning.
Aoife was exceptionally relaxed,…and with Caroline Coyne looking after make up and Collette Costello looking after hair, she had two of the best people you could have in your home on wedding day…these ladies don;t do stress!!! Her bridesmaids Ciara, Aisling, Emily & Lorna were all in giddy happy out states too, so all in all, it was a very pleasurable start to a wedding day.
Aoife’s flowers were pretty awesome…all down to the excellent work of Dani from the Art Of Blooming Dani…a lady who I’ve cross paths with quite a bit over recent months…always enjoy the hugs!!
John Murphy of Avalon Video was looking after the video side of things and Alan Brennan from Wedding Car Galway was the other familiar face in Menlo on wedding morning…Alan’s an old school mate, work buddy and indeed good friend just as John Murphy is. A really good start to the wedding day….if only the weather would match everything else!!

Civil ceremony, Lough Rea Hotel & Spa

Arriving in the Lough Rea Hotel & Spa, it was great to see the familiar face of another good friend, Nicola McGuire. Nicola is a multi talented lady, lead singer with the super wedding band the Weightless Cosmonauts as well as an exceptionally busy Church singer who is more often than not accompanied by the Groom of the Day, Dave! Today she was the wedding celebrant for her close friend while the music was provided by Ailbhe Hession, Ross Breen and Elaine….and they were truly awesome…indeed bringing tears to the eyes of both Dave and Nicola during the ceremony.

Dave was matching the good spirits that Aoife and her ladies were showing and indeed was having a few laughs with Brian, Johnny, Shane, Tony & Ross when I arrived. It’s amazing…I remember chatting with Dave when he booked me for his wedding two years ago….it was amazing how time had flown and the big event was about to kick off!

Nicola did her usual superb job Celebrating the wedding and there were both emotional as well as funny moments during the lighthearted ceremony.

Photoshoot at the Lake in Loughrea

After the ceremony and when Aoife and Dave had finished shaking hands with all of the wedding guests, the rain had stopped falling and we decided to head to the lake in Loughrea to try and grab some wedding photos. It was a pretty breezy day and the skies were ominous that more rain was on the way. When the bridal party arrived, we managed no more than 5 minutes shooting before the rain started to fall again and we decided to get everyone back to the shelter of the hotel.

The Family Portraits were the first thing we did when back at the hotel before heading up to the Roof Top Garden to try and grab some more images before letting the bridal party relax and enjoy the reception.

The music provided for guests was exceptional! James Richardson and Fred McCloskey from another one of Galways finest wedding bands Pyramid were entertaining guests while also bringing up guests such as John Colohan and Bernard Naughton…class entertainment by class musicians! Dave went up and did his bit too….ironically I would have seen him up at the piano in the lounge on numerous previous occasions at other weddings I’ve worked at….kind of surreal seeing him doing it for his own one too!

The hotel looked awesome on wedding day and a lot of that was down to the work of the excellent Fiona Newell…a lady who has so many knots to her bow with regards to wedding provisions. Chocolate Fountains, Photobooths, Love Letters, the most delicious of Ferrero Rocher displays to name but a few of the items that Aoife and Dave had!
The Piant themed wedding cake was an excellent piece of work…who other than Niall from Simply Divine Cakes being responsible for same.
I enjoyed chatting with Fiona, Rory Bohan and John Murphy during the meal…we got a big giddy and stupid having some craic before re-composing ourselves and acting like proper wedding vendors for the remainder of the evening!!

After the meal and speeches, Aoife and Dave decided to go up to the rooftop gardens again and chill out for a bit before the music. It was another opportunity for photos that I was grateful for. The rain didn’t help us earlier in the day and fair play to Aoife and Dave for giving it a few more minutes after the meal. They enjoyed the company of their bridal party, lit some sparklers, and Dave and Ross also enjoyed each others company.

The final part of the night saw some excellent music provided by a host of Galways finest. It was pretty cool to see Dave and his dad Vinny on stage together doing a few tunes too. I was lucky enough to do gigs with my own dad a number of years ago and it was cool to observe Dave and Vinny enjoying each others company on stage.

It was an awesome wedding….mainly down to the positive frame of minds of Aoife and Dave as well as surrounding themselves with some of Galways finest wedding suppliers. It was class to meet and chat with guys that I started playing music with almost 30 years ago and cool to be around all the wedding suppliers that have become extended family in recent years.

Aoife and Dave, I wish you both the very best and thank you for being who you were on your big day! Looking forward to crossing paths and chin wagging in the coming weeks!

Some images from the day below and a photo slideshow can be viewed at the bottom of the page.