Last April, I had an amazing day photographing Rachael & Lee’s stunning wedding at An Grianan Hotel. This couple truly knew how to celebrate with three spectacular ceremonies. They were blessed with gorgeous weather which served as the perfect backdrop for their wedding photos. It’s a day I’ll always remember so with that in mind, I recently caught up with Rachael to reminiscent about their wonderful wedding. Here, Rachael shares a few highlights from their wedding, as well as some vital advice for all couples. Read her words…

Rachael, how did you & Lee meet?

Lee was in the year above me at school and since I was about 12 I had a massive crush on him! It wasn’t until a few years after school that we started talking and he decided he liked me too.

Spill… tell us about that proposal!

Lee was living in Australia and he had planned with my parents that he would come home at Christmas to surprise me with a proposal. However he got too excited and ended up telling me that he was coming home! He arranged it with my boss that I could get the Christmas holidays off work, so I could be home for Christmas. Just before Christmas I had to go to Benone beach to collect some things from our caravan there (which was the pretext to get me to the beach). The whole place was flooded, we were ankle deep in water and it was snowing so heavily! We got to the caravan completely soaked as we ended up having to walk quite a distance due to the flooding! He wasn’t able to convince me to walk on the beach and ended up proposing in the caravan!

When and where did you get married?

We got married on the 8th April 2015. The ceremony was at St. Mary’s Church in Limavady and then Tamlachtfinlagan Church in Ballykelly. Then we went to the An Grianan Hotel, Burt for the reception.

 

How did you decide on your wedding venue?

It was actually both of our mums who picked the reception venue. They had known for about six months that Lee was planning to propose so they had secretly been scouting out venues! When they showed it to me I knew it was perfect! The whole hotel was absolutely gorgeous! The suite really had that wow factor and the surroundings and grounds were so beautiful! Deirdre and the whole team were amazing from start to finish!

Tell us about that stunning dress!

I got my dress at Dream Weddings in Coleraine. It was a Stella York dress. It was everything I didn’t want! I had seen the dress online and instantly disregarded it as I thought I wanted a tight lace fishtail gown. But after trying on dresses in this style I didn’t feel like I was wearing my dream dress. I thought I might aswell try something completely different to what I wanted as I had read that so many other people had this experience. So I tried on a big ballgown, with lace detailing on the top, a big keyhole back and a big poofy skirt. As soon as I stepped into it, this massive smile came on my face and I knew this was the one! I finished the look off with a crystal tiara I borrowed from my friend and a cathedral veil with lace edging which sat perfectly around the edge of my skirt. I felt like a proper princess in it! We also had a Chinese tea ceremony as I am half Chinese and I had quite a lot of family come over from Hong Kong. For this I changed into a fitted, sequinned red dress with a phoenix down the front. I loved this dress too and I really enjoyed having two completely different looks on the day! The only problem with this dress was I wasn’t able to kneel while I served tea as it was too tight, I could only bow!

Describe your bridesmaid dresses

I always dreamt of a lilac themed wedding. I had dresses picked out and when everyone tried them on they were awful! So we started trying on everything! In the end we picked a gorgeous dress by True Bridesmaids, which was simple with a bit of sparkle on the shoulder which matched the belt of my dress. I couldn’t decide on a colour and kept changing my mind. I narrowed it down to two colours and when I was ordering them I changed my mind completely and went for a completely different colour! They turned out beautiful and really suited all the bridesmaids.

What type of flowers did you choose and why?

The flowers were created by Mark Carton’s flowers and they did the most fantastic job! I was really worried about matching the flowers with the colour of the bridesmaids’ dresses. Again with the flowers I kept changing my mind, but then I saw a photo of a bunch on Pinterest that I absolutely fell in love with. Along with the florist, we made some tweaks and then I left it in their marvellous hands! When I seen the flowers I was amazed because they were the most amazing flowers I ever seen! And when I seen them against the bridesmaids dresses I was relieved and astounded at how well they matched! I had flowers everywhere on the day and they really made everything look so grand and beautiful!

What was the highlight of the day for you?

I honestly cannot pick a favourite moment. The whole day was amazing from start to finish. I loved having all of my family and friends surrounding us and everyone having a great time! I wish I could relive the day!

What do you love most about your wedding photographs?

I love that our photos have captured how much fun everyone was having! There are no forced smiles – the whole atmosphere of the day was captured!

What advice would you offer other couples planning their wedding

Don’t leave the table plan until the night before the wedding! And try not to stress about silly things. Remember that in the end everyone is happy to just be there and share the day with you!

More photos from Rachael & Lee’s wedding can be viewed HERE.