Family get together to celebrate a fiftieth wedding anniversary.

As a wedding photographer you get to meet some pretty amazing families. This is one. Quite a few years ago I photographed Fionnán and Shirley’s wedding down in Gougane Barra. It was one of those very special weddings and it really stands out in my memory. It was a tiny wedding, only family attended – well, family and me! So I was really delighted when Fionnán got in touch to see if I would come down to Gougane Barra to take some family portraits, this time for his parents who were celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary!

The gang were all staying in the lovely Gougane Barra hotel who made up a great picnic basket, recreating the kind of picnics the family had back in the 80’s, so loads of hang sandwiches, taytos and flasks of tea! Off we went. We walked, we climbed, had a bit of a puck about with the hurleys, enjoyed the picnic in the rain and laughed lots and lots.

After all that we headed back to the hotel were everyone got changed for the evening. We did some group shots with the beautiful St. Finbarrs oratory in the background, then inside for surprise Champagne and cake. The cake is bit of a family tradition; the baker has made cakes for every occasion for this family over the past 50 years! I made my way back to Cork, so happy to have spent the afternoon with a family who really know how to do quality time. And with a load of cake too.

Here are some photographs from the day. Thanks to all the Garveys for letting me share the day with them and the images here.