An island to yourselves at Waterford Castle

You reach Waterford Castle by ferry. It is a short crossing and it takes almost no time, but it changes the character of the day more than any other single feature of any venue we film at. Once your guests are across, they are on an island with your wedding and nothing else. Nobody wanders in. No other event is happening beyond the trees. There is no passing traffic and no through road.

The effect on people is immediate and it shows on camera. Guests who arrive by boat behave differently to guests who park in a car park. Something about the crossing marks the start of the day, and by the time they step off they are already in the mood for it.

Privacy is the product here, and the ferry is what delivers it.

What the isolation gives your film

Complete control of the background, first of all. At most venues we spend part of the day working around strangers in the edge of frame. Here there are none, so we can film wider and more freely, and the wide shots actually establish your wedding rather than a busy hotel that happens to contain it.

Sound is the other gain, and it is the one couples never anticipate. An island in the middle of a river is quiet in a way that mainland venues rarely are. The ambient audio under your film is water and birds instead of a distant road, and that carries the quiet moments in a way no music can.

The practical side of a ferry

It is worth planning around rather than ignoring. Guests arriving in ones and twos take longer to gather than guests arriving into a car park, so build a little more time into the front of the day than you otherwise would. It is also worth being clear in your invitations about how the crossing works, because people who understand it arrive relaxed and people who do not arrive flustered.

The upside is that once everybody is on the island, nobody leaves early. Weddings here tend to run later and fuller than weddings where guests can slip away to a taxi.

If it is your venue

• Give arrivals extra time. Not much, but some. A calm start shows in the morning footage.
• Tell your guests how the ferry works. One clear line on the invitation removes all the confusion.
• Use the water. The setting is the reason you booked it. Ten minutes near the river in the evening is the shot that says island.
• Plan to stay late. People do not drift off here. Let the evening run.

There is nowhere else quite like it in the south east, and the privacy is not a marketing line. It is the actual experience of the day.