Belfast City Hall Wedding | Lauren + Arran

Lauren and Arran’s wedding took place on the 25th of July at Belfast City Hall. After the ceremony they celebrated their marriage with their family at Arran’s mum and dad’s home in Portadown.

Lauren & Arran had originally planned to get married on the 28th of March and had booked us for their original wedding date as well. However just 10 days before the wedding with so much uncertainty around what was at that time the developing situation around the Coronavirus pandemic, they decided that the best option for them was to cancel their plans indefinitely. As it turned out this proved to be a sensible decision by the guys as on the 23rd of March the Northern Ireland government announced a blanket ban on any weddings taking place. This would have meant that Lauren & Arran’s wedding would not have been able to proceed anyway, even if they hadn’t of decided to cancel themselves.

In late June Arran got in touch with us again to let us know that they had decided to rebook their wedding due to some recent changes in the government lockdown measures. This however only gave the guys a month to plan the big day. We were delighted that they wanted to have us document their wedding day as per their original plans. At that point the government guidance only allowed for 10 people to attend which also would have included the registrar and ourselves. As Belfast wedding photographers we have just gotten used to it now as the new normal for now.

Later on, more good news arrived though, thanks to the government’s decision to further relax the lockdown guidance around weddings. If only 10 people had been allowed to attend, it would have likely meant that only one of us would have been able to capture the ceremony but thanks to the most recent changes both of us were able to be there on the day. The latest guidance also meant that the guys could have their ceremony inside instead of outside Belfast City Hall. This was a bit of a relief for them as the weather had been a bit unpredictable on the lead up to the wedding.

On the day of the wedding we met up with a very relaxed Arran and his parents at Belfast City Hall. An equally relaxed looking Lauren arrived soon after, so Arran had to make a quick dash inside to avoid seeing Lauren before the ceremony. Due to social distancing measures the room that is normally used for weddings at City Hall was not available as it is a little small. This turned out to be great news as the room the guys were allocated is much nicer.

After the ceremony we grabbed a few photographs of the guys around Belfast City Hall, it was a busy day in the city centre so we didn’t stay for long before heading over to Arran’s mum and dad’s in Portadown. Arran’s dad had been working hard on the lead up to the wedding on his garden, (we know Arran helped as well) and it made for the perfect backdrop for their bride & groom portraits.

We always enjoy the more relaxed atmosphere that comes along with a more intimate wedding day and we know everyone else did too. Everyone did an amazing job of putting together the day with only a month’s worth of time to organise everything, you would have never known that was all the time they had available as it really was a perfect day. Because of the ongoing situation with the Coronavirus pandemic the guys did have to make some sacrifice’s, for example unfortunately Arran had to do without his best man who is currently in New York and of course there was lots of other people who in an ideal world the guys would have loved to have been there. They do have plans though to celebrate with all of their loved ones at a later date.

If you are considering Belfast City Hall for your own wedding and would like some more inspiration, check out this other wedding we shot here as well. Belfast City Hall Wedding Photographer