Donegal weather takes no prisoners. Whenever you see a bad forecast before a wedding, you always have a little bit of hope that it is wrong. That somehow 90% rain and strong winds won't be as bad as it seems. You cling on to the hope of a tiny miracle that the yellow warning will pass you by. As Grainne and Joe's wedding unfolded, we quickly gave up that hope as the rain lashed and the cold winds wreaked havoc with everyone's hair.
But during their ceremony, there were glimmers of hope. The odd minute where glorious October light peeked through the grey clouds before the rain quickly returned. Then, on the way from Newtownstewart to Lough Eske in Donegal, we got our tiny miracle. The old Donegal weather gods decided they'd toyed with us enough and gave us a half-hour reprieve to grab some portraits of gorgeous Grainne and Joe. Of course, the Irish have a beautiful word for this: Aiteall - the fine spell of weather between two rain showers.
We love doing engagement shoots with our couples. Not only is it a practical way for them to get used to the camera, taking a lot of stress away on the day of the wedding, but it's a great way to get to know each other. We usually talk about movies, tv, music etc, but when we met Grainne, we spent most of our time talking about grandparents. Why? Well because we discovered that our grandparents would've known each other - something our parents later confirmed. We always love these little connections that you find on this tiny, turbulent island.
