Today we're delighted to feature a very special wedding - Mark Capilitan is a great wedding photographer based in the West of Ireland whose work we have featured previously, so we were super excited when he himself got married, and are honoured to be able to show you his own big day.

Mark married his beautiful bride Sarah in September in Sligo in a civil ceremony followed by a reception both held in Castle Dargan, just outside Sligo town. Mark and Sarah asked their friend Elliot Patching to capture the day for them (no pressure) and so many thanks to him for sharing these great images with us.

Mark and Sarah chose a stylish black and white theme for their wedding, and it's evident in every element of the day from the umbrella above, to the table decor, everything clearly chosen with care and attention to detail. Their wedding is a lovely blend of classic, quirky and romantic.

It's all in the Details

How gorgeous is the little heart-shaped blackboard? Dotey! Notice anything about the date? Mark chose it especially - 8/9/10  - now that's attention to detail!

Apparently Sarah's elegant bouquet of white calla lilies is still sitting in water with a few flowers still looking good (2 months later!) - well done to florist Michael Feehily - you must have a magic touch.

What about this for an entrance? A dinky little Fiat 500! No wonder everybody fell in love with it when it pulled up with Sarah & her brother - noone could believe she came all the way from the house in it. Fair play to Sarah, as everyone knows: wedding dresses + small cars = potential bridal disaster!

But it wasn't all as effortless as it looks, as with every wedding there's a great story behind this pretty picture:

"I used to be a Formula One photographer, but I have no interest in cars! But there’s a few out there that I think just ooze character, and one of them is the original Fiat 500. A neighbour of ours actually has one, and when I first mentioned the idea to Sarah, she just looked at me, and said “you want me in that with a dress on”! But after we got a spin in the neighbours car, it was almost a certainty for the wedding day. The only problem was that he was going on holiday during our wedding and the car wouldn’t be available.

If anybody knows the Fiat 500, they’ll know that they’re not something you see on the roads a lot! So when we found out there was another in Sligo, and that it was owned by somebody I knew, this was perfect. What wasn’t perfect was that it was stripped bare and needed a full reconstruction almost! Long story short, we left it to Paul to sort as he promised and he delivered on the day — helped by 8 guys working on it the night before...it even smelled of paint Sarah said!"

But all's well that ends well as they say...

The wedding was held in the Castle Dargan Coach House Lounge - Mark has high praise for the venue: "Being a wedding photographer, I’ve been to plenty of venues, so I knew instantly where our venue would be. It was even better when the venue let us know we could use the same room for ceremony and dinner.On the day everybody was blown away by how gorgeous the room looked and how quickly it was turned over for the meal. The Coach House Lounge has bags of character, and really suited our intimate wedding!"

Sarah loves craftwork and baking, and Mark won’t eat anybody elses baking, so the cake was always going to have to be homemade. I am in awe of this lady - that cake is amazing! The home-baking didn't stop there, as the little box on the place setting above, contains handmade truffles made by Sarah too as wedding favours for the guests. And she handmade all the ties for the napkins, as a lovely finishing touch for the tables. From now on Sarah is to be known as SSB - Sarah Super Bride (putting the rest of us to shame!).

I just love this image - it's rare to see such a really genuine moment of fun and romance captured so beautifully.

Words of Wisdom

And what about some words of wisdom from a wedding professional finally on the other side of the fence:

Avoid Last-minutism: "Try to sort out as much as possible long before the day! The big things are easily sorted, but it’s the little details that take a while to do, and most of them cannot be done until almost the last minute.

Shop Local: "As much as possible we used local suppliers, and having known most of them from the business, I wouldn’t hesitate using them all again! When everything is local, it’s there and if there's any issue you can sort it out almost immediately. "

This is just a hint of Mark and Sarah's day, you can find more over on Elliot Patching's website and Niall from Complete Weddings has their very special wedding video for those soppy romantics among you. Niall comes very highly recommended by Mark, as both a groom and as someone who has worked with him on other weddings.

And of course check out Mark's website for his own work, we featured a great example of his work not long ago, and I'm sure we'll be doing so again, so if you're based in the West, he should be on your list.

So a Big Congratulations to Mark & Sarah - may every day be as happy as your wedding day so obviously was - and a thank you so much for allowing us to share it with everyone.

Who to call...

Venue: Castle Dargan’s Coach House Lounge

Dress, Jewellery and Shoes: All from Events by Ray Michael, Dromahair, Co.Leitrim

Flowers: Feehilys Flowers, Sligo

Ceremony Music: Sinead Conway

DJ: Michael at Gold Ring Productions, Sligo

Sarah’s Makeup: Ann Young, Sligo

Photography: Elliot Patching, Northamptonshire, UK