You don’t need us to tell you this past year and a half has been, amongst other things, a big hot mess; and with that in mind it’s sometimes hard to remember the times of incredible, life-affirming joy and happiness that have occurred in that time too. One such thing was the Belfast wedding of Aoife and Connie - a day they’d originally planned for 100 guests for November 2020, but which became an intimate party of much less on the 1st October, in between lockdowns. We love every detail of their gorgeous wedding day, and the photos bring us such happiness to look at; we especially love Stephanie from X+O Photography’s prism play, and love even more how the stained glass windows at City Hall got this memo too! All in all, Aoife and Connie seemed to be bathed in glorious, beautiful light and love all day - both literal and metaphorical - as they very much deserved to be. Read all about it here:

Who are you and what do you both do?

We are Connie and Aoife, I am a chemotherapy nurse and Aoife is an assistant manager in an Insurance company. We live in Belfast and are slowly working our way through every pub and restaurant in the vicinity. We have two cats, Nell and Mick, who love and ignore us in equal measure.

How did you meet?

We met online in November 2018 through Bumble and had our first date in the Duke of York in Belfast. We knew we were a good match when we both ordered pints! We were lucky enough to get some lovely wedding photos outside the bar where we had our first date - it's amazing to think that's where it all began.

What is your fave thing about each other?

My favourite thing about Connie is how compassionate she is, she sees the best in everyone.

My favourite thing about Aoife is how strong she is, she has this amazing ability to lift people up and make them feel strong too.

What has the journey been like, planning a wedding affected by COVID?

Our original date was meant to be the 28th Nov 2020, but we knew when numbers of infection rates were increasing at the start of September that it was only a matter of time before there was another lockdown, and we didn't want to leave ourselves open to delaying it. We rang City Hall and asked for their next available date, which was Thursday 1st October. We booked it on the spot! We already had our rings and our outfits ready to go, so we just took the leap.

What did you find particularly hard in both the planning and anything on the day?

Of course, getting married in a pandemic, you're never going to have the chance to have everyone there that you would want to invite. We made the decision to limit numbers to very immediate family and just a handful of friends. We never wanted to put anyone at risk, especially the more vulnerable members of our families like Connie’s grandparents, and that was very difficult not having them there. Aoife’s brother and his partner live in Barcelona, and they're very close to us, so it was very difficult not having them with us to celebrate. But we had a lovely phone call with them straight after and they were delighted to share our news.

Most of the planning actually went really well, once we made the decision to go ahead with it, everything seemed to fall into place.

What are/were the parts of the wedding you thought you were going to really miss...and was that how it was when it came to it?

We originally had a reception booked for 100 people, and we really were looking forward to celebrating with everyone. Due to restrictions at the time, this wasn't an option, but we were lucky enough to get a restaurant that would accommodate our wedding party, and a bar to have a few drinks in, and it ended up being so much more intimate. I think we would've missed out on that quality time if we had the bigger wedding.

Did anything actually end up being better out of the situation?

It turned out to be so stress free and relaxed. We got ready together at home, which was so lovely, and it meant that while we waited together for our black taxi to city hall, we had a lovely quiet moment to ourselves to soak it all in. We put on our favourite songs and had a wee dance and a glass of champagne to calm our nerves!

Tell us about the day!

In terms of guests, we had our parents and brothers and sisters and their partners there, and a few close friends. We enjoyed having our nieces and nephews there too: Connie’s niece Cailie (5 years old) brought up our rings for the ceremony, and Aoife’s nephew Tiarnan, who had just turned 18, was one of our witnesses.

We walked up the aisle to Dolly Parton’s "here you come again" as Aoife is a massive Dolly fan.

Our flowers were very special to us as we ordered them online from prestige flowers, and together we made them into bouquets and button holes for our fathers on the night before the wedding.

After the ceremony at Belfast City Hall, we had a lovely meal in Howard St, Belfast. Then we went on to The Jailhouse at Henry’s for some cocktails. Curfew at that time was 11pm, which worked out well after all the cocktails!

What was your favourite part of the day?

Aoife’s favourite part of the day was signing the marriage certificate. It felt so momentous as same sex marriage only became legal in Northern Ireland in January 2020.

Connie’s favourite moment was walking through Belfast City Centre after we had our photos taken, we were heading to meet everyone for dinner at Howard St and we just felt electric. Everyone we met were wishing us congratulations and beeping their horns. We felt on top of the world.

And a word from Stephanie, their photographer:

Aoife and Connie booked me a couple of months before their wedding when they moved their original date forwards due to Covid. I absolutely loved the sound of their laid back city centre elopement and was super excited to be their photographer!

On their wedding day the sun was shining and it was a beautiful Autumn day in Belfast. Their ceremony was small and intimate with close family and friends only. Connie and Aoife have such a strong connection. It’s so easy to see how in love with they are each other and that combined with such an intimate setting made the ceremony feel so special. From a photographer’s perspective it was amazing to have extra time for couple portraits and to not have to squeeze them in before speeches. The portraits are my favourite part of any wedding day and I took major inspiration from Connie and Aoife’s loved-up and relaxed vibe.

For anyone struggling to make a decision between waiting for restrictions to ease or just going for it now, there is no right answer here! It’s just got to be what feels right for you. BUT if your only reason for holding off is because you think a smaller wedding means less love, less excitement or less fun I say just bloody go for it!

Intimate weddings and elopements strip a wedding down to the elements that matter most: a couple and their love for each other and less in this instance I feel that is definitely more.