Millbrook Lodge Hotel Wedding | Lauren + Philip

On the 20th of August we photographed Lauren & Philip’s wedding with both the ceremony and the wedding reception taking place at the Millbrook Lodge Hotel in Ballynahinch.

Lauren & Philip first met when they both started training for a new job, although it took Philip some time to get up the courage to ask her out. Even then Lauren had to ask Philip if their trip to the cinema was an actual date or just some friends going to see a movie. Philip pulled out all the stops when they got engaged and proposed to Lauren during an epic trip to the Valley of the Butterflies in Rhodes.

Off course like all couples who have decided to proceed with their wedding during the Covid-19 pandemic over the last few months they had to consider how and if their wedding could proceed as expected. Lauren told us as she was getting ready that even if they hadn’t of been able to have the day they initially planned, that they would have found a way to get married. The 20th of August was an important day for them as that was also the date they got engaged on. Luckily though with the help of their venue and the changes in restriction advice from the Northern Ireland executive in the last couple of months they were able to have pretty much the day they had always planned. This was a great day to be a wedding photographer in Ballynahinch.

On the morning of the wedding we met up with Lauren and the rest of the ladies at Lauren & Philip’s home in Dundonald. It was a fun morning and Lauren didn’t start feeling any pre-wedding nervousness until she was nearly finished getting ready.

We met up with Philip and his groomsmen at the Millbrook Lodge Hotel and he didn’t seem to be nervous at all. Just as we arrived the heavens opened with very heavy rain and that continued for most of the day along with strong winds as storm Ellen made itself known. Just before the ceremony there was an electrical failure and the majority of the lights in the room used for the ceremony failed. For a lot of couples this could have been a big issue but Lauren & Philip just took it in their stride. The lack of lighting in the room made it a little more of a challenge for us to photograph the ceremony but we were able to get around this by positioning ourselves carefully. The Millbrook Lodge were able to get an electrician out to repair the fault really quickly and the lights were back working again in plenty of time for the wedding reception.

Just after the ceremony the rain eased of a little bit so knowing that we would likely have very little time before it started to rain heavily again, we immediately headed out for a walk around the venue with Lauren & Philip for their bride and groom portraits. Once we got back to the venue, we had just enough time to grab a few photographs with the bridal party and with Lauren & Philip’s family before it started to rain heavily again.

Once back inside the guys did their speeches, dinner was served and the cake was cut. Philip is a big Spiderman fan, so of course Lauren’s mum made share that spidey made an appearance on the wedding cake. Unfortunately the venues risk assessment for the pandemic meant that Lauren & Philip couldn’t have a band or D.J and although they had planned initially to still have their first dance at the last minute they changed there mind and instead spent the rest of the evening enjoying the company of their family and friends.

Are you planning your own wedding at the Millbrook Lodge Hotel and need a little inspiration? Check out this other wedding we photographed there as well. Millbrook Lodge wedding