Morning light at Tinakilly House

Tinakilly sits on a rise three kilometres north of Wicklow Town, looking east to the Irish Sea. Captain Robert Halpin was born in the town, went to sea, and ended up commanding the Great Eastern when she laid the transatlantic telegraph cable from Valentia to Newfoundland in 1866. He came home and built this house. He chose the timber himself in London, and had the ground-floor doors made of Burmese mahogany with panels of bird's-eye maple.

It has been a hotel for a long time now, with 48 bedrooms done in the Victorian manner, a bridal suite with a sea view and a fire, and gardens with a pair of giant sequoias standing at either end of the old tennis court. For a wedding you get the house, the lawns, the rose garden and a pavilion in the woods. If your guests stay over, and most can, everyone wakes up in the same place, which makes the morning of a film very easy indeed.

The house faces the sea and the morning. Plan the day with the sun and Tinakilly does half of our work for us.

East in the morning, west in the evening

The front of the house looks east, and so does the Halpin Suite: bay windows, French doors straight onto the east lawn, the sea in the background. Before lunch it is a bright, generous room, which is why it suits a ceremony or a drinks reception. Your preparations upstairs get the same light. A bridal suite that faces the sea on a clear morning needs nothing from us except a camera pointed the right way. The rose garden is the other place to say your vows, outdoors, and the time of day matters there too.

By late afternoon the sun has gone round behind the house. The east lawn slips into the building's shadow, the sea turns soft and blue, and the warm light moves to the west side, the avenue and the woods. None of this is a problem. It just means the day has a shape. Ceremony and drinks on the sea side, portraits on the far side of the house as the light goes, and we can tell you exactly when that will be for your date.

The sea also brings a breeze. Veils love it and microphones hate it, so for anything outdoors we put small personal microphones on the two of you with proper windshields, and the vows come out clean whatever the air is doing. Broadlough below the house is a bird sanctuary, so drone flying here is a conversation with the hotel first.

The pavilion in the woods

Dinner for a big wedding happens in the Great Eastern Pavilion, which sits among the trees a walk from the house. Wood-panelled walls, a Victorian lounge for the table plan and the guest book, its own bar, a reclaimed timber floor for dancing, and windows three metres high looking through the woodland to the sea. It seats up to 300, and the glass is the point. Most dinners we film happen in rooms with the curtains drawn. Here there is daylight on the tables until the sun gives up, and after dark the glass turns to mirrors and the fairy lights and uplighting take over, which the camera loves.

The walk from the house to the pavilion is a scene in itself, so do it together and do it slowly, with everyone. If it rains, umbrellas, and it still works. We have a whole article on rain if you want the full argument. For a smaller wedding, the house holds you without rattling: the Asgard Suite, the old drawing room in the west wing with its Italian marble fireplace, seats 35, and the Mizen Room, once the Captain's library, takes 20.

Practical notes

Tinakilly is an hour or so from Dublin by the M11, with Wicklow Town and its churches ten minutes down the road. With 48 bedrooms, most of your guests can stay, so the morning is relaxed and the night has no taxis. Book the bridal suite for the sea view and the fireplace, and give yourself the morning in it.

Worth asking before you book

• Where will the sun be at your ceremony time? East lawn and the Halpin Suite in the morning, the west side in the evening. We can work it out for your date before you set the times.
• Pavilion or house? The pavilion for numbers and daylight at dinner. The Asgard and the Mizen for a day that wants to feel like a house party.
• Plan the walk to the pavilion. It is the best five minutes of the afternoon in good weather. Have umbrellas ready for the other kind.
• Ask about drones. The hotel decides, and the lough below is a sanctuary. If the answer is yes, the house against the sea is worth it.
• Take the bridal suite. It faces the sea and has a fire. The morning footage comes from that window.

Halpin built a house to look at the water he spent his life crossing. Spend your morning on that side of it, your evening on the other, and your film will have the whole day in it.