Trinity College and the K Club Wedding Photography | Amanda & Brian

There are days that feel like gifts. December 16th was one of them.

Dublin city in winter doesn't always play ball. But on the morning of Amanda and Brian’s Trinity wedding the city woke up and decided to show off, today we would see her at her very best. By the time of the 2pm ceremony in the Trinity Chapel the light in front square was doing something that can only be described as pure magic. It poured into that square at a low, golden angle and on this particular Saturday it felt almost deliberate. Like the Peaky Blinders lighting crew had decided to give the entrance of the bride their treatment.

Brian stood at the top of the chapel waiting nervous like any groom in that last minute. As he waited the winter light through the chapel window created a haze that pointed directly at him. Brian’s brother Brendan stood beside him and just before Amanda appeared, glanced sideways at him with a reassuring smile. Then Amanda came through the doors on her dad’s arm and the same winter sun followed her in. A beam of light and haze pointed our eyes to Amanda now. All that in one frame, these are the magic moments when everything lines up that documentary wedding photographers live for!

Getting Ready

I started the morning at Amanda's family home in south Dublin. The energy was exactly what you hope for. Amanda got ready in her own home surrounded by the life she and Brian were building together with only her mum and sister there and the laughter that comes from people who are genuinely easy with each other. Amanda's hair and make up team Lou Merryweather and Celine Slamon are also too of the best for calm vibes and easy laughter (and beautiful styling obvs!). The morning had that lovely unhurried quality where excitement and calm manage to exist at the same time, the women getting pampered while Amanda’s dad got his beloved vintage car ready to drive his daughter to her wedding.

Amanda was a vision in her beautiful Alena Leena, which managed to be classic and quietly modern at once. She moved in it with total ease and looked just as at home in the grandeur of Trinity College Chapel as she would an hour later, standing outside Kehoes on Dawson Street with a pint of Guinness in her hand.

The Ceremony

Trinity College Chapel is one of those spaces that does a lot of the work for you. The proportions, the light, the quiet gravitas of it. Fr. Mark, a family friend of Brian's and a monk at Glenstal Abbey, brought a warm, gentle sort of ceremonial feel that matched the Chapel perfectly. There was a glow over the whole thing. The classical music as Bohemian String Quartet played and the winter sun came through the windows and sat on everything like it belonged there.

It was one of those ceremonies where you could feel how much it meant to the people in the room, as they watched on in full support, lightly and laughing easily at the jokes in the homily and escaping nieces and nephews in the aisle.

Family Photographs

Hugs and greetings on the chapel steps lead seamlessly and easily into family photos on the same steps, allowing the families to head off to the reception in the K Club at ease knowing their official duties were done.

Around Dublin

After the family photos we basked in the glory of a rare sunny December afternoon in Dublin city centre. Amanda and Brian were keen to wander around town and make the most of it. We wandered through Trinity's grounds and the Long Room, out Naussau street passed the Luas on Dawson St (obligatory motion blur of the Luas!), cut over to Kehoes and stopped for an unplanned pint. Amanda and Brian are such easy company; with each other obviously but also I felt like we were old friends comparing favourite parts of the city (agreeing that Sidecar in the Westbury is unbeatable for a cocktail obviously). wandering through streets while all the happy Dubliners (because it’s sunny of course) were shouting good wishes. Dublin loves a wedding and it really really loves a sunny day wedding!

The K Club

We arrived at the K Club just in time to get the party started. The sun had the guests happily sipping bubbly outside despite the December cold, celebrating and laughing on the terrace, using the beautiful grounds as the backdrop for the kind of candid group photos that nobody planned but everyone loves. The K Club is equally as gorgeous inside as it is outside but who doesn’t love a sunny outdoor drink all the same?

Speeches

I love the casualness of speeches during a drinks reception, especially sitting around a fireplace in a K Club drawing room, Christmas lights twinkling, bubbles flowing. Where else would you be?

Sparklers

The walk to dinner in the K Club is fabulous. I’m sure there’s a more glamorous walk to dinner anywhere than over the manicured gardens and fairy-light lit bridge to the Legacy Suite. Amanda and Brian added a little extra magic by starting it with a sparkler exit from the main house. Just the magic people being happy in a beautiful place.

Dinner in the Legacy Suite

A pianist and singer kept the energy up through dinner and when Amanda and Brian made their entrance (after a few quick night portraits on that gorgeous walk to dinner at the K Club), the room was already giddy. I stayed through the cake cut and the beginning of the evening, by which point it was clear the night was in very safe hands.

I came away from this one thinking about light. The literal kind, the December sunbeam that seemed to follow them both. And the other kind too, the warmth that came from everyone in that room being genuinely glad to be there. Amanda and Brian were relaxed and in it together from the very first moment of the morning to the last frame I took. Thanks for the magic Amanda and Brian. A most fabulous start to the Christmas season with fabulous people I’d happily have a Christmas drin with anytime (in Sidecar at the Westbury obviously! The excitement when Amanda and I discovered on our walkabout that we share the same favourite celebration spot in Dublin!)

Ceremony: Trinity College Chapel, Dublin Reception: The K Club, Co. Kildare Celebrant: Fr. Mark Hedderman Dress: Alena Leena via Ivy and White Bridal Ceremony music: Bohemian String Quartet Band: Vava Voom the Room Videographer: Edit House Florist: Floral Events