Our wedding took place three years ago today. Happy Anniversary to us! I wanted to write a post all about our special day as 1: I have had requests to do so and 2: I feel I have some tips to share that might help you out! Padraig and I wanted a really intimate wedding that reflected our personalities, was relaxed but also fun. We organised everything ourselves and with the help of family were able to DIY a lot of the smaller details. Our wedding was one of the best days of our lives.
The Wedding Venue
We scoured Cork for our dream venue. Neither of us wanted a big hotel wedding and when we visited Barnabrow House in East Cork, it was love at first sight. Barnabrow is a beautiful country house with picturesque gardens and an intimate vibe. The room where the weddings are held has the most stunning wood work and an annex where your ceremony can be performed. I would highly recommend a visit if you are wedding planning. The food was delicious, staff incredible and atmosphere was just what I wanted. Plenty of space for guests to stay overnight and the bridal room was beautiful. You can find out more HERE.
The Wedding Service
We chose to have a civil ceremony which was performed in Barnabrow. It was important to us that once our guests arrived they could relax without having to travel to separate locations. I walked down the aisle with Finn and my Dad to Fleetwood Mac’s Songbird and we left as husband and wife to Guns N Roses Sweet child of mine. We both love music and wanted to include some of our favourite songs. Luckily our cake maker Denise is also a very talented singer and we loved what she did for us. We also wanted Finn to feel included in the whole day. Although Finn and Padraig bonded the second they met, we did not want him to feel lost amid the wedding madness. He felt very important walking Mommy down and giving her away.
The Wedding Reception
The main focus on the reception was that our guests had plenty of food, wine and good music. Our menu in Barnabrow was delicious and everyone enjoyed it. The Art Crimes Band played after dinner. They are a little different to a usual wedding band in that they play jazz but it gave our guests a chance to relax after dinner. Our first dance was Etta James’s At Last. Stevie G gave us an old school disco to see us into the second half of the night and we danced untill our feet hurt!
Our cake was a birdcage style by Denise’s Delights and it was so so good. Chocolate, red velvet and lemon. Everyone loved it and it was exactly what we wanted. The rest of our decor will be covered in my DIY section below!
Our Wedding Style
We both knew how we wanted to look on the day. I wanted a vintage style dress and Padraig wanted a blue suit with a bow tie. I found my dream dress in The Modern Bridal and had Maya O Brien alter it and add the delicate lace cap sleeves. Maya is amazing to deal with and I suggest you check her out. My vision for my veil was very specific and I found exactly what I wanted in Bella Bleu Bridal. The Juliette Cap Veil I wore was my favourite part of my whole ensemble. My shoes were from Faith in Debenhams and all our bouquets, button holes, flowergirl wand and crown were by Lovebird Designs. My make up was done by the amazing Michelle Moore who I would not hesitate to recommend if you are looking for Bridal makeup in Cork.
Padraig and his Best Man, Brian wore suits from Best Menswear in Mahon Point. We decided to buy rather than rent as both suits would be worn again. We had their bow ties custom made by Daniel Mahon. Padraig wore mustard silk and Brian a deep purple.
My sister was my Maid of Honour and she wore a stunning dress from Brocade and Lime in Cork. The paige boys wore suits from Zara with mustard cons and my flowergirl wore a dress and shoes from Dunnes Stores.
Our Wedding DIY
We wanted to spend on the important things like food, drink and entertainment. We also had a specific idea of how our venue would look. The beautiful thing about getting married in Barnabrow was that we had the whole place to ourselves. We could customise it and decorate it as we pleased. The room was already beautiful so we just wanted some simple decorations to enhance it. We made our own table settings, flower arrangements, table plan and sweet cart. Incredibly lucky to have a brother in law who is an amazing graphic designer and artist, Richard made our invitations and table plan. We printed off old movie posters as our place names and framed them in 6 x 4 frames from the 2 euro shop.
For the table settings we collected vintage books for a few months before the wedding from second hand shops and stacked them on top of square mirrors. We then added flowers that we bought the day before from Aldi to complete the look. The vases and candles were a result of a quick trip to Ikea and an hour with some lace and glue!!
My sister is amazing and she gave us the BEST sweet cart. She collected the jars, decor and sweets and arranged it all the day before the wedding. If you plan carefully you can gather bits and pieces leading up to your own wedding and do it yourself. Doing a DIY in these areas suited us as we wanted that vintage/country style.
We had the most amazing wedding day and genuinely would not have changed a thing. The feather in the cap was our photographer Dermott O Sullivan. He made everyone feel at ease and gave us exactly what we wanted. I’ve had friends use him since and they would also highly recommend him.
There you have all the details to our wedding! The best day marrying the love of my life and I could’t have asked for anything better.
Louise x