Lockdown Wedding | Cheryl & Emmanuel

Deciding to proceed with their wedding during the U.K government lockdown must have been a difficult decision for Cheryl and Emmanuel to make. They had to change so many of their original plans to enable their wedding to be able to go ahead and meet the guidelines issued by the Northern Ireland government.

First of course, and we know this was the biggest issue for them they were only allowed to have 10 people present for their wedding ceremony. They were also unable to have the huge party after the ceremony at the Clandeboye Lodge that they would have wanted and were also unable to have their dream honeymoon in Mauritius.

We have spoken to Cheryl quite a lot over the last few months since the government lockdown was announced. At first the message from the government was that no weddings were able to take place and even at that point Cheryl and Emmanuel had made the decision that as long as it was legally possible for them to get married that they would be proceeding with their wedding and would adjust the plans for the day to suit whatever measures were put in place.

Clandeboye Lodge Wedding Photography

Thankfully the government then decided that weddings could take place again but limited them to a maximum of 10 people and outdoor ceremonies only. This enabled Cheryl & Emmanuel to proceed with their ceremony.

On the day of the wedding we had all been keeping our fingers crossed for good weather, these guys absolutely deserved it! Unfortunately, the weather didn’t play ball and it rained, sometimes heavily for large parts of the day. Because of the poor weather they were unable to use the hotel grounds for their outdoor ceremony as expected and the ceremony was moved to the entrance of the hotel which allowed some cover from the rain. None of this on the day mattered at all!

Clandeboye Lodge Wedding Photography

Cheryl & Emmanuel regardless of all the limits forced on them and regardless of the not so good weather on the day went on to have a wonderful wedding day and were both as happy as any couple whose wedding we have photographed. While weddings have become much bigger events shared with all of your family and friends, the most important thing on any wedding day is the commitment shared between the couple. While we of course understand why so many couples have opted to postpone their wedding because of the current restrictions it was uplifting to spend the day with a couple who had decided to put that commitment to each other ahead of everything else that goes along with a modern wedding.

After the ceremony we made our way over to Crawfordsburn Country Park for Cheryl & Emmanuel’s bride and groom portrait session. We were able to avoid the worst of the rain by using the forest area for photographs before making our way down to the beach. Crawfordsburn is always great for photography and Cheryl & Emmanuel were up for everything we threw at them. You have no idea how great it felt for us to be out doing what we love again after such a long break between weddings because of the current situation.

If you are reading this because you are trying to find a photographer for a wedding at the Clandeboye Lodge Hotel, you might also like to have a look at this other amazing wedding we photographed there as well. Clandeboye Lodge Wedding Photography