2018 / Shadows & Light by This Modern Love

2018 / Shadows & Light

2018 has been a strange year all over the world. These weddings have been a tonic, and we’ve held them close to our hearts.

Genuinely appreciating the love, kindness and sense of community that weddings bring into people's lives. The buzzy sense of anticipation around each day. Families and friends moving heaven and earth to be in the same place, at the same time, to celebrate the people they love. It's good for the soul. And we still never take these invitations for granted. 

Creatively it's been a great year. I (Tim) joined a busy collective of artists in Belfast - Vault Studios - and have been painting away in the spaces between weddings. This always ends up feeding into the photography somehow. It stops my brain from falling into visual habits, keeps me trying to see images in a different way. I've also loved being part of This is Reportage, a documentary photographers’ collective, whose genius members keep me on my toes, always striving to be better. 

Often in these end of year reviews, we've talked about the roller-coaster - tiny kids, building a house, constant travelling. But you know what we also did this year? We slowed down. Planted a garden and some apple trees. Whiled days away in the park. Attempted to sew (ok, glue) Halloween costumes. We've been breathing again

Couples of 2018, you've brought a lot of joy into the world this year. You've been the best craic, beyond kind, and have introduced us to gold boots, which are officially the way forward. Thank you one and all.

T&C

Laila & Mark's Wedding at Château de Robernier, Var, France by This Modern Love

Château de Robernier Wedding - Laila & Mark

In her first message to us, Laila described her and Mark as 'slightly awkward humans', a little bit camera-shy.

Our kinda humans, we thought :) This is gonna work.

And of course we, and the camera, loved Laila and Mark. Because they are awesome people. And their wedding was ridiculously good fun. And because none of this is about posing for perfect fairytale pictures. Even if the wedding is in a French chateau...

Eimear & Hugh's Wedding at Borris House, Co. Carlow by This Modern Love

Eimear & Hugh - Borris House Wedding

Hugh was quite surprised when a stranger FaceTimed him, while he was doing his laundry after work one night, wanting to talk about his wedding. 

But he went with the flow, and we chatted about his plans while he put socks into the washer..

Everything made a bit more sense when Eimear, who had arranged the call, made her way home through the traffic.

And that really, was the perfect beginning to this story. The soundest of people, generous with their time, mighty craic, no fuss.

You can see from the photos what a brilliant day it was. Piano duets, enormous grins, kids weaving in and out, cutting the cake with an architects' T-square, Eimear's mam's wedding dress... Gold. Freaking. Boots.

This is Borris House by the way. Very nice it is too!

Eimear & Hugh - thanks so much for having us. We'll miss our FaceTime laundry sessions...