Rathsallagh Wedding Photographer: Niamh and John, Co. Wicklow

Niamh & John, Rathsallagh House wedding

Fr Joe O'Neill told the church they were married and St Brigid's in Kill went up like a stadium. I have stood at the top of a lot of aisles. I have never heard a congregation roar like that. Niamh and John turned and walked straight into it, John punching the air, Niamh laughing, two hundred people leaning out of the pews to grab a hand or a shoulder as they went past.

Keith Malone was filming from the other side of the aisle. Afterwards we both said the same thing without being asked.

Niamh Keaveny and John Shaughnessy got married on Friday 11 September 2026. A morning in Blackrock, a ceremony in Kill in Co. Kildare and a reception at Rathsallagh House near Dunlavin in Co. Wicklow. Three counties and one very loud day.

I had a fair idea what I was walking into. I had photographed a lot of their friends' weddings and met Niamh twice before hers, first at Sophie and Killian's and again at Bronagh and Sam's, where John was there too and we talked about whether I would stay on into the evening. Knowing that crowd, I knew this one was going to be a party. Being their Rathsallagh wedding photographer confirmed it.

Getting ready in the family home in Blackrock

Niamh got ready in her parents' house in Blackrock. Yellow walls in the living room, pink striped pyjamas on the bridesmaids, mimosas on the go and a baby or two being passed around between the curls. Kelly Anne Matthews arrived at seven for hair, Dearbhla Keenan at eight for make up and by mid morning the house was full.

She put her dress on upstairs in her childhood bedroom. The posters she stuck up as a teenager are still on the walls, the original Titanic one included.

I love a castle or a good hotel as much as anyone for the morning. There is something else in watching a bride get into her wedding dress in the room she grew up in, fifteen or twenty years on, with her mum, her sister Clare and her best friends around her and her teenage self still pinned to the wallpaper.

Dad at the bottom of the stairs

The first thing Niamh wrote on her questionnaire, under what she was most excited about, was her dad seeing her for the first time.

Josh waited in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs with half the family squeezed in behind him. Niamh came down slowly. He was reaching up for her hand before she got to the last step. Then the hallway took over: a kiss, a small nephew held up to see her, a long hug with her mum Marie and a page boy who wanted in on all of it.

Wildflowers and buttonholes in Kill

Rebecca Gibson of Boutique Blooms did the flowers and they were the loudest thing in every room until the congregation took that title. Sunflowers, dahlias, pinks and blues, all set against the bridesmaids in navy.

The morning had been grey with a bit of drizzle. By the time we got to St Brigid's Church in Kill it was starting to lift. The groomsmen were out in the car park in sunglasses, pinning buttonholes on each other and on anyone else who stood still long enough. Marie straightened Josh's flower beside the car while the flower girls and page boys, Josie, Annie, Nico and Mateo, were steered towards the door.

The ceremony at St Brigid's Church

Josh walked Niamh up the aisle and John watched her the whole way, grinning. Kerry Anne Sheridan sang. Most of the readers were close friends and you could see they were enjoying themselves up there, which set the tone for the rest of the hour.

Then there was the page boy. Partway through, he made a break for it across the altar and ran straight to Niamh. After that he kept up a running commentary for the rest of the ceremony and every interjection landed at exactly the right moment, as if someone had scripted him. Nobody had. Fr Joe carried on regardless. It was brilliant.

Then the vows, the rings and the signing, with guests up on their feet filming over the pews. Then that roar and the most energetic walk back down an aisle I have seen in a long time.

Portraits in the gardens at Rathsallagh

John is a relaxed Galway man and Niamh is every bit as easy going, so the portraits took about as long as it took to walk around the gardens. The yew walk, the ivy arch, the old archway in the walled garden. I am a documentary wedding photographer, so I keep this part short on purpose. With these two it was mostly walking, chatting and laughing at each other.

The Manila Strings on the lawn

Rathsallagh does weddings about as well as anywhere I know. The staff have it down. By the time everyone arrived from Kill the afternoon had opened up and the drinks moved out onto the lawn at the back of the house.

The Manila Strings were the drinks reception band and they were brilliant. Guitars, a double bass and voices, working their way from table to table until the whole back of Rathsallagh was singing along. Niamh was out dancing with them on the grass.

Niamh had asked for everyone having a laugh at the drinks reception. The groomsmen lifted her up outside the house. Then her friends got hold of John and threw him into the air on the lawn and then they did the same with Niamh, with the sun going down behind the trees. Epic is the only word I have for it.

Sunset under the big tree

The last thing on Niamh's list was sunset photographs under the big tree. Whatever the weather has done all day, the sun seems to set over that green field at Rathsallagh and the old tree always looks the part. You get golden hour, then sunset, then a lovely blue twilight if you stay out long enough.

We did not need long. A few minutes walking across the grass while the light went gold was plenty and it is one of the reasons I love being a Rathsallagh wedding photographer. If you are planning around the sun, my wedding day timeline guide has more on fitting it into the day.

Into dinner

Back inside, the bridal party took over the drawing room for a few minutes of quiet. A sign by the door said These Kids Are Getting Married. Then the doors opened, the napkins went up and Niamh and John danced the length of the room to their table, with two hundred people waving white linen over their heads.

That was where I left them. Niamh and John had booked my Day Coverage, which runs from the morning to the meal and from what I hear they did not need me for the rest. The Manila Strings went round the tables during dinner and got the room going again. Keith told me that by the first or second song from The Electrix, the crowd had Niamh and John up on their shoulders, roaring.

Thank you

Niamh and John, thank you. I had met you at your friends' weddings and I knew what your crowd was like and you still managed to give me the loudest church exit of my year.

If you are getting married at Rathsallagh House or anywhere in Co. Wicklow, I have written an honest guide to Wicklow wedding venues. You can see my packages here, including the Day Coverage Niamh and John chose. If you would like a Rathsallagh wedding photographer who will stand back and let the day happen, get in touch.