A Candy Anthony 50’s Style Frock and Traditional Celtic Blessings

I just adore this wedding! There are so many little touches that make it extra special and bride Amanda obviously worked really hard to bring the whole day together. It seems like such a charming, relaxed day. I always love photographs taken in early spring light and Campbell Photography capture both the ambience and the happiness of the occasion beautifully. The traditional irish ceremony sounds so romantic too. This is an all-round gorgeous day!

Amanda and Graham were married on 17th April 2014 at Brooklodge Hotel and Spa in County Wicklow, Ireland. This is a bride with some really savvy words of wedded wisdom – but you’ll need to scroll to the end of the feature to find out what she has to say 🙂

Film Production Copyright (c) 2014, Big Day Films

“As we like lots of different things we didn’t just want to be limited to having a set theme. Overall our aim was to have a fun day so I guess you could say it was quite eclectic; 50’s glamour meets rustic charm with a twist of festival fun. As “Love” was what brought us both to this special day we wanted that to be the message that stood out on the day.

We decided to go DIY on the wedding pretty early on. This was down to budget but also because we are both pretty handy and are partial to a bit of arts and crafts. This meant that we were styling and making most of the props ourselves. We made the invitations to start and this was where our theme developed from.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Campbell Photography

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Amanda’s full skirted lace dress was from Candy Anthony. With her incredible beehive hairstyle and yellow shoes she just looks so retro-glam don’t you think?

“I did a lot of research online looking for short 50’s style dresses and came across Candy Anthony in London. I exhausted all options here before I decided to fly over and try on my dream dress. I am so happy I did, as I fell in love the minute I tried the dress on.”

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“It fit like a glove and this was only a sample!  The dress I went for in the end was a Nottingham lace overlay with ¾ sleeves and a scalloped hemline. It sat over a winter white satin gown with a four layer petticoat. I wanted a colour pop somewhere in my look so I went with the marigold ruched sash with big bow at the back.

I love everything about this dress, it is the ultimate party dress and was so comfortable. I twirled around the dance floor all night in it, it was so much fun!”

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Amanda’s two bridesmaid’s wore gorgeous swing dresses from online store Lindy-Bop, which were accessorised with cream fur shrugs from Light In The Box, crochet gloves from Dents and blush ribbon sashes.

“My sister Erika is the most amazingly gifted hairdresser. She was also a bridesmaid so she was very busy on the morning of the wedding. She knew exactly what I had in mind and did such a fabulous job. It was a modern take on a beehive. I love big hair and it was definitely that! My two sisters had short hairstyles so we used a Marilyn Monroe image as inspiration for their hairstyles. They looked so amazing in their swing dresses.”

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The cute yellow heels are from Clarks.

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“As I couldn’t find the exact style of headpiece that would compliment this style of dress I decided to make my own. I studied costume design at college so no better opportunity to put my skills to use. I had an oversized winter white taffeta bow with birdcage veiling. I absolutely loved wearing and it just completed the whole look. I have since set up my own Etsy store, ‘All Bells & Whistles’, where I design and make bespoke bridal headpieces for other brides to be.

The only item of jewellery I wore on the day were my earrings. They belonged to my nan and she sadly passed away two weeks before the wedding. They were a gorgeous vintage looking drop pearl. I was delighted to have something of hers with me on the day so they were very special.”

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“Our polaroid guestbook table was such a fun idea and people loved taking their picture and sticking it in our book. We made an instruction chalkboard and labelled it “shake it like a polaroid picture”. We thought it was a nice alternative to the photobooth idea and a nice keepsake for us to look back on in years to come.”

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Amanda and Graham picked Campbell Photography for capture their wedding on camera. 

“Kristi and Neal are The Campbells and I can’t say enough about this couple, they are so talented. We couldn’t have imagined some of the pictures that they captured on the day. They have an intuition for a great shot and saw potential in the most unexpected of locations. They prepared a preview slideshow of our wedding and we were truly moved by the beauty of it. They captured all of our favourite moments and helped us to relive the day. It felt like we had been given the best present ever.

Big Day Films captured our video on the day. We chose a retro style highlights video which was a snapshot view of the day. It is such a fun video and to watch it back really puts a smile on our faces. It’s so nice to have footage of our nearest and dearest and to see their reactions and how they enjoyed themselves. I could watch this over and over as it just sums up the whole day.” 

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“The one thing that really swayed us on this venue was the little chapel on the grounds, which was located by a winding stream. It was so small and idyllic. We knew it would be perfect for the intimate ceremony we had planned.”

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“Although we are both from the same home town and knew lots of the same sets of people we actually met online. I recognized Graham’s profile on a social networking website, as he once worked in our local pub. I decided to bite the bullet and I took his quiz. This sounds quite sad but it obviously worked and a week or two later Graham asked me out. We had an amazing first date and I think we both knew that after that night we had something special.

It was four years later when Graham popped the question. We had rented a VW campervan and were travelling along the south west coast of Ireland. We were stopped at a beautiful viewpoint on Valentia Island and were overlooking the Skellig Islands in the distance. It was a surprise and he had his mother’s wedding ring as a token as she had passed away a few years before we met. I did however, make him propose a second time that day as he hadn’t gotten down on one knee! But I said yes and the rest is history.”

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“We made our own invitations and booklets. This saved us quite a bit of money so if you are handy on a computer and a little creative I would definitely recommend trying it if you have a limited budget. We used brown card and I designed the inserts which I sewed into the card on a sewing machine. We bought a ‘Save the date’ ink stamp on Etsy which was designed especially for us.

It was a labour intensive process but I loved making my own unique invites and the brown card looked really quirky and almost like a scrapbook. I bought washi tape to seal them and used a return address ink stamp which I also had made especially on Etsy so that finished them off.”

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Amanda and Graham’s daughter Sadie wore a sweet little dress from Marks & Spencer, whilst Graham’s classic slim-cut three piece suit was from Moss Bros.

“Shortly into our wedding planning and mid venue searching we became pregnant (well not literally mid venue searching!) Our beautiful little girl Sadie arrived in December 23rd 2011. It took us a while to get back into the swing of planning our big day but eventually in January 2013 we booked our venue. This gave us 15 months to coordinate it all and wow how those months flew by!”

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“Donna Morris from Make Up Forever was our make up artist . She is an extremely talented friend of mine. She did a stunning job and we all felt like movie stars by the time she was finished. Her attention to detail was just incredible. I had gathered some ideas but Donna is so professional that she knew exactly what would work.”

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“The one thing that really swayed us on this venue was the little chapel on the grounds, which was located by a winding stream. It was so small and idyllic. We knew it would be perfect for the intimate ceremony we had planned.”

 

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Graham and his best men drove from the local village where they were staying to the chapel in a hired VW campervan; a nice touch as the couple were on a campervan holiday when Graham proposed. Amanda walked down the aisle with her dad, accompanied by The Kooky Ukes who played a beautiful version of the wedding march.

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“Our ceremony was based around The Anam Cara which is gaelic for “soul friend”. It was in the Irish language in parts so it was a very celtic celebration. We also had a handfasting ceremony which was really so special to us. Dara Molloy is a Celtic Monk and he was our celebrant on the day. He created such a wonderful atmosphere.

Everyone said that it was such a moving and unique service and they were all reaching for the kleenex.  Dara has such a lovely way about him and he had tailored the service especially for us. We would highly recommend him.”

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The couple exchanged a traditional Ogham style wedding band for Graham and a diamond encrusted band for Amanda. They had three readings during their wedding, excerpts of which are included below:

Anam Cara’ by John Donoghue

In the Celtic tradition, there is a beautiful understanding of love and friendship. One of the fascinating ideas here is the idea of soul-love; the old Gaelic term for this is Anam Chara … With the anam chara you could share your innermost self, your mind and your heart. This friendship cut across all convention, morality, and category. You were joined in an ancient and eternal way with the “friend of the soul”. The Celtic understanding did not set limitations of space or time on the soul. There is no cage for the soul. The soul is a divine light that flows into you and into your other. …In everyone’s life, there is great need for an anam chara, a soul friend. In this love, you are understood as you are without mask or pretension … Love allows understanding to dawn, and understanding is precious. Understanding nourishes belonging … The Anam Chara is God’s gift.

A piece of advice’

Treat yourself and each other with respect and remind yourselves often of what brought you together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your connection deserves.

‘The Art of Marriage’ by Wilferd A. Peterson

The little things are the big things. It is never being too old to hold hands. It is remembering to say “I love you” at least once a day. It is never going to sleep angry. It is at no time taking the other for granted; the courtship should not end with the honeymoon, it should continue through all the years.

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“The ceremony was by far our favourite part of the day. I will always remember my mother’s and Graham’s brother’s introduction speeches. They were so thoughtful and insightful. They summed up myself and Graham so well.  We were both quite emotional and touched but it was the perfect moment especially when Sadie our little girl was sat on my lap for the family blessing.

When Elbow’s ‘Day like this’ played at the end as we walked out the door it was such a great feeling we were both beaming.”

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“My friend Joanne is a florist over 16 years now and she so creative, she is an absolute perfectionist. I was so delighted when she agreed to do my flowers as I knew they would be amazing. I didn’t want to put my flowers down all day. We bought some Ikea pots so that we could sit the flowers on the top table, I would definitely recommend this simple idea.”

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The reception space at the wedding is so beautifully decorated and the bride and groom did it all themselves. Amanda was full of brilliant ideas to get those finishing touches looking perfect.

“We sourced and set up the props ourselves, this included our giant carnival helium balloons and balcony carnival lights. We also had a guy making up candy floss to add to the carnival vibe. I made some brown paper ‘LOVE’ flags to sit in everyone’s glass so they were a nice little touch to our table settings.”

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“We had the giant balloons attached by twine to rustic jugs with baby’s breath which looked so cool.  The table name mini chalkboards also tied around the jug. I hand painted tea light holders with yellow polka dots to add in the little yellow detail to the tables. We loved our finished tables centrepieces as they were so us!”

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We made a giant chalkboard table planner and named the tables after all of our favourite places together. This included our favourite stages at festivals, our first holiday together and where we got engaged etc. We had some photos of us in each of the places in a little stand on the table.

We also thought it would be nice to have a welcome sign at the church. We salvaged an old sandwich board to say “Cead Mile Failte” at the church entrance to welcome in our family and friends.”

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“Suzanne from Cocoamoiselle made our amazing cake. It was a 3 tier rustic iced cake. The layers were carrot, chocolate mud cake and vanilla and jam. It was to die for and I made sure I had a piece of each cake on the night. I bought the lovebirds and vintage ribbon on Etsy and we had an “Eat Drink and be married” sign on the cake table which I also ordered on Etsy. I made monogram letters to tie in with our colour scheme and we sat these on our cake table. I also made the mini flags for the cupcakes.

Instead of favours we opted to give a donation to Ethan’s Trust. Ethan is a little boy and a close friend of our family who is fighting childhood cancer.”

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“Our illuminated “LOVE” sign on the mantel in the reception room was made especially. We had this 32” sign made by Martin Fanning. He is based in Dublin and makes these wonderful creations.  This guy can make pretty much anything!”

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We wanted to honour those people who couldn’t be with us on our special day, so we set up a memory table with photos of our parents’ wedding days and people who were dear to us. We wanted to remember our family members who had a passed on especially my nan who recently had passed away and also Graham’s mother Carmel.”

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“For our first dance we chose the Pogues song ‘Rainy night in Soho’, a cover version by Damien Dempsey. Damien Dempsey is an artist that we both love. We have seen him live so many times and this song in particular stood out for us both in our memories together.”

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Delorean 80’s were our band in the evening and they blew everyone’s socks off. They had everyone dancing all night. Sven Hammer lead guitarist is a true showman! These guys really topped the whole day off with some proper 80’s tunes.”

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Words Of Wedded Wisdom:

“Enjoy the planning process and the lead up to your day. It is so nice to be the ‘bride to be’. The night before the wedding was lovely as we had a real girly pamper night with bubbly. My sisters did a ‘something borrowed and blue’ pack for me so it was full of tears and laughter remembering old times and getting excited about the next day. Try to keep focused on the reason for your wedding which is marrying your best friend. Sometimes in the planning process it gets quite busy and stressful and it’s easy to get lost in the madness of it all.”

“‘Comparison is the thief of joy’ – basically do NOT compare your day with anyone else’s. Your day will be amazing because it will be full of all the wonderful things that make your relationship special.”

“Soak up the atmosphere of your day, don’t spend too much time with the photographers. Enjoy your entertainment; after all you’ve spent a lot of time and money planning it so enjoy it!”

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“Make it yourself- if you are on a budget and can’t afford all the trimmings then try and make it yourself. There are fab tutorials online to show you how. We loved how personalised we were able to make our day. It looked like we had spent a fortune but really a lot of it was done on a shoe string budget. Check out Etsy for everything. This place is a treasure trove for all things weddings so I would recommend checking here for prints, accessories, headpieces, invites & props.”

“I simply adore Love My Dress®. It truly has everything – itt is written so well and the personality of each couple’s wedding comes across so beautifully. It paints such a great picture of each wedding so uniquely that it makes you feel part of their day. I would click in immediately when a new wedding was posted through Facebook. I probably got most of my wedding inspiration here. It made me so excited to see how it all would together on the day, the culmination of all the months of planning.”

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Such a wonderful wedding and such kind words for our much loved wedding blog too – thanks to Amanda and Graham for sharing their day and also to Amanda for giving us so many helpful tips and ideas. Thanks also to Campbell Photography for some really beautiful photography that captures perfectly all the couple’s hard work and ultimate enjoyment.

Love Susie x

 

Photographer – Campbell Photography
Videographer – Big Day Films
Venue – Brooklodge
Wedding Dress – Candy Anthony
Veil – All Bells & Whistles via Etsy
Shoes – Clarks
Groom – Moss Bros
Bridesmaids – Lindy-Bop + shrugs via Light in the Box
Flowergirls – Marks & Spencer
Cake – Cocoamoiselle
VW Campervan Hire – Lazy Days
Entertainment – The Kooky Ukes & Delorean 80‘s
Rings – Neil Conway & Lord of the Gems
Makeup Artist – Makeup Forever
Decor – Love sign via Martin Fanning

Follow Love My Dress® on Google+

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