Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 9)

Part 9 - Galway to Sligo, by way of Knock and Westport


{If right now you're thinking: "Part 9?! Where the heck is the rest of the story?", don't panic! Here's where we started, and here's where Part 8 left off in case that's all you've missed..}

After leaving Galway, our first stop was Knock. If you've never been there, Knock is to Ireland sort of what Lourdes is to France. I wanted to go because I'm fascinated by how cultures celebrate and practice their religions and beliefs - one of the best pieces of television I ever saw was a British show called "Around the World in 80 Faiths" which I highly recommend if you ever have a chance to see it. I have loved all the various Virgin representations I've seen in places like Mexico, France, and even a few days before this in Cork, and have actually sort of collected her from various countries to decorate the walls of our house, although I'm not Catholic.

But somehow Knock didn't feel "spiritual" to me, it actually felt kind of weird. I don't mean to offend anybody of course, and I'm sure there are lots of people who would say it's not spiritual to me because those aren't my beliefs, but of all the religious sites and churches and cathedrals I've been to in my life, only the one in Seville compares to Knock in the way it unsettled me (in the case of Seville, I couldn't quite get over how someone at some point had spent about a jillion dollars on 5-foot tall gold statues adorning one wall about 10 statues wide and stacked 6 or 7 high..). Knock seemed like a really big parking lot surrounding a few small buildings with a couple of plaques and statues, and then a street full of very touristy shops selling plastic containers (to fill up with Holy Water), clocks with Jesus on the cross, beads for every Saint known to man, and a million other things. I have to admit to bringing home a small card showing Saint Lucy - who is the patron Saint of our street, and so seemed fitting.

Anyways, I'm still glad we went to see Knock. It was an interesting contrast from Brigid's Garden (which had much more Celtic origins), especially since we visited the two very different locations within two days.

Back on the road, we continued north along the western part of Ireland until we came to Westport. Norman had said ahead of time that it was a picturesque town, and it lived up to all expectations :) After a quick scouting trip through the very hilly core of the town, we found a place to park the car and a place to change (that's right, we didn't actually drive around wearing these clothes all day!)

Sitting in my sunporch on this very sunny Saturday, I am reminded not at all of the weather we had when we were in Ireland ;) As my lovely husband pointed out to me - you can't expect a place to have 50 shades of green without a lot of rain.. The upside to a country that sees more cloud than clear sky is that the light is great for shooting almost all the time - as long as you can miss the rain! We picked a few of our favourite locations in Westport and managed to get some pretty great images before the rain started :)

 If my house could be made from these gorgeous blue-grey and pale rust-coloured stones, that would be perfect! (who do I talk to about that..?)

 I love colour - as you may have noticed ;)  - and I especially love it when great colour combinations come together. The town of Westport will always hold a special place in my heart, for the simple reason that it seemed to me as though the people there had been kind enough to paint some of their buildings in the perfect colours to go with what we were wearing :)

Just after these last shots were taken, it started to pour rain - we didn't even have time to change back into our "normal" clothes before scurrying back to the car and continuing our trip to our final destination - Sligo. The best part about that is that when we tried to check in to our hostel by the beach in Sligo, the man there took one look at our fancy attire and upgraded us (at no extra charge!) to the classier B&B owned by the same people nextdoor :)

After settling in to our room (which I LOVED and will show you why in the next part..) we went for a quick walk to the beach and then to the pub :) To scout it out for our photos the next day, of course ;)

Sligo is so beautiful - I can't wait to show you the pictures we took in the pub, and on our much longer walk down the beach the next day... stay tuned!!

xo
Jessica + Norman

p.s. as much as we'd love to shoot every wedding in Westport, we're actually very happy to shoot weddings pretty much wherever they happen! Email us now for more information if you're looking for a team of passionate wedding photographers (and lovers of life!)

Dress: Cabaret Vintage
Headband: Oh Dina!
Photography: Jessica Lin Photography

Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 5)

First time visiting? Here's what's happened so far:  Part 1 - The Proposal, Part 2 - The Wardrobe, Part 3 - The Adventure Begins, Part 4 - The Ceremony

This week...

Part 5 - The Awesome Place We Went for Lunch After the Ceremony


I can see your eyes squinting up with doubt, I can hear you saying "why on earth would I care where you went for lunch after you got married?", but that's only because you've never seen this place:

Recommended by Norman's cousin Cathy, it's called AM:PM and was right around the corner from Belfast City Hall. It reminded me of if my dreams turned into walls :) Big gold frames, fake flowers, and purses everywhere. Chandeliers, candles, and every colour in the known universe finished off the look.

Joe & Elaine, considering their options..

Norman with his best friend Ian, who was fantastic enough to do our pictures at City Hall

This was the best lunch I've ever had :) Duck and hoisin were involved..

the first picture Norman took of his new wife :)

So - as if that restaurant hadn't been perfect enough (and of course the ceremony was perfect!) - when we headed over to Tesco to pick up some roadtrip groceries there were cupcakes! These cupcake people had never been there before, and it was like magic how they showed up for us on our wedding day :) 

My violet cupcake won the beauty contest, but Norman's raspberry cupcake was by far the yummier one

(I had changed out of my dress to go grocery shopping, but thought it best to leave my veil on haha..)

In case you're wondering why we were at Tesco on our wedding day, it's because I think we went to Tesco or Asda (the other big grocery chain) - or both - every single day we were there. Elaine can probably verify this. My lovely husband enjoys a good grocery shopping trip like nobody else I know, so much that it's actually fun to go with him :)

Plus, we had to pick up some groceries because the next day we were heading out on our honeymoon roadtrip around Ireland! This is where it gets kind of exciting - Norman had this idea for us to bring our wedding outfits and all the camera gear with us while we travelled, so that we could take our own wedding pictures in many beautiful Irishy places :) It was sometimes stressful, always windy, and a bit crazy - but the pictures are awesome! 

Here's one of my favourites...

Stay tuned for our first stop... Dublin!

xox Jessica + Norman

Norman & Jessica's Destination Wedding + Photography Adventure (Part 3)

Just joining us? Check out what you've missed so far: Part 1 - The Proposal, Part 2 - The Wardrobe


Part 3 - The Adventure Begins

After quite a hectic month of planning our wedding and the family party that would follow, we finally had our bags packed and were ready to get going!

I like to leave my in-flight reading somewhat up to chance, so I always wait and pick out a book once I get to the airport... after trying on all the vintage dresses at Cabaret, this book about the lives lived by vintage clothing seemed totally perfect! (The main story of the book was not bad, but the stories told by the dresses were fantastic and made it worth the read)

We spent 7 hours in Gatwick airport waiting for our flight to Belfast from London, so you will notice there are no pictures here of us after our arrival in Northern Ireland ;) Our first stop after picking up the rental car was to go to Tesco (the best grocery store in the world, greatly missed by British ex-pats) and then we headed straight to Norman's sister and brother-in-law's place. Elaine and Joe had been kind enough to offer us a home base for our time in Northern Ireland, and we couldn't have felt more welcome in their beautiful home in Greyabbey :)

We got there around 9 o'clock at night, so it wasn't until the next morning that I took these pictures..

One of the best things about having a dog (which we don't, but Joe & Elaine do - his name is Yogi) is that they need to go for walks. We really enjoyed joining Elaine taking Yogi down this lovely route to the shoreline.. I think since Norman had been gone from the country for almost a year and a half, he was really noticing all the rock walls and ivy that the locals tend to take for granted - so beautiful :)

My lovely husband (-to-be, at this point) frequently claims to not be "romantically inclined", but as you can see he scratched our initials and the date into this rock wall the day before our wedding (followed by a kiss "X") Aww... 

Elaine took this one of us (and Yogi in the background) outside one of the shops in their village. You may notice we are wearing many layers more than when we left Toronto two days earlier - Northern Ireland in May is not exactly warm (but is of course still lovely!)

Believe it or not, on our way walking back home through the village we passed a little fruit and flower shop. The little old man who ran the shop was out front, and came to say hello to us (as strangers tend to do in Northern Ireland - it's really lovely) and Elaine told him that we were visiting from Canada and would be getting married the next day. After congratulating us and telling us a story about his wife (to whom he had been married for many years) he starting singing - in the middle of the street - "Love is in the Air". It was totally magical. As we passed the village sweet shop, the owner also came to greet us. When she found out we were to be married the next day, she rushed back into her shop and filled a bag with chocolate hearts covered in silver foil with the words "Just Married" on the front, for which she refused payment. We were both really touched and felt like we were floating around in a little bubble of good wishes and happy thoughts, which was incredibly nice when we were so far from home :) For those of you who've never been to Northern Ireland (and especially if the word "Belfast" brings to mind only stories of terrorism and bombings), I have to say that it's full of the warmest and friendliest people I've ever met anywhere :) and I'm very happy to have such a good excuse to go back to visit often!

Now - time to get down to wedding business! I had brought a portable steamer before leaving, which did a great job. I have to say that considering how many hours she spent folded in half and squished into my suitcase, my wedding dress was in fantastic shape - just needed a bit of a touch-up with the steamer (Elaine also took this picture..)

I really love my dress, and it and Elaine & Joe's house seemed to be made for each other..

My mom and sister had found this purse for me years ago at a place called Vintage Bride in Mirvish Village in Toronto - it's made of ostrich feathers. I added the ribbon handles and trim and the little purple flower with leaves just to give it a bit of colour.. 

Since none of my family was going to be joining us for the Irish end of our celebrations, it was really nice to have a little bit of them with me :)

 I always tell my brides that weddings bring amazing surprises and generosity from those around you, but even I was amazed and a bit overwhelmed by the kindness of Norman's cousin Joanne - she made beautiful bouquets for both Elaine and I to carry during our ceremony at city hall. I had never even met her until we picked up the bouquets from her the day before the wedding, so it was incredibly special and really made me feel welcomed into the family even more :)

Having had only one day to settle in (and try to get adjusted to the time difference!) and finalize everything, we still managed to take a quick trip into the city center to scout out City Hall. Back in April when Norman had booked our date with them, they had sent us a brochure about other locations owned by the city council where you could also get married - including Belfast Castle. 

Now ladies, especially those of you who live in countries without castles on every street corner, you will understand that it was an effort of great restraint for me upon hearing this news to be casual about asking how my lovely groom would feel about maybe getting married at the Castle instead of at City Hall. To his credit, even though he had already planned everything for City Hall, he did very calmly agree to call them and see if the Castle was available. Which it wasn't. The point is, I was fighting back the urge to feel like my fairytale wedding could possibly have been slightly more perfect...until I saw Belfast City Hall. It's a stunner. It's actually way more beautiful than the Castle is, since the Castle on the inside looks a lot more like a conference centre than a castle.

Here's a little sneak peak of the domed ceiling above the lobby..

..so you can just imagine what the rest looks like! (Actually, you won't have to imagine for long, because the next part of our story will be The Ceremony :) Stay tuned...)

xoxo Jessica & Norman

Photography: Jessica Lin, except where noted

Dress: Cabaret Vintage, Toronto

Romance and Adventure :)

I realise I've been totally neglecting this blog, but I have a really good excuse! Norman and I got married in Belfast May 5th, and have been doing a road trip around Ireland and a quick visit to Spain as well - the best part (from a photography point of view) is that we've brought my dress and all the camera equipment with us everywhere, and have been taking our own wedding photographs as we go on all these adventures :) I know this is a bit of a tease, since I don't actually have any images to show you yet, but I figured it was bad enough to spend half my honeymoon taking pictures, to spend the other half editing and posting them would be next to unforgivable ;)
Anyways, we are back in Canada next week, so stay tuned and we will have great things to show you from our romantic adventure...

xox