Wedding Photography covering Cork. Darren Byrne Photography 

Kate, bride, driven and confident. 

Damien, groom - Ah he's Damo!

We have travelled around Ireland this year. I was in parts of the country that I have never seen before. Photography is bringing me on a tour of this lovely nation, and I'm getting paid to do what I love too! This time, in the comfort of a new jeep.

From start to finish, this couple made it all worth the (long!) drive. We had a wedding to shoot the following day so we decided to arrive down the night before Kate and Damien's wedding. This would save me getting out of bed at the crack of dawn to travel (maybe 6am) and allow me to have a fresh head for shooting the wedding. Juliana (assistant) is the queen of sleep and only for the tripod she uses is so light she'd be sprawled across that for a snooze any chance she gets. The trip down on this particular evening was made very easy as my horse was running in Clonmel Racecourse and with her finishing a promising 6th after 2 previous bad runs where she didn't finish - I would have driven to America after that. So if the horse runs well, I work well. SIMPLE!

Up the next morning, still smiling and delighted after the races, we packed up and headed for Damien's family home. We love going to the groom's preparation location because it's a great way to allow the bride to see what was going on over there while she was getting ready. Damien had the Skoda polished up and was giving it one last rub of the cloth before its big day escorting the bridal party around. Later, we arrived at Kate's, and were greeted with a massive smile & a hug. We had met prior to today as we always ensure a meeting with couples to organise a plan for the wedding day.

After some brief chatting it was down to business in getting some natural, candid shots of everyone and anyone in the house. Once they all have seen me they became more relaxed which allowed me to disappear and capture all the details. That was Juliana's influence. She came back one day form a seminar and she was told to shoot anything that the bride purchased related to the wedding day. After she gave me that pointer, I was on it. I shot all the items I could think of that were part of the wedding look. This time of year (Christmas) creates a lot of little festive details with the nice decorations and bits & bobs sitting around the house. I do tend to keep an eye on my watch to make sure the bride and bridesmaids are all in check and that nothing will run to over time. That's part of my job, or at least I think it is, because if I don't keep check on the time, not many will, what with everything going on. With that, we packed up and headed for the church where the sun was lurking in the background trying to pierce through the thick fog. While people were arriving and parking up, I was shooting guests walking into the ceremony. Bride arrives, hits the aisle and gives it socks!

They're married in a flash and then it's straight into the family photos, the group photo and, lastly, some bride and groom shots in and outside of the church (while its empty). Onto a lovely lake for the bridal party shots and then some romantic ones of the newly married couple. They rocked it and we wrapped it up in 15mins, with the sun arriving about 5-8mins before we packed up. Ideal timing? It sure was! We headed on to the reception where not many photos were left to do. Any particular shots that the bride and groom wanted were taken care of so they were free to mingle and drink their champagne until called for the meal. Speeches, desserts, cake cutting and then, boom, the first dance! The day comes to an end for us, and we loved sharing in every minute of it! The whole wedding party was a joy to shoot, a pleasure to work with and friends for a lifetime! Thanks again from Team DB...Darren, Juliana, Dickie & Fiona!