NI · Est 2008
Shine Pics/ The Planning Notes
The Planning
Notes.
A working notebook from Shine Pics — kept since 2017.
Practical, photographer-led notes on planning a wedding in Northern Ireland — venues, light, weather, timings and the small logistics nobody warns you about.
These pages aren't a content-marketing blog — they're a working notebook. Things we've learned shooting weddings across Antrim, Down and Belfast since 2008, written down so we stop forgetting them, and so the next couple has them too.
You'll find opinions, checklists and the occasional rant about December light. Skip what doesn't apply. Steal what does.
— Jody
Ards Peninsula
The index · all entries
Nineteen notes, indexed.
Numbered, dated, filed. The newest at the top. Click an issue number to open it.
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19.
Belfast wedding photos, quarter by quarter.
Where the light, the crowds and the red tape actually are — the four quarters and their light, indoor rooms for rain, park permits and golden-hour timings.
6 min → -
13.
Should I add a wedding video?
When a wedding video earns its place alongside the photographs, and when it doesn't — written from a photographer's chair, not a videographer's pitch.
4 min → -
12.
Belfast wedding venues — where we keep coming back.
Half a dozen Belfast rooms we've shot many times over, with notes on light, footprint and what each one actually feels like on the day.
5 min → -
11.
Your wedding, your way.
A short manifesto on choice over forced options — the thinking behind our packages, written down once so we don't have to explain it twice.
3 min → -
10.
The questions to ask a potential wedding photographer.
Twelve questions we wish more couples asked. Most of them have nothing to do with cameras and everything to do with how the day will actually run.
5 min → -
09.
Bridal flower trends that actually suit a winter wedding.
What's worth ordering in December, and what looks tired by the time the speeches start. From across the table at a few dozen winter weddings.
4 min → -
08.
Keeping the children happy through the day.
Activity bags, a quiet corner, the half-hour after the speeches — what we've seen actually work, and what to swerve.
3 min → -
07.
Having a themed wedding — where it sings, where it strains.
Themes that lift a day vs. themes that fight it. A short and honest field guide from across many themed weekends.
4 min → -
06.
Planning a summer wedding — the companion piece.
The winter checklist, flipped. Long evenings, harsher light, and what to plan around instead. Practical, photographer-led.
5 min → -
18.
A Christmas wedding without the cliche.
Let December bring atmosphere, short daylight and full rooms without letting the season swallow the couple.
4 min → -
17.
Group photos without losing the drinks reception.
The family list, the helpers and the stopping point that keep formal photographs important and humane.
4 min → -
16.
Autumn weddings after the light turns.
Colour is generous. The earlier portraits, darker rooms and fast-changing NI weather still need a plan.
4 min → -
04.
Getting married on the Spanish Costas — what actually changes.
Different paperwork, different timings, different light. A short field guide from a handful of trips out.
6 min → -
03.
Weddings on a budget — without it looking that way.
Where to spend, where to save, and a few small decisions that punch above their weight on the photographs.
5 min → -
02.
Planning a winter wedding, honestly.
A photographer-led checklist for a Northern Irish winter wedding — dates, daylight, dressing, and staying dry.
4 min → -
15.
The wedding morning, by the clock.
Hair, make-up, travel slack and the calm half-hour couples accidentally give away.
4 min → -
14.
Rain on the wedding day, honestly.
Wet portraits, indoor options and the small rain plan that keeps people moving.
4 min → -
01.
Escaping wedding-planning madness.
The first entry in the notebook — what we kept seeing couples get stuck on, and the small habits that put the day back in their hands.
2 min →
Browse by chapter
If you'd rather flip to a section.
Notes group naturally into four working chapters. Skip into whichever applies to where you are right now in the planning.
Setting up the shape of the day.
Dates, budgets, timings, suppliers, the conversations you'll have a hundred times. The practical scaffolding.
Rooms we keep coming back to.
Belfast City Hall, Galgorm, the North Coast, country houses, registry offices. What each one is actually like to shoot in.
Hour-by-hour, once it's started.
Preps, first looks, ceremonies, group photos, speeches, the dance floor. The bits a photographer thinks about for you.
What we actually do on the day.
Choosing a photographer, adding video, gallery delivery — written from the chair, not from the brochure.
Get the next issue
A new entry in the notebook, roughly monthly.
No marketing, no "5 secrets every bride needs" nonsense. Just one new note when there's one to share — same format as the ones above. Unsubscribe in a tap.
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