Tag Archives: david mcauley

Weddings and chocolates….

‘A wedding is like a box of chocolates….you never know what you’re going to get’ just my variation on that famous quote from the Forrest Gump movie. I’ve often thought so to myself since I started to photograph weddings. It starts with receiving an email or a call from a stranger asking ‘are you available on …..? or ‘please send me information on your wedding packages’, then progress through a booking process as appropriate via phone, email, Skype, face to face consultation or some combination of all and look forward to the wedding date coming around. I do a pre-wedding meeting where possible close to the wedding date also. The purpose of all this is to gather the pertinent information such as type of ceremony, who is involved, assess timelines etc. and get to know a little more about the couple and their specific wedding plans.

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On Thursday last I had the pleasure of providing my wedding photography services to Mary & Steve. As above it started with an early morning email briefly outlining some requirements. In the subsequent exchange it transpired Mary was in Virginia planning her destination wedding to Ireland to marry Steve in Trim, Co. Meath with 50+ of their family & friends making the trip.  Information was exchanged, a booking made and we arrange to meet in person over Christmas on their pre-wedding visit to Dublin. With my schedule and their schedule it was a brief enough meeting concentrating on the high level elements. I have attended weddings in the states in the past and follow a number of US wedding photographers etc. online and was looking forward to what might transpire. As with all my weddings I consider it a privilege to be selected to document the couple’s wedding day. When the day itself arrives to a certain degree it’s a leap into the unknown, a mix of tension, nervousness, excitement (me that is, not to mention the wedding party), deep breath, knock  at the door and go from there, immerse yourself and work hard.

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One of the aspects I like about being a wedding photographer is it that it give’s you in varying ways a small glimpse into the live’s of your clients (before, during & after), the people around them, what they mean to them, their personalities, their interactions etc.   So it was last Thursday, I very quickly got the feeling that this was going to be a something a little special to be part off.  A reasonably sized group but yet closely knit group of friends & family of different ages, cultures, backgrounds and geographical locations had converged in Dublin & Trim for an adventure and to coin another phrase ‘the craic’.

There are very few weddings that doesn’t have these elements and nothing to do with the venue, the number of guests, the budget etc. but for me this had a sprinkling of something extra that just struck a chord. Maybe it was just trying to imagine the logistics & volume of baggage that must have been involved (some members of the group had or are having extended holidays in Ireland & Europe before or after Thursday) or the level of detail that went into it. Maybe it was the small deviations from a typical Irish wedding including the attire of the bridal party – ten in total and their complete involvement throughout, the ‘no photos at the ceremony’ request to guests (which was adhered to) but free rein for social media posting otherwise, the Bridesman,  the ‘First Look with Mary’s father, Her father’s outfit change, the travel theme and more.  For me it’s always the people that makes a good wedding, great. From the 1st moment until I dragged myself away the openness and friendliness of this group was evident. In fairness I have experienced this at many of my weddings but I think overall the camaraderie displayed between Mary, Steve and their guests stood out more than usual, signified by the ad-hoc hand-tying ceremony performed by all the bridal party during our main photo session at Trim Castle.   

Thankfully I did manage to meet-up with Mary & Steve again briefly on Saturday morning before heading onward to their honeymoon in Spain. They gave me this lovely memento that was part of their wedding decor and added a personal inscription on it, before having seen an image. I’m looking forward to further contacts in the coming weeks and months as I complete their images and orders and hope it will go beyond that.

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Wedding prop gift

I also have a new batch of Facebook connections from the group and I’m looking forward to trawling through the image postings of their trips to Ireland and their mementoes of a special day. I hope to do another post of images from the day when ready, thanks for reading.

Surprise Engagement in Howth

I was delighted to be asked recently to help out David with his proposal to long-term girlfriend Ann Marie at the site of their first date on Howth Head in Co. Dublin. David arranged for SocialBee to set up a secret picnic while I hid among the gorse to capture the romantic moment when he popped the question to Ann Marie. The surprise engagement shoot turned out so well that it was even featured on WeddingsOnline recently!

 

 

 

 

Ann Marie and David met through friends in DIT but it was few years before the stars were aligned for this couple. They moved to Perth four years ago and David thought that this visit home would be the perfect time to ask the love of his life to marry him, and chose the exact spot where they had their first date years earlier. His surprise plans were almost thwarted when Ann Marie announced that she had plan with her family that afternoon, so David had to make a sneaky phone call to her Dad to have the plans cancelled so that everything could go to plan!

surprise proposal shoot howth dead david mcauley photography

 

As you can see from this photo, David was delighted when Ann Marie said YES!

surprise proposal shoot howth dead david mcauley photography

Melissa from SocialBee had set up a wonderful picnic for the newly engaged couple to enjoy, with a bottle of champagne to celebrate with of course. Ann Marie was surprised and delighted with the amount of thought and effort that David had gone to to arrange everything.

Ann Marie & David’s love was captured perfectly with the site of their first date in the background; a wonderful memory to take away with them and keep forever.

surprise proposal shoot howth dead david mcauley photography

Meet David – David McAuley Photography

I decided recently that writing a blog would be a great way to connect with my clients, past, present and future. I’m really excited to be sharing some great tips with you over the coming months, including help with choosing your wedding photographer, how to prepare for a photoshoot and lots of other tips and tricks. Today I’m sharing a ‘behind-the-scenes’ piece to give you a look at the world of David McAuley Photography!

I’m from Palmerstown, Dublin 20. I never managed to stray far from it and I still live there currently. I’m supported by my wife Annemarie, and we have 3 children, 2 girls aged 11 & 15 & a boy aged 13. Annemarie is originally from Co. Kerry and we go down whenever feasible.

I had a long & evolving IT career which I thoroughly enjoyed. I did a couple of years as a self employed contractor but eventually got a yearning to step back from the large corporate environments and to try something new. I decided to re-activate my interest in photography, starting from scratch. My timing wasn’t great with the start of the recession and it was slower than I would have liked but it did give me time to learn and practice. During that time for my wedding photography I attended the Norwich school of Photography which gave me a baseline to build upon, in both the business and practical skills knowledge. It also gave me the confidence to specialise in wedding photography.

 

 

My core clients and specialty are weddings. I strive to give wedding couples a level of service and value that all their planning and investment deserves. I also like to shoot for businesses; this includes products, headshots and events. I also photograph families and family celebrations from babies to milestone birthdays – this is an area I plan on expanding on this year.

 

David McAuley Wedding Photography Ireland

 

 

Although my early career choice would be considered more logical and methodical in nature, my favourite aspect of my business now is the personal interaction with clients and subjects, be it a few minutes at an event or over the course of eighteen months with a wedding couple before, during and after their wedding. Of course interaction on the wedding day itself is special  and that extends to their families and guests. Thanks to social media, this often lasts a lot longer than just the time between first booking and the day they receive their finished albums. I also love being able to provide a and/or products that means something to my clients be it a wedding album that will trigger memories for a couple of their big day, or images to promote & generate interest in a business. It’s not all fun – I can sometimes find it difficult keeping up with the admin parts of running a business – I guess I’ve lost some of that logical, methodical approach from my former career!

 

David McAuley Wedding Photography Ireland

 

 

It’s important when running your own business to find time to unwind too. I sometimes think I never switch off, but once I step away from my screen there’s the usual family & domestic duties, the odd beer or meal with friends or sometimes just a little daydreaming. I’ve started doing a small (and I mean small) bit of running for exercise recently. I’m hoping to start a project this year to get all the family camcorder tapes and older snapshots that languish on CD’s & phones into print and digi-clips if time permits. I like watching movies although I seem to have missed so many in the last few years. I will try to keep track of the F1 season when it starts. Photography in general and businesses and the story behind businesses, both big and small, interest me – I’m not a great reader in terms of attention span but I like to watch and listen to business shows and documentaries.