With the beautiful setting of the Cooley peninsula it’s no surprise the number of couples that travel to the area to get married. Being regular visitors to a friend in Castletown Cooley Barry & Marijke choose to exchange their vows in the cutest little church in Grange. The added bonus is it’s located right across the road from a thatched pub, where if you have a word in the right ear it opens right on time for your guests after the ceremony! Barry visited it the night before the wedding to check out the Guinness (all in the name of research of course.)

Marijke moved to Ireland from Belgium in 2002 and even though they met pretty quickly afterwards at work it took Barry until 2008 for him to get around to asking her out, after that things moved considerably quicker and I was delighted to photograph their wedding on a beautiful crispy winters day. Marijke got ready in the Ballymac Hotel  as did most of the guests who had travelled from Dublin and Belgium and the Powder Room girls were busy doing their thing with hair and makeup by the time I got there. Her stunning dress also travelled  from Belgium and it was until the reality of it arriving safely in Ireland that Marijke allowed herself to wonder what she would have done if there had been a glitch.

The mass was celebrated by a friend of Barry’s who had travelled from Dublin so it was a lovely relaxed friendly atmosphere and the pressure was off Barry when it came to exchanging rings as Marijke had told me that in the area where she’s from in Belgium the wedding ring is actually worn on the right hand so either way he couldn’t make a mistake. They were surrounded by a fantastic bridal party and by far the most articulate 2 year old flower girl I’ve ever met, a real cutie.

Everything about the day was so Barry & Marijke, from beautifully handwrapped presents  to handcrafted individual placenames, they’re a fuss free couple who take everything in their stride and so it was no surprise thats how their day unfolded, relaxed, chilled and a wonderful celebration of two people and two cultures. Here’s to many more hillwalking adventures in Slieve Foy and the Mourne mountains.